This is one of six pamplets published in 1998 in the Maynooth Srudies in Local History series. These pamplets illustrate through case studies of particular areas and themes, how life in Ireland in the past evolved in a variety of settings, both urband and rural. This pamplet explore the attitudes towards women, property, the law and politics in Ascendancy Ireland based on the abduction of a young woman in 1743. Barnard uses the study of what happened to the heiress to consider the dynamics and values of both the Limerick locality and 18th century Ireland.