Scheme for the Plantation of Ulster
Meanwhile, a Commission had been appointed to consider the question of the proposed Ulster Plantation. As was to be expected, they found that the lands of six counties—Tyrone, Armagh, Coleraine (Derry), Donegal, Fermanagh and Cavan—were justly forfeit to the Crown. This great area was not, however, to be entirely cleared of its Irish inhabitants. According to a report made in 1611, the amount of land confiscated was 503,458 acres But as only land considered arable was reckoned, and as frauds and false descriptions were frequent, it is quite impossible to say what acreage this really represented.
The error which had been made in the Munster Plantation, of giving to individuals huge estates, which they could neither cultivate themselves nor find a sufficiency of suitable tenants to occupy, was here to be avoided. The land was divided into lots of 2,000, 1,500 and 1,000 acres, and these lots were to be assigned to be occupied to persons of three classes. The Undertakers, on whom most of the largest lots were bestowed, were ordinary colonists, either English or Scotch. They were not permitted to take Irish tenants.
The Servitors were those who had held office in Ireland under the Government, and they might, if they choose, let portion of their lands to the Irish, but if they did so, the rent which they themselves were to pay to the Crown would be increased from £5 6s. 8d. per 1,000 acres to £8. On the other hand, persons of the third class, the Natives, must not receive as tenants anyone but their own countrymen. Estates were also made over to the University of Dublin, founded by Queen Elizabeth in 1593. As a rule only small estates were given to the Irish, and the total that they received was scarcely one-tenth of the whole. They were required to pay a much larger rent than either the Undertakers or the Servitors, £10 13s. per r,ooo acres.
A special offer of the land to be confiscated in the Co. of Coleraine (Derry) was made by Chichester to the London City Guilds, and was accepted by them. They formed themselves, for the purposes of the Plantation, into an association, which was to be called ” the Irish Company,” and to which, in its corporate capacity, the towns of Derry and Coleraine were assigned. The rest of the land was divided into twelve parts, each of which was to be ” planted ” by a special Guild. No tenants, save English or Scotch, were to be admitted on any of the ” Company’s ” lands.
