Victorian Ireland was global champion of threatening letters. This book
reveals the murky world where tens of thousands of these letters and
notices were nailed to barn doors or sent by penny post, intimidating,
giving 'fair warning' and terrorizing the recipients. These victims were
sometimes landlords, land agents, and land grabbers. Equally, they could
be small farmers disputing land occupancy with neighbors.
This book examines the nature, extent, and context of this unusual
trend. It investigates who sent threatening letters and why they sent
them. It also delves into who received such unwelcome correspondence and
what action they took, giving new insights particularly into
19th-century rural Ireland.