The Cromwellian Settlement of Limerick
THE CROMWELLIAN SETTLEMENT OF THE COUNTY OF LIMERICK. P BY JAMES GRENE BARRY, Y.R.S.A.I. Some preliminary remarks are necessary to lead up to my subject, and to explain how the Crornwellian settlement came about.. In a previous paper I showed the results of the Desmond con- fiscations, and the consequent settlement of this county under Queen Elizabeth. After the Flight of the Earls in 1607, English and Scotch " Undertakers," as they were called, got grants to the extent of three million acres in the six escheated Ulster counties (I). In these grants, however, only the arable Iand is mentioned or measured, amounting to 511,467 acres. The mountains, bogs, and uncultivated lands were treated as " waste land " ; but, in course of time, we find this "waste land " was taken possession of by the grantees. The native Irish were restored," as it is called, to about 75,000 acres of arable land, and, we may assume, also acquired a due proportion of L' waste land." It must be remembered that this Ulster Settlement under James I. was unlike the Munster Settlement of his predecessors, as - there had been no general rising or overt act of treason committed by the old proprietors. After the defeat of the Irish at the battle of Kinsale, in 1603, O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, had made his submission and was graciously received into favour by King James in bndon. Hugh OPDonnellwas, on his submission, created Earl of Tyrconnell. P- - (I) The six counties were Armagh, Tyrone, Coleraine (now Derry), Donegal, Fermanagh, and Cavan.
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