06.11.2025, 18:00 P.M.
Adrian Tinniswood, OBE FSA, is a true chronicler of the country houses of the UK and Ireland, having published nineteen books on social and architectural history, including The Long Weekend: Life in the English Country House Between the Wars, a New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller, and The Verneys: a True Story of Love, War and Madness in Seventeenth-Century England, which was shortlisted for the BBC/Samuel Johnson Prize. He is Professor of British Cultural History at the University of Buckingham and Adjunct Professor of History at Maynooth University. He lives in the west of Ireland with his wife Helen and their cat.
In The Houses of Guinness, author Adrian Tinniswood explores the histories of the legendary Guinness family – brewers, philanthropists, and socialites through their mansions and town houses. His tour opens the door to Irish palaces like Farmleigh (where the Edwardian ballroom is said to have a floor made from barrels brought from the brewery) and Luggala in the Wicklow Mountains, where Oonagh Guinness welcomed rock stars, actors and artists.
Unravelling the stories of more than a dozen great Guinness houses, Tinniswood reveals what life was like for a dynasty that rose from ordinary beginnings in Georgian Dublin to become one of the most powerful families in the British Isles. This engaging history is abundantly illustrated with a selection of new and archival photographs and paintings.
The talk will be accompanied by a wine reception.