THE ULSTER PLANTATION

An abridged essay by

Edna White

EVENTS LEADING TO THE PLANTATION

(i) What had been happening in Ireland?

After the Spanish Armada Elizabeth I realized that England should have control of Ireland, otherwise her enemies could attack through the back door.  The Ulster Chieftains, including Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone and Hugh O’Donnell Earl of Tyrconnell, were the most rebellious towards English rule. 

Elizabeth was particularly angry with Hugh O’Neill who had been brought up in the household of the Earl of Leicester and attended her court.  This is part of the royal proclamation against him.

Elizabeth tried several times to conquer Ulster but failed.  Eventually the English decided to cut their losses and dug-in around the edges of Ulster building a series of forts around the province’s southern limits. This forced the Irish to attack the English forts rather than attack on even terms.  This finally gave the English the advantage, but it wasn’t until 24 December 1601 at the battle of Kinsale that O’Neill’s army was defeated. O’Neill retreated into Tyrone but did not surrender.  Rather than invading Ulster to finish off O’Neill, the English strengthened their forts and started launching commando-raids into Ulster to destroy crops. They hoped to starve O’Neill into submission or into launching an unprepared attack.  O’Neill did attack again, but was finally defeated by Lord Mountjoy at Omagh in 1602. 

In 1603, O’Neill and the English signed the Treaty of Mellifont, which permitted O’Neill to keep his land while adopting English law and shedding his Irish title.

 Ulster was to be governed in the same way as England. English law replaced the Gaelic Brehon laws.  The English language was to be used.  The Protestant religion was to be imposed on Ulster.  The Ulster chieftains found it very hard to adjust to the newways.

However, the English felt that the Treaty of Mellifont was not enough to keep control of Ulster.  They knew Catholic Spain could supply the Ulstermen with arms to launch an uprising against them.  Therefore, they decided to plant Ulster with Protestant settlers.  However, the lesson of previous plantations had been learned.  In the Laois/Offaly plantations the settlers had been badly affected by attacking Irish. 

In 1603, after Elizabeth’s death, King James of Scotland, son of Mary, Queen of Scots, became King of England.  Hugh O’Donnell also died in Spain and his brother Rory became chieftain. 

(ii) The Flight of the Earls

In 1607, the king sent for O’Neill and O’Donnell. They were afraid that they would be imprisoned and decided to leave Ireland to get help from the Pope and the King of Spain.  On 14 September, many Ulster chieftains with their families sailed away.  Lord Deputy Chichester grasped the opportunity presented by the Flight of the Earls and wrote to James I:

THE PLANTATION

Some English civil servants and army officers were delighted when they heard the Ulster chiefs had fled.  They were declared traitors and the King took their land.  The army officers hoped to get some of this good land.  James agreed with these people on the best way to keep Ulster loyal to him.  He would give the land to English and Scottish Protestants.  They would be ‘planted’ on the land.  They would live on it and protect it for the king.  Schemes to plant English settlers had been tried before in other parts of Ireland but they had all failed.  James was determined that this plantation would work and it was well planned. This time the settlers were to live in specially built fortified towns known as Plantation Towns.

By 1608, almost all of Tyrconnell, Coleraine, Tyrone, Armagh, Fermanagh and Cavan were in the King’s hands. This was a unique opportunity for James I to reward the many who had claims on his patronage and it would be a civilising enterprise, which would establish the true religion of Christ among men.  Besides, a plantation would quieten Ulster and reduce the risk of native rebellion and foreign invasion.

In 1609, the English mapped out 4,000,000 acres of land.  Counties Down, Monaghan and Antrim were planted privately.  Counties Derry and Armagh were planted with English.  Counties Tyrone and Donegal were planted with Scots.  Counties Fermanagh and Cavan were planted with both Scots and English.

 The ‘Printed Book’ of conditions for successful applicants for Ulster land was published in April 1610.  Separation was the essence of the scheme.  The government was determined on sweeping measures and the plantation began in 1609.  It was calculated that there were about 510,000 acres of ‘profitable’ land to be planted.  The 510,000 acres were to be divided up into blocks of 2,000, 1,500 and 1,000 acres. These estates were to be leased to three different classes of planters. 

