The Protestant Ascendancy was the sociopolitical and economical domination of Ireland between the 17th and early 20th centuries by a small Anglican ruling class, whose members consisted of landowners, politicians, clergymen, military officers and other prominent professions. They were either members of the Church of Ireland or the Church of England and wielded a disproportionate amount of social, cultural and political influence in Ireland. The Ascendancy existed as a result of British rule in Ireland, as land confiscated from the Irish Catholic aristocracy was awarded by the Crown to Protestant settlers from Great Britain.
Richard Woodward, an Englishman who became the Anglican Bishop of Cloyne. He was the author of some of the staunchest apologetics for the Ascendancy in Ireland.
Ireland is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the second-largest island of the British Isles, the third-largest in Europe, and the twentieth-largest in the world.
Satellite image, October 2010
The Uragh Stone Circle, a Neolithic stone circle in Tuosist, close to Gleninchaquin Park, County Kerry
A folio of the Book of Kells showing Christ enthroned
Remains of the 12th-century Trim Castle in County Meath, the largest Norman castle in Ireland
