William Francis Thomas Butler

“ There is a gap in the records relating to Longford of four years, during which nothing seems to have been done towards securing the O'Ferralls in their lands. Then in 1615 came a letter from the King to Chichester, reversing all his former decisions. He finds "no remedy for the barbarous manners of the mere Irish which keeps out the knowledge of literature and of manual trades ... so ready and feasible as, by first, by settling a firm estate in perpetuity on such of the present inhabitants as have the best disposition to civility ... ”

“ Thus 22,000 acres, or one-third of the country were available for a plantation. In reality the loss to the Irish was much greater than a third. For first there were several of the old English who had by purchase or by grant obtained heavy chief rents on certain of the districts in question, and these were now to be commuted for grants of land, and Sir Richard Masterson had claims to a large extent of land, which claims were to be fully satisfied; and secondly very few Irish were to be provided for in distributing the 24,000 acres set apart for the old inhabitants. ”

“ He or his advisers did not press the claims of the Crown to O'Melaghlin's territory of Clancolman, or to Mac Geoghegan's territory of Moycashel. Here much of the land was held by letters patent, and most of the rest, though formerly held by gavelkind, was now disposed of by conveyance, purchase, &c. according to the course of the Common Law. The King's title was doubtful, and the inhabitants were well disposed to civility; therefore it was recommended that there should be no plantation; but that the whole of the lands should be granted by letters patent to the inhabitants. ”

“ There is one point in which the Leinster plantations differed very materially from that in Ulster. The mass of the Irish inhabitants were not expelled to make room for tenants of British extraction. It is true that the Undertakers were all Protestants, and almost exclusively British, and that they were bound to settle a certain number of British families on their lands. But they were allowed to have Irish tenants on the residue. To these, or at least to as many of them as had before been landowners, they should have given leases. ”

“ The first move in the new policy of confiscation under pretext of law was made not in the midlands, but in the northern portion of County Wexford. A large portion of this territory seems to have been left to the Irish at the first invasion. [14] In the fourteenth century the Irish of Leinster had elected as king a descendant of Donnell Kavanagh, illegitimate son of King Dermot MacMurrough, [15] and he and his posterity had expelled the settlers from most of Carlow, all north Wexford, and such parts of Wicklow as they had occupied. ”

“ The O'Ferralls had submitted to the Crown under promise of pardon and remission of forfeiture; nevertheless the widow and son of Lord Delvin had obtained a warrant to pass to themselves nearly one-half of the County Longford. The King, however, ordered Delvin's patent to be cancelled, and the O'Ferralls to be restored. [46] At first his idea was that the surviving O'Ferralls and the chief inhabitants should repossess what they had before the war, and that the lands of those who had died in rebellion should go to Lord Delvin. ”

“ Anyone who, after deduction of a fourth, saw his acreage reduced below 100 acres was liable to lose all: no one got less than 60 acres.
The dispossessed landowners were to obtain leases from the Undertakers, or from their more fortunate kinsmen. But none of the natives were to sell to any of the old Irish, or to give leases to them for more than forty years or three lives; provisions clearly against James' policy of making no distinction between the two races in his early days. ”

“ The remaining three-fourths of the country, comprising the parts along the sea and the more level inland parts, were to be repassed to such of the natives and former inhabitants as the Lord Deputy and his assistants shall deem fit to be freeholders; none of the freeholders to have less than twenty acres, and such as had formerly less to be made tenants to others either British or Irish. ”

“ Then a quarter of the lands in dispute, viz., 16,500 acres of arable and pasture lands besides barren mountain and boggy or unpasturable woods, were to be bestowed upon eleven of such new patentees as Chichester should choose: each getting 1,500 acres, "or such other fit natives as will accept the same if the said patentees refuse." The lands thus allotted to the undertakers were to be in the more inland and hilly parts, along the borders of the Irish countries of the Dufferin, Ferrenoneale, Shilelagh and the Lordship of Arklow ”

“ The result was that while the more influential clansmen were discontented, the smaller men, deprived of their all, lost all confidence in the justice of the administration, a loss that has never up to now been made good.
The plantation of Longford shows most of the features mentioned above. The territory of the O'Ferralls, the ancient Annaly, the modern County Longford, had been for nearly a generation the subject of controversy. First, under Elizabeth, the two chiefs O'Ferrall Boy and O'Ferrall Bane, seem to have endeavoured to "grab" the lands of the clansmen. ”

“ In 1632 Hadsor, an English official who spoke the Irish language, reported that individuals had been unfairly treated and stated that the Irish gentlemen appointed to distribute them helped themselves to the lands which they were to divide amongst others. ”

“ But as usual, deductions were made from this to satisfy special favourites of the King or the Deputy, to redeem charges granted away by the Crown, to provide for forts and corporate towns. There were false admeasurements, the officials and the surveyors lived on the country during the survey and helped themselves to estates [55] ; some of the old inhabitants by influence got more than their shares, others were deprived of what they were entitled to. ”

“ Very few British families were established—even the Undertakers themselves often were absentees—and the Irish seldom obtained leases, very largely it seems because they themselves preferred yearly tenancies. ”