1)      Undertakers –English and Scottish Protestants.  They paid a very low rent of  £5.6s.8d. per 1,000 acres.  However, they were not allowed to take Irish tenants, and they had to build fortified houses and keep men to defend them.

2)      Servitors – Mainly Scots.  They paid the same low rent as the Undertakers.  However, if they took take Irish tenants their rent was increased to £8 per 1,000 acres.

3)      The Meritorious Irish –Loyal Irish natives who paid a rent of  £10.13s.4d. per 1,000 acres and might take Irish tenants.

Native grants only came to about 58,000 acres out of the total of 510,000 planted.  Therefore, the Irish aristocracy became a minority among the landowners in the province and they got little of the best lands, which went to the English and Scots.

All classes of planters had obligations to build stone houses and defensive works.  Conditions were laid down for founding towns, bringing in craftsmen, setting up schools and erecting parish churches.

 The lord deputy was filled with a deep sense of foreboding.  His advice to win the confidence of selected chieftains by creating a large class of anglicised and contented Irish landowners had not prevailed.  The ‘deserving’ Irish were left only in possession of between on quarter and one fifth of the confiscated lands and some of these estates only during their lifetimes.  The servitors, Chichester believed, had not been given enough – around one fifth of the land, not sufficient to carry out the defensive role expected of them.  The undertakers had more than one quarter of the confiscated territory.  Chichester doubted if they had the resources to carry out their obligations.

 Sir John Davies writes a letter to the Earl of Salisbury, concerning the state of Ireland in 1610 and outlines plans for the Plantation of British settlers in Ulster.

THE PLANTATION OF COLERAINE

Coleraine, or Ferny Corner, is a very old site.  Dr Peter Woodman from the University of Ulster claims Coleraine as one of only two Mesolithic sites in Western Europe and St Patrick, himself, founded an abbey in Coleraine.

 Modern Coleraine started with the plantation of Ulster.  In 1604, Captain Thomas Philips was placed in command of Coleraine after the capturing O’Neill’s fort at Toome.  In 1605, Chichester visited Coleraine and wished the area to be strongly held against the Scottish Islanders, and regarded it as a place, which should be developed into a corporate town.  The Lord deputy recommended a plantation of English and Scots at Coleraine and that Phillips should carry this out.

In 1609, the now, Sir Thomas Phillips went to London and met the Earl of Salisbury for help and the Earl suggested that the London Companies were best suited to plant the county of Coleraine.  In May 1609, the City of London was officially asked to plant Coleraine.  Philips actively worked with the Londoners and proposed that 100 houses be built at a cost of £75 each.

Map of the plantation of County Coleraine showing the division between the different London Guilds and Sir Thomas Phillips estate.

(The only non guild estate in County Coleraine)

3,000 acres of land were to be set-aside for Coleraine.  Surveyors from the London companies wanted to build on the East side of river bann.  This was a problem as this was in Co. Antrim (not part of the Ulster plantation) and the McDonnell’s legally owned this part of Antrim. After several conferences it was agreed as follows:

Thus in 1610 Sir Randal McDonnell agreed to surrender the required land and Co Coleraine, later to be renamed Co Londonderry, expanded into Co Antrim for 3 miles around the old town.  This is the reason why MaddyBenny Farm, whilst on the East side of the River Bann, is not in  Co. Antrim but in Co. Londonderry. 

The map above shows the state of Coleraine in 1611 with its walls and gates.  St Patrick’s church can be seen at the top right; this is still here today.  The abbey, bottom centre, is long gone but is now being excavated prior to the building of a new shopping mall.

Many of the street names remain today such as Bridge Street, Abbey Street, Stone Row, Church Street and New Row which was one of the first to be built.  In new row 26 birch and oak tenements were built being 18 by 12 foot wide and some had brick chimneys and slate roofs.  In Stone Row, larger stone houses were built on 140 by 20 feet wide plots. 

