Homesick: Domestic Medicine in Ireland, c.1760-1900 (Exhibition)

For Heritage Week 2025, we welcome the public to come to our historic home and explore our latest exhibition, Homesick: Domestic Medicine in Ireland.

For most of our history the majority of medical and health care has been delivered in the home. The importance of the domestic setting, and the role of women, in the delivery of medical care has been overlooked in the history of medicine, which has focused on clinicians and their contributions.

This exhibition explores healthcare provision in middle and upper-class homes in Ireland between c.1760-1900. It highlights the active role of women in delivering medical care in this period, and how they were often the intended market for those selling treatments and remedies - from the conventional to the unusual. This somewhat hidden history reminds us how important homes, and the people in them, have always been in looking after our health.