Get to know Maria Edgeworth, one of Ireland’s greatest early modern novelists, at the Maria Edgeworth Centre in Edgeworthstown. Go on an immersive journey through the 18th and early 19th centuries in Ireland and experience an intriguing past from rebellions to famine.
Explore the three rooms of the center with your handheld audio guide. Begin with learning about the Edgeworth family and their many connections to other historically important people like William Wordsworth, the Duke of Wellington, Erasmus Darwin, and Sir Humphry Davy.
In the school room, find school artifacts from the 19th and early 20th centuries, including the original edition of Edgeworth’s Practical Education from 1798.
Flick through old schoolbooks and write on slates as they did in the old times. Listen to information about the establishment of Ireland's national education system in which the Edgeworth family played a major role.
The living room upstairs tells the story of Henry Essex Edgeworth, who administered the last rites to King Louis XVI in France before he was executed. Here you also can explore more about the family's connections to Oscar Wilde and Oliver Goldsmith.