The Plantations of Ireland

In the 16-century the English were seeking to extend their control over Ireland. They tried to do this by driving the Irish landowners and people off their land through confiscation and extermination and replace them with English or Scottish settlers. Over one hundred years between the 1550’s and the 1650’s four plantations took place in Ireland. Each plantation followed rebellions by the Irish who relentlessly resisted the extension of English control over Ireland.

The first Plantation

The first Plantation took place because two midland Irish clans or cepts, the O Moore’s and the O Connors were proving to be troublesome to the English. They were constantly raiding ‘The Pale’ (the part of Ireland under English control). The Lord Deputy gradually pushed them back to the River Shannon and built a series of strategically located Forts on their land. Queen Mary then granted this land to army officers and old English officers on the following conditions;

1. They had to build stone houses.
2. They had to set up towns and villages.
3. They had to arm themselves for defence.
4. They had to cultivate the land in the English Manner.
5. They could not mix with or marry the Irish.
6. They had to employ English servants.

The Govt. divided this land into Counties. Laois became Queen’s County and Offaly became King’s County.

Forts were built at Maryborough (Portlaoise) and Philipstown (Daingean).

Aims of the Plantation;

• The land was used to reward loyal servants of the Crown.
• Queen Mary hoped it would ease the cost of running Ireland.
• The armed settlers would control the Natives.
• Towns and villages would act as “beacons of civilisation” and calm the Irish. Outcome of the Plantation;

The Plantation was not very successful, for the following reasons;

• The O Moore’s and the O Connors terrorised the Planters who had taken their land.
• The Planters were unable to attract workers from England and had to employ Irish labourers.
• More money was spent protecting the Planters than was raised by them.

THE PLANTATION OF MUNSTER 1586;

Thirty years later Queen Elizabeth I ordered the Plantation of Munster with strict instructions that lessons should be learned from the mistakes of her sisters’ Plantation. In 1579 the Earl of Desmond, the most powerful man in Munster rebelled against the Crown. Describing his rebellion as a fight for the Catholic Religion he persuaded the Pope to send him troops. In 1581 Elizabeth sent her army into Munster to deal with the situation. The English army embarked on a ‘Scorched Earth’ policy and laid waste to the whole of Munster, killing the inhabitants, destroying farms, killing livestock and wiping out the peoples’ ability to feed themselves. The result was an imposed famine resulting in the killing 30,000 people. The Earl of Desmond was captured and executed.

Pax Britannica

To ensure English control and peace in Munster Queen Elizabeth I carried out a Plantation.

How the Plantation of Munster Worked;

The Government divided the Earl of Desmonds’ lands into 35 huge holdings. These holdings were granted to army officers and government officials who were favourites of Queen Elizabeth. One of these was Sir Walter Raleigh who was granted 42,000 acres near Youghal in Co. Cork.

The Undertakers

These people were called Undertakers, because they undertook to fulfil certain conditions;

• To bring in English workers.
• To employ English farming methods.
• To maintain a part-time army to protect the Plantation.
• To build a defensive enclosure.

Outcome of the Plantation;

The Plantation of Munster didn’t work as well as expected. The land was so badly damaged as a result of the English ‘Scorched Earth Policy’ and the resulting famine that it was difficult to farm.

The remaining Irish, who had been driven from their land, constantly attacked the Planters. Due to these attacks most of the Planters fled back to England. Those who remained behind had to employ Irish workers and even rent back their land to them. The Planters failed to give enough money to support their required part time army and consequently it was never strong enough.

On the plus side however new towns such as Bandon and Killarney were established and new industries such as a timber export business were set up. The crown learned valuable lessons from this Plantation and these were to be seen in the next Plantation in Ulster.

THE PLANTATION OF ULSTER 1609;

Between 1594 and 1603 the leading Chieftains in Ulster, Hugh O Neill and Hugh O Donnell led a rebellion known as the Nine Years War against Queen Elizabeth. This included some spectacular victories for the Irish such as the Battle of the Yellow Ford in 1598. The final battle took place at Kinsale on Christmas day 1601 that resulted in a huge defeat for O Neill and O Donnell.

The Treaty of Mellifont and the Flight of the Earls

In 1603 they finally capitulated and signed the Treaty of Mellifont which allowed them to keep their land but they had to allow English Sheriffs into Ulster to enforce the Treaty. By 1607, fed up with the resulting restrictions they left Ulster forever in what has become known as The Flight of the Earls. The lands of the Earls were confiscated and prepared for a massive scheme of Plantation.

Rules of the Plantation of Ulster;

King James I of England was determined to avoid the mistakes of the previous Plantations. Under the rules drawn up there were three types of Planters.

• Undertakers – English or Scottish Gentleman to receive estates of between 400 and 800 hectares at the cost of €6.00 per year to the King. The Undertaker had to build a Castle, Stone house or Bawn and they could only take English or Scottish tenants, which they had to bring with them from Britain.
• Servitors – Civil Servants or army officers to receive estates of between 400 and 800 hectares at the cost of €10.00 per year to the King. The Servitor had to build a Stone House or Bawn. They were allowed to take Irish tenants and this meant they had an easier time than the Undertakers.
• Deserving Irish – Irish men who had remained loyal to the Crown during the nine years war to receive estates of 400 hectares at the cost of €12.70 per year to the King. They were allowed to take Irish tenants also.

