The transplantation of Connacht 1650s
Under the Commonweath
laws of England, Connacht and Clare were separated from the rest of the country as preserved areas. Those having rights to favour or mercy
were to transport themselves to Connacht and Clare by the 1st
March 1654. It was
provided that proprietors of lands within that province and county should have due recompence in other lands, within these
parts, for the value of lands assigned out of their estates to transplanters.
The Lord president
of Connacht
,Sir Charles Coote, demanded in 1657 that the original Strafford survey should be sent to enable him to “pass a patent”
of lands which he has bought from transplanters. He was no doubt among the first of the “Connaught purchasers”.
The accommodation
of transplanters from other provinces and counties was on a baronial basis. With the exception of Aran all the Galway baronies were assigned
in 1656 for the reception of “inhabitants” from other places.
For “inhabitants”
of Ulster exclusive of those from Down and Antrim , the baronies of Tiaquin, Moycullen, Ross and Ballynahinch were provided,
exclusive of what was reserved by the line of the sea; to the inhabitants of Cork and Wexford fell the baronies of Clare,
Dunkellin, and KIlltartan, the line of the sea being again reserved; to those of Kilkenny, Meath, Longford, King’s County and Tipperary was allotted the barony of Ballymoe; for the “inhabitants”
of Carlow, Waterford and Limerick was provided the baronies of Loughrea, Leitrim, Dunmore, Kilconnell, and Athenry; finally
those of Louth and Wicklow were assigned the baronies of Killian, Clanmacnowen and Longford, excepting and reserving what
was in the line.
The Lord Lieutenant
and Governor General of Ireland, Lord Henry Cromwell was a beneificiary
in the barony of Longford.
He will always be
remembered for the historic exemption during his reign at Dublin Castle, of certain persons from transplantation to Connacht:
Order concerning Popish
schoolmasters to be transplanted into Connaught.
The council take into
consideration that such persons corrupt the youth of this nation with popish principles. Such Schoolmasters are to be secured,
and put on board of such ship as is bound for the Islands of Barbadoes.
From The Books of
Survey and Distribution Intro. to Vol 111.
