Index

In addition to the Ulster plantation, several other small plantations occurred under the reign of the Stuart kings — James I and Charles I — in the early 17th century. The first of these took placed in north county Wexford in 1610. Following the precedent set in Wexford, there were other small plantations in Laois and Offaly, Longford, Leitrim and north Tipperary. In Laois and Offally, the Tudor plantation had consisted of a chain of military garrisons. In Munster, the peaceful first half of the 17th century saw thousands more English and Welsh settlers arrive in Munster. The settlers became concentrated in towns along the south coast — especially Youghal Bandon, Kinsale and Cork city. In addition to the plantations, thousands of independent settlers arrived in Ireland in the early 1600s, from the Netherlands and France as well as Britain. By 1641, there were calculated to be up to 125,000 Protestant settlers in Ireland, though they were still outnumbered by native Catholics by around 15 to 1.

After 1630, Scottish migration to Ireland waned for a decade. By the 1630s, there were 20,000 adult male British settlers in Ulster, which meant that the total settler population could have been as high as 80,000. They formed local majorities of the population in the Finn and Foyle valleys (around modern Derry and east Donegal) in north Armagh and East Tyrone while there had also been substantial settlement on officially unplanted lands in south Antrim and north Down, sponsored by Scottish landowner, James Hamilton. Many Scots went home after King Charles forced the Prayer Book of the Church of England on the Church of Ireland, thus denying the Scots their form of worship. In 1638, an oath was imposed on the Scots in Ulster, 'The Black Oath', binding them on no account to take up arms against the King. The settler population grew rapidly as just under half of the planters were women; a very high ratio compared to contemporary Spanish settlement in Latin America or English settlement in Virginia and New England. After 1630, Scottish migration to Ireland waned for a decade. In the 1630s many Scots went home after King Charles I of England forced the Prayer Book of the Church of England on the Church of Ireland, thus compelling the Presbyterian Scots to change their form of worship. In 1638, an oath was imposed on the Scots in Ulster, 'The Black Oath', binding them on no account to take up arms against the King. This occurred against the background of the Bishops Wars in Scotland - a Presbyterian uprising against King Charles I.

Wicklow

In 1632, land in Wicklow and a Plantation of Connacht reached settlement and only went ahead in County Sligo and County Roscommon and large groups of Connacht landowners complained to Charles I. Wentworth’s plans were interrupted by the outbreak of the Bishops Wars in Scotland when major Catholic landowners in Leinster was surveyed for similar treatment, including Butler dynasts. His constant questioning of Catholic land titles was one of the major causes of the 1641 Rebellion and the principal reason why it was joined by Ireland’s wealthiest and most powerful Catholic families.

In 1641, after a bad harvest and in a threatening political climate, the resentment of the native Irish in Ulster boiled over into indiscriminate attacks on the settler population in the Irish Rebellion of 1641, much throughout Ulster. It has been estimated that 4000 settlers were killed directly and up to 12,000 may have perished from disease or privation after being expelled from their homes. English writers put the figure in the majority from the 1/3 estimated.

 

The native Irish rebellion in 1640 was answered by the Scottish Army who considered themselves to be God's Army. The Scots were headquartered at Carickfergus with the intent of converting the Papists in Ireland to the Presbyterian faith. The Scottish Army failed and Cromwell took over with a war lasting until 1660. In answer to the incursion of the Protestant Scots, the Irish in the 17th century, banned Presbyterian services and outlawed their ministers. In the 1680's, a radical and dedicated Presbyterian sect labeled the Covenanters declared War on the English King. At the closing of the 17th century, English landowners again began the persecution of the Presbyterians. So many people left Scotland that they were compared to great swarms of bees rising from the fields. They included grass men of Lanarkshire and skilled grain growers from Wigton. Cattle were virtually the only wealth of the Scots.