Did they really discover a stash of 19th century porn in Strokestown?

Is it April 1 or have they really found the oldest collection of Irish erotica ever in Co Roscommon? We’re delighted to say the story is true.

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Hold on, so they have found some really old porn in Strokestown? You’re messing.

In a classic case of ‘you couldn’t make it up’ a recent attempt by the curators of Strokestown Park demesne to catalogue their collection of photographs has uncovered a large collection of pictures that are a little on the saucy side.

How old is this stuff?

According to the reports in the Irish Independent, it dates back as far as 1893, making it, as they put it, the only collection of Irish erotica from that period.

We’re not surprised it’s the only one considering what Ireland was like back then. What, ahem, is in the pictures?

Okay calm down. It’s Victorian ‘erotica’ not Youporn they've discovered. Here’s what curator Katriona Byrne has to say on it: “The erotica features live models, photographs of erotic cartoons and photographs of classic oil nudes and photographs of his own drawings as well.”

Sounds like it was more than one or two pictures then.

Yep, they have 324 of them to be precise, all taken by a man called Henry Pakenham Mahon,and all on glass plates. The curators say he was only interested in swapping them with others, a fascination called ‘cardomania’ which was popular at the time.

Course he was. Still, if a modern gentleman wanted to have a look at these, for historical reasons only of course, can they?

Well the good news for anyone who does fancy a peek at what might have got our great, great grandfathers going is that an exhibition of the pictures, as well as other stuff, is open now.

Called ‘More Than Meets The Eye’ the exhibition runs at Strokestown House until November, so there is no need to rush.

Anything else of interest?

Well,  Katriona Byrne claims that over 40 per cent of the pictures were ‘manipulated’, proving that the ancient art of the airbrush is indeed quite old. Apparently in some of the pictures, arms were moved slightly to make the pictures ruder.

Arms eh?

Yep, arms. This was Victorian times when a piano leg, never mind a real one, could get a man going so you have to put your smutty mind back a serious number of levels.

Still, wait until the foreign media get their hands on this. Porn. In Strokestown. This should go global.

We fully expect it to. Should lead to lots of publicity and visitors to the house anyway.

Yep, we would almost be suspicious if we didn’t trust historians so much.

Oh this is so perfect it had to be true.

Picture credit: Strokestownpark.ie