A guide for your local studies
The following is a step by step guide which should progress you through the study of your chosen area. It is only a guide so feel free to deviate and come up with your own ideas.
I have put all of the lists and sources mentioned here, on reserve in a folder marked local studies, except those which I have already put in a folder for lecture 4.
You should begin by reading the relevant articles for your local county. If none are available then I suggest you read some of the local 17th century studies I gave in the reading list for lecture 4.
For example,
William Smyth, ‘Making the documents of conquest speak: the transformation of property, society, and settlement in seventeenth-century counties Tipperary and Kilkenny’, in Marilyn Silverman and P.H. Gullivar, Approaching the past: historical anthropology through Irish case studies (New York).
William J Smyth, ‘Territorial, social and settlement hierarchies in seventeenth century Kilkenny’, in William Nolan and Kevin Whelan (eds), Kilkenny history and society (Dublin, 1990).
Monica Brennan, ‘The changing composition of Kilkenny landowners, 1641-1700’, in William Nolan and Kevin Whelan (eds), Kilkenny history and society (Dublin 1990).
Daniel Gahan, ‘The estate system of County Wexford, 1641 -1876’, in Kevin Whelan and William Nolan (eds), Wexford history and society (Dublin 1987).
Catherine Ketch, ‘landownership in county Waterford c. 1640: the evidence from the civil survey’, in William Nolan and Thomas P. Power (eds), Waterford history and society (Dublin, 1992).
Feel free to supplement these with additional relevant studies of your area.
Maps etc
It would greatly enhance your studies if you were to include one or two maps showing the area of your study etc. I will hand out to everybody a barony and parish map showing the modern parishes and baronies.
The Civil Survey
An excellent starting point for your studies should be the Civil Survey as it gives a good description of parishes and baronies. Before using this source however, you should read J.G. Simms, ‘The Civil Survey, 1654-6’, Irish Historical Studies, ix (1955).
The Books of Survey and Distribution
I have already given everybody a print out of the information from the Books of Survey and Distribution for your respective areas. This will facilitate you in constructing a number of statistical tables that will reflect the changing patterns in Landholdings from 1641 through to the Restoration and Williamite period.
Some suggested tables might be;
1 A table of all the 1641 landowners with the number of acres they held.
2 A table of the 1641 landowners showing whose estates were confiscated or not.
3 A table of the Restoration landowners with the number of acres they held.
4 A table showing a breakdown of the 1641 acres by religion
5 A table showing the number of acres that were forfeited or not forfeited.
6 A table showing a breakdown of the 1680s acres by religion
Let me know if you need assistance with these tables and I will do them for you.
The transplantation to Connaught Lists
In order to help you find out if any of your 1641 landowners were transplanted to Connaught you will need to consult Robert C Simington, The Transplantation to Connacht, 1654-58 (Dublin, 1970). Before using this list you should read the introduction which will give you a broader understanding of how the list was compiled and the method by which the information is laid out. You should also read S.R. Gardiner, ‘The transplantation to Connaught’, English Historical Review, xiv (1899). As I have constructed a data base of this also, I can let you have information for any individual you suspect might have been transplanted to Connaught.
The List of the dispossessed landowners in Ireland.
If a person does not appear in the transplantation lists then check for them in a source called ‘Lists given to the Duke of Ormonde to select his nominees for restoration’. This can be found in the 'Dispossessed landowners of Ireland, 1664’, The Irish Genealogist, iv, no 4 (1971); iv, no 5 (1972).
The names that occur in this list are those of the heads of families who lost their lands during the Cromwellian period and who were not given a grant of land in Connaught.
In the 1660s the Duke of Ormonde was required to supply to the King a list of nominees who should be restored to all or part of their original estate. In order for him to do this he requested a list of landowners who had their estates confiscated in the 1650s and who had not been granted lands in Connaught. From this list Ormond was then going to recommend to the King who should be given special favour and restored to their original estates.
This list will also be useful to find out what might have happened to some of the original 1641 landowners in your area. For example, in some instances it is the son, daughter or wife of the 1641 owner that will appear in this list . When that occurs the fate of the original owner is sometimes given. For example, ‘killed in the kings service’ and so on.
When Ormond was given the original lists he was also given the reasons why a person on the list might be favoured or not. Check these qualifications out as the various categories under which people were put was coded according to a letter from the alphabet. For example, those marked with E after the entry were those named in His Majesty’s Declaration and Act of Settlement as specially meriting special favour.
The 1659 Census
The so called ‘1659 Census’ exists for all of the counties where you local studies are. This is a very useful source as it gives statistical information for baronies, parishes and townlands. For example it gives the numbers of English and Irish heads of households for each townland in your parish or baronies. At the end of each barony it also lists the names of the principle Irish names living there in 1659. This can be found in Seamus Pender (ed.), A census of Ireland, circa 1659 (Dublin, 1939). The introduction to this is quite usefull. A more important source to read that will show you how to use this source is William J. Smyth, Society and Settlement in Seventeenth Century Ireland: the evidence of the 1659 Census’, in William J Smyth and Kevin Whelan (eds), Common Ground: essays on the historical geography of Ireland (Cork, 1988).
The Acts associated with the Restoration land settlement.
These are useful in helping you to identify individuals who were specially named to be restored to their lands in the restoration period. As these are quite lengthy legalistic documents I can check them for the names of individuals if you request me to do it.
The First Court of Claims of 1663
As you know Catholics had to appear before this court to get a decree of Innocence which was supposed to mean that they could be restored to their estates. I have a typescript of the records of this court so I can look up any names you give me to see if they appeared, and, if so, what was the judgement of the court. I could also give you the proceedings of the court in relation to those individuals. You need to read Larry Arnold, ‘The Irish court of claims of 1663’, Irish Historical Studies, xxiv (1985).
The Second Court of Claims of 1665
After the Act of Explanation was passed, all those who had claims to land (Catholics, Protestant, Soldiers and Adventurers) had to appear to have their land grants confirmed. These names are included in ‘Catalogue of the Reports and Schedules addressed to the Court of Claims’ in Records Commission Ireland, Report 8 (1816). This source is useful in that it gives the grounds for the claim. This will enable you to see by what right the restoration landowners in your area of study got their land. For example, either as an Adventurer or Soldier, Letteree or Nominee and so on.
The Patent Rolls.
The final stage in the process was that all those who received or retained land had to have a letter patent passed which gave the amount of land, name of the townlands by baronies etc. These were published in 1825 and I have all of these. I will search this source for each of you and can give you the relevant patents.
Forfeited estates in 1700 and Estates purchased in 1703
If you wish to carry your study forward to the end of the 17th century, you will need to look at the lists of forfeited estates in 1700 and their disposal by sale in 1703. These lists can be found appended to J.G. Simms, The Williamite confiscation in Ireland, 1690-1703 (London, 1956).