In 1851, Lord Adare retired from Parliament, and though an occasional visitor at his mother's house of Dunraven, he took little share in county or, indeed, in public business, until the death of his father, in 1850, which was followed by his own elevation to the British Peerage in 1866.
Lord Dunraven contributed largely to an account of Adare, and of the very remarkable objects of antiquity, ecclesiastical and military, contained within its demesne and immediate neighbourhood. The volume, entitled 'Memorials of Adare,' was in part written, and privately printed, by his mother, in 1865. Her son's part in it is a pattern of what such histories should be. The descriptions and family details are minute, but they are treated, as far as possible, rather as a chapter in the history of the country, than as a piece of local topography or family genealogy.
In 1866, died Dr. Petrie, whose loss fell heavily upon Lord Dunraven, than whom no one more thoroughly appreciated or was more completely in accord with that most amiable and excellent man, as much beloved in private as he was respected in public life.
Upon Dr. Petrie's death, Lord Dunraven, with other friends, formed a committee for the better sale of his collections and for the publication of his hitherto unpublished writings. In this he took a very great interest, and finally he decided to take upon himself the completion of Dr. Petrie's 'Ecclesiastical Architecture of Ireland,' and in the execution of this purpose he was engaged four years in visiting various parts of that country and causing photographs to be made of the chief remains, and in taking measurements and making plans, often with his own hand. This labour of love he did not live to accomplish; but, by his will, he left a considerable sum for the publication of the photographs, proposing thus to shed light upon the early ecclesiastical remains of his country and upon some of the most remarkable of the prehistoric forts. The care of this work he is understood to have bequeathed to his accomplished friend, Miss Stokes, whose editing of Dr. Petrie's 'Christian Inscriptions in the Irish Language,' proves her competence well to discharge the trust laid upon her.
In 1869, Lord Dunraven was again President of the Cambrian Archæological Association, which then met at Bridgend. This was his last appearance in his own county, and, indeed,
