Chatsworth

Chatsworth, Derbyshire, the seat of the Duke of Devonshire, has been the home of the Cavendish family since the mid-sixteenth century.

It houses a renowned art collection, comprising paintings, sculpture and furniture. It also has an extensive archive and library, one of the highlights of which up to 2020 was the fifteenth-century Irish manuscript known as the Book of Lismore.

Lismore Castle, Co. Waterford, has been the Irish seat of the Duke of Devonshire since the mid-eighteenth century. It is thought that the manuscript, which was written in west Cork for Fínghean Mág Carthaigh Riabhach towards the end of the fifteenth century, was brought to Lismore after the wars and confiscations of the seventeenth century. It was re-discovered during renovation work at the castle in 1814. In 1930 the manuscript was transferred from Lismore to Chatsworth. In 2020 it was donated to University College Cork.

The manuscript contains a miscellany of texts, religious and secular, native and European, and reflects the literary taste of a learned Irish aristocrat of the late medieval period.

Please consult the University College Cork section for a list of Manuscripts available.