 In 1610, the Irish Society agent John Rowley indicates the rent for the New Row houses to be £5 and 40s.

A report to the Irish Society of London gives the total housing as follows 

The diamond or Market Square

St Patrick’s church with the only part of the ramparts that remain today

1641 REVOLT

Through out the plantation there were minor skirmishes and civil unrest.

Charles I who succeeded James I wanted money and power to free himself of the controls of Parliament.  To this end in 1633, he sent Thomas Wentworth to Ireland to raise funds.  Wentworth fined the London Companies for failing to evict the Irish from their lands and persecuted the Presbyterians for refusing to renounce their faith. 

All the political fighting in England gave the Gaelic Lords an opportunity to recover their status.  Most of them were financially worse off under British Rule and they were further impoverished by the poor harvests of 1629 – 32.

Rory O’More of Armagh led a conspiracy of Irish Lords, including Sir Phelim O’Neill, which planned to revolt against their British rulers.  However, on the eve of the revolt, 22 October 1641, word leaked out and several of the ringleaders were arrested in Dublin.  That same night, in Ulster, O’Neill and others successfully seized Charlesmount, Dungannon, Newry and Lurgan with very little loss of life.

Belfast, Lisburn, Carrickfergus, Antrim and Larne successfully defended them selves.  After two weeks of revolt, the Irish Lords lost control and the natives turned Planters out of their Bawns into the night.  In Portadown 80 men, women and children were driven into the Bann.

In 1642, Major General Robert Monro landed at Carrickfergus and he successfully fought the Irish for 4 years killing men, women and children until he was defeated at Benburb in 1646.  The Irish however squandered this historic victory.

At this time, England was also fighting a Civil War.  By 1649, Cromwell had defeated Charles I and turned his attention to Ireland with swift and bloody results. At Drogheda, he put 2,600 to the sword.

By 1650, the rebellion was over and all the ringleaders executed.  The commonwealth confiscated the lands of the rebellious lords in Antrim, Down, Armagh and Monaghan.  Many landowners were replaced and the Gaelic aristocracy all but wiped out.  The Plantation under new management remained intact.

THE REVOLT IN COLERAINE

Coleraine did not escape the effects of the revolt sweeping north.  Many people fled the advancing hordes and took refuge inside the fortified town of Coleraine.  Under The control of Colonel Stewart, Coleraine repelled the attackers.  The population grew to 6000 including 1000 solders and 100 Calvary. For a town of 100 houses this was a great strain and after four months of siege, 100 to 150 people a week were dying of fever.

 Coleraine was eventually liberated by Monro in 1642. The control of Coleraine was to change hands several times during the English Civil War but did not suffer much physical damage, unlike Derry.    

RESULT OF THE PLANTATION

The effects of the Ulster Plantation can still be seen today.  These effects are both demographic and political.

From a demographic point of view, the new towns of Derry and Coleraine remain today and are prospering.  However, the city side of Derry is no longer in protestant hands.  The major strong hold of Protestantism today is in counties Antrim and Down and these counties were not in the plantation but settled by immigrant Scots in 1550-1605.

 From a political or religious point of view after the plantation, six-sevenths of all landowners were Protestants. However, the native Irish were still there and slowly over the centuries the balance has swung back.  Donegal and Cavan are now part of the Irish Republic and have very low protestant population.

Bibliography

Books

Jonathan Bardon, “A Shorter Illustrated History of Ulster”, 1996, BlackStaff Press ISBN 0-85640-586-8

Rev. T.H. Mullin D.D.  “Coleraine in by-gone centuries”, 1976, Century Services Ltd

Randall Clarke, M.A,  “A short History of Ireland from 1485 ….”, University Tutorial Press

Encyclopædia Britannica CDROM 1999

Library Resources

NI Centre for Learning Resources, “The Plantation of Ulster”

Educational Facsimiles 161-180 ”Plantations in Ulster”