Plantation of Ulster 400 year Anniversary

The counties in Ireland subjected to British plantations (1556 to 1620). Note that this map is a simplified one, as the amount of land colonised did not cover the entire shaded area.

History Ireland commemorated the 400th anniversary of the Plantation of Ulster in a special issue.

(November/December 2009 issue, Vol. 17 No. 6)

The following are among the most useful articles for schools in Britain.

Introduction: A laboratory for empire
In introducing the special issue, Éamonn Ó Ciardha and Micheál Ó Siochrú argue that the Plantation of Ulster provided a successful template for British conquest, plantation and imperialism in the Americas, the Caribbean and the Indian subcontinent. (pp 10-11)

Prelude to plantation: Sir Cahir O'Doherty's rebellion in 1608
Henry A. Jefferies investigates why Cahir O'Doherty, an Irish loyalist, rebelled against the British Crown in 1608 and precipitated the plantation. (pp 16-19)

A very British problem: the Stuart Crown and the Plantation of Ulster
With a Scot wearing the crowns of England, Scotland and Ireland in 1609, Jenny Wormald explains how the Plantation of Ulster had to be a ‘British problem'. (pp 20-3)

Dispossession and reaction: the Gaelic literati and the Plantation of Ulster
How did the Gaelic élite of Ulster respond to their dispossession? Marc