Problems, Problems, Problems

The first problem with the Plantation was that they could not persuade enough Planters to go to Ireland. As a result, King James I forced 12 London Trade Guilds to form ‘The Honourable Irish Society’. These were given the County of Derry and allowed to rent the land out to tenants. They built two towns, Coleraine and Londonderry.

Each guild then built villages such as Draperstown on their allotted land. Motivated by profit they rented the land to Irish tenants.

The Impact of the Plantation;

The Plantation transformed the face of Ulster especially in the following ways;

• Land Ownership – Almost all Irish landowners lost their land. The Planters became the new landowning class. They became very wealthy and enforced the law as Judges. They helped the British control Ulster until the 20 Century.
• The Countryside – The Planters cleared forests and drained the land. Farming for profit replaced the subsistence farming of the Irish. Wheat, Barley, Oats and Potatoes were grown for sale. New styles of housing of stone and slated roofs were introduced.
• Towns – The Government built 16 new towns in Ulster including Donegal, Dungannon and Enniskillen. Each town had a central square or Diamond. A network of roads was built to link the towns. The native Irish were forbidden to live in those towns.
• Religion – The Scottish settlers were Presbyterians while the English settlers were Anglican. This created a Protestant majority. This resulted in high religious tension where the Catholics were treated as an underclass with little or no legal rights or protection. The Presbyterian’s were not treated much better with large numbers of them migrating as a result to America where they settled largely in the Appellation mountains and they became known as the Scotch Irish or Hillbillies. Finally, the Catholics and Presbyterians and Catholics united in rebellion in 1798. Through the creation of the ‘Orange Order’ the Presbyterians were brought back into the fold and until the recent ‘Troubles’ the Catholics remained downtrodden.
• Culture – The Irish way of dress and living was rigorously banned by law. English language, education, music, dancing and fashions became more widely used as Gaelic culture was systematically eradicated.

THE CROMWELLIAN PLANTATION 1652; In 1641

England became embroiled in a Civil War between King Charles I and his Parliamentary opposition, led by Oliver Cromwell. The native Irish took advantage of this and rebelled against the Planters to recover their lost lands. This rebellion began in Ulster in 1641 and spread throughout the rest of the country. About 4,000 Protestants were allegedly massacred in the early days of the violence. However, these figures while questionable in themselves were hugely exaggerated in England with the English being told that almost a million had been massacred. This created an excuse to avenge those deaths.

In January 1649 King Charles was executed by his Parliament and the English now under Cromwell turned their attention towards Ireland. On August 15^th 1649 Cromwell’s’ ‘New Model Army’ full of Puritans, a fundamentalist Protestant cult landed in Ringsend and marched to Drogheda which refused to surrender. As a result, Cromwell massacred the whole town, man, woman and child. The same thing happened a few weeks later to Wexford sending a clear message to other Irish towns. In rapid succession Irish towns began to surrender. Only in Clonmel did Cromwell’s forces get a dose of their own medicine. The garrison escaped and Clonmel survived. By May 1650 when Cromwell returned to England the country had been defeated and was ready for plantation.

Process of the Cromwellian Plantation;

The Cromwellian plantation began with an Act of Settlement, which listed all of those who would have their lands confiscated who were then ordered to go “to Hell or to Connaught”. Parliament then ordered over 30,000 soldiers who had surrendered to be deported from Ireland. Up to 50,000 Irish widows and orphans were sold into slavery in the Caribbean and all Priests were executed.

Before any land could be resettled, a survey was carried out by Sir William Petty. His survey was called ‘The Down Survey’ because the results were written down. 33,000 soldiers were given land; however, few of desired or knew how to become farmers in Ireland. Most of them cheaply sold their land to their officers who amassed huge ‘Cromwellian’ estates.

Impact of the Cromwellian Plantation;

The Cromwellian Plantation didn’t bring a large influx of settlers into Ireland. Most of the new landowners used Irish people as workers and tenants. The lives of the ordinary people changed very little. They were simply paying their rent to a new landlord. This however was not the case among the landowning classes. The Old Irish and the Old English land owning families were almost completely wiped out. For the next two hundred years a new social class emerged. They were English speaking and Protestant and became known as the ‘Protestant Ascendancy’. They controlled Ireland and the people who lived in it.

Consequences:

• The native Irish landowning class was nearly destroyed. Many were reduced to tenants or forced into exile; thousands were transported to the Caribbean and North America as slaves or indentured servants.
• The land was now controlled by a new class of British Protestant landlords, establishing the Protestant Ascendancythat would dominate Irish society for centuries.
• Many new landowners remained absentee, and Irish tenants continued to work the land, but under new and very draconian rulers.
• The Cromwellian Plantation had the most enduring impact on Irish land ownership and social structure, creating deep divisions that lasted well into the modern era.

In summary:
The Cromwellian Plantation (1652) was a massive, punitive land confiscation and resettlement scheme, fundamentally changing the ownership and control of Irish land, and marking a turning point in Irish history.