Plantation of Ulster - summary sheet Keywords / Timeline:

1. Background to Ulster plantation

How & Why the Tudors wanted to conquer Ireland

1. Military conquest - Henry VIII, Elizabeth I

Anglo-Irish lords rebelled: Fitzgeralds of Kildare and Fitzgeralds of Desmond
2. Plantations - Laois-Offaly (1556) - Queen Mary I
Munster (1586) - Queen Elizabeth I

Nine Years War (1594-1603)

● Hugh O’Neill of Tyrone, Hugh O’Donnell of Donegal

● Battle of Yellow Ford (Armagh)- victory for Gaelic chiefs; rebellion in Munster
● Philip II of Spain sent ships & 4,000 soldiers to help the Gaelic chiefs
● Battle of Kinsale, 1601 - Ulster chiefs defeated by English (turning point!)
● Treaty of Mellifont, 1603 after this the English tried to impose their laws & language
● Flight of the Earls, 1607 - Hugh O’Neill and other chiefs left Ulster for Europe
(creating a power vacuum); King James I declared them traitors and confiscated their lands

James I planned the plantation of Ulster because he wanted…

● a loyal population in what was at that time the most Gaelic province of Ireland
(and most likely to rebel against him)
● to protect England against invasion by France & Spain
● a Protestant population (he feared Catholics would be disloyal)
● to establish English culture & language (believed they were superior to Gaelic)
● to gain money for the English crown (rents paid to him by landowners)
● to pay soldiers and officials who fought for the crown in the Nine Years war

2. The Plantation of Ulster

James I’s Plans for the Plantation of Ulster

● Six counties: Donegal, Tyrone, Fermanagh, Armagh, Derry, Cavan
(not Antrim and Down because these were privately planted)
● Church land (Church of England & Trinity College)
Crown Land (given to loyal settlers and for building towns)
● Surveys carried out by James I’s officials (1609)
● Crown Land divided into estates:
Large (2,000 acres), Medium (1,500 acres) and Small (1,000 acres)
● Undertakers (mainly wealthy English / Scottish landowners)
were to receive the best and largest estates
● Servitors (soldiers and officials who had fought in the Nine Years War)
were to receive smaller estates
● Loyal Irish (Native Irish lords who were loyal to England during the Nine Years war)
were to receive smaller estates on less favourable land and would have to pay higher rents
● Defense: Large estates required a bawn, stone house and defensive tower or
castle; Medium estates required a bawn and stone house, Small estates required a bawn
Plantation Towns: Londonderry (Derry) & Coleraine

● James I gave land in the county of Derry to 12 companies of London merchants

(e.g. drapers) to build towns (Londonderry & Coleraine)
● Features of plantation towns: walls surrounding the town, planned grid streets,
central square or diamond

Success of the Plantation

● More successful than Laois-Offaly & Munster

● Established Protestant religion
● Established English law
● Established English farming methods
● Native Irish were not completely removed from the land but many were given land
in isolated and less fertile areas in the west of Ulster
● Established a loyal population - by 1641, 40,000 English and Scottish settlers
● BUT more settlers arrived after the years of official plantation (1610-1625) -
therefore success / settlement of English and Scottish was due more to other factors than
the plantation itself

Consequences / Impact of the Plantation on Identity

1. Population changed: English and Scottish settlers, new religions - Church of

Ireland and Presbyterian, reflected in the surnames of settlers, Scottish were largest
group (80,000 came between 1690-98 due to famine in Scotland), brought Ulster Scots
(language)

2. New towns: 20 new planned towns built with wide grid streets and central
square or diamond where church or courthouse built and markets were held; they were
centres of business, government and trade; new English-style box-framed houses built and
English /Scottish architecture influenced the castles

3. Economy: English farming methods - more crops than cattle; forests were cut
down, the timber was exported or used to build houses; roads were built to connect the
new towns which led to the creation of inns; mills were built for early industry; trade with
England, Scotland and the New World (Americas) prospered

4. Gaelic Irish: most became tenants on estates of undertakers, servitors & loyal
Irish; some became tories (outlaws); English & Scottish feared them (Woodkern); culture
& language declined (Ulster no longer the ‘most Gaelic’ province); replaced by English
Common law & language; many Gaelic Irish lost lands

5. Conflicts based on identity: 1641 rebellion & massacre; 1649 Cromwell’s

massacre at Drogheda; 1652 Cromwell’s plantation created the Protestant Ascendancy
(Protestants owned 85% of the land in Ireland); 1688-9 Siege of Derry; 1690 Battle of
the Boyne; 19th & 20th Centuries conflicts between Unionists and Nationalists;
Troubles (1969-1998)

Symbols remain important for expressing identity (religious, political)

in Northern Ireland & for commemorating historical events