History on a plate

With growing interest in historic homes, Regina Sexton says Fota House has one of the best preserved kitchens in the country

IN this week of celebrating our heritage, the diversity of events and the increase in their number over recent years is commendable. Yet it sets you to wonder about how we assign value to the past — to wonder about what we value and how we value it? Celebrating the past and coming to terms with our personal histories is one thing — as we cannot choose our family record — but coming to terms with the histories of others, or our general history as a nation, often proves more problematic.

The example of the big house in Ireland is a case in point. For a time we stood confused and ambivalent, reluctant to admit the house and the estate and all it stood for into our perception and manufacture of Ireland’s past. At a popular level, we questioned if this was our history at all. At official level, a distinct lack of interest served to deny a minority culture.