“ Chichester thereupon proceeded to distribute 23,300 acres among eighteen Undertakers, all Englishmen, and of course Protestants. To his nephew he gave 4000 acres, to his son-in-law 1000. To eight more Undertakers he was preparing to give 5,840 acres. But he forbore to carry out the full severity of the Council's order, as he thought that the London authorities would finally wish to give the old inhabitants some satisfaction, and so reserved 36,860 acres for them. ”

“ The true area is 269,000 statute acres. ↑ The Inquisitions in the printed Volume of Inquisitions "Lagenia" show a minute subdivision of land especially in Wicklow. We read of one man having one-sixty-fourth part of each of certain lands, another having one-seventh of one-sixteenth, another having one-seventh of one-fourth of some lands, one-seventh of one-sixteenth of others and one seventh of one-sixth of others. These fractions are due to distribution by gavelkind. ”

“ It is curious that we are not very certain as to why no such scheme was planned for parts of Carlow and Wicklow which had also been subject to Art MacMurrough.
Of the manors mentioned above we know that Fernegenall and O'Felimy lay along the sea, north of Wexford harbour. (Orpen. Ireland under the Normans, Vol. I., p. 390) . Gory is all or part of the modern Barony of Gorey, Shelelagh is obviously Shilelagh now in Co. Wicklow, which seems to nave been inhabited by O'Byrnes. ”

“ In reality, owing to sharp practices on the part of the officials, they did not retain anything like this amount, and furthermore all the smaller landowners were deliberately deprived of their property "as not good for themselves." ”

“ In this it is said that King James in 1611 had signified his pleasure that surrenders should be accepted and regrants made to the freeholders; but that the revenue secured had been too small. "We believed at the time" (possibly in 1628) "that the persons settled had good estates to surrender to us, whereas it now appears by report from the Irish Council that the property should belong to the Crown." [79]
Directions were given for a plantation. "Persons who hold by our former letters shall not be displaced when the Commission (to find the King's title) reports ”

“ But the clansmen themselvss were not secure. Many had been in rebellion; others had not fulfilled the conditions of the Composition.
In 1611 Chichester had noted that Leitrim was never well sub-divided, nor disposed to freeholders, but was left for the most part to the power and greatness of the chief of the O'Rourkes. [66]
So now, in 1615, designs were formed to remedy this by a resettlement of the country, involving a partial confiscation. The inhabitants seem to have made but little opposition. Young Brian, Sir Teig's son, and reputed heir, was the King's ward ”

“ And we also learn from the same source that " the inhabitants shun to surrender their estates." [32]
This was certainly bad policy on their part, especially as their agents, or some of them in England, had accepted the Council's project.
So in March, 1615, new directions came from London. Since the natives refused conformity with the King's project, Chichester was to proceed as directed in such an eventuality, i.e., to give the whole territory to Undertakers or old patentees ”

“ Chichester was much offended at the new project. We learn from Sir Oliver St. John in December, 1614, that Chichester was keeping entire control of the proceedings, although several persons had been named by the Council as his assistants. ”

“ The "five shires" of Arklow apparently took in the parish of Kilbride north of the Avoca river, and as much of the present Barony of Arklow as lies south of that river. This district belonged to the Ormonds. ↑ Reference in Ld. Powerscourt's book on Powerscourt to a Patent of Charles II. reciting this. Also Cal. St. Paps., 1640, p. 238. ↑ And in a few districts there was no actual plantation or confiscation, i.e., in Clancolman, Moycashel and Kilcoursey, the King's title being doubtful. ”

“ Pat. Rolls James I. and to O'Molloy. Carew MSS., Lambeth Vol. 625. Q. Elizabeth's grant to MacCoghlan granted to the chief all lands, &c. in his possession, and the "rest," i.e., evidently the clansmen, were to have letters patent. Car. MSS., Vol. 625. ↑ Quotation from the resolution of the Judges given in A. Ua Clerigh: History of Ireland to the coming of Henry II., p. 237. ↑ As a matter of fact the Books of Survey and Distribution clearly show cases in Connaught of lands divided according to gavelkind as late as 1641. ”

“ Wicklow.
See also Hore. History of Wexford. ↑ The Irish parts of Wexford west of the Slaney were apparently held to be vested in the Crown by the Act of Absentees, and had been dealt with by Elizabeth, at least as regards the chief men. ↑ The Report of the Commission of 1613 gives different figures. According to it nineteen Undertakers got 19,900 acres; Sir R. Masterson 10,000; fifty-six others of the old inhabitants got 25,000, leaving 12,000 acres available for "martial men," i.e. servitors. ”

“ Cavan; Breffny O'Rourke to Leitrim: both together made up "the rough third of Connaught." ↑ Cal.. St. Paps., 1592, p. 590, and 1621, p. 334. The Earls of Kildare claimed the northern portion. Cal. St. Paps., 1591, p. 406. ↑ Cal. St. Paps., 1611, p. 10. ↑ Cal. St. Paps., 1621, p. 334. It cannot be maintained against the King because they have been expulsed by the Irish 200 years, and the land recovered from them at the charge of the Crown. ↑ The chief had had 166 quarters, and a yearly sum of £276 13s. 4d. out of 445 quarters held by the free tenants, in lieu of the former Irish exactions. Pat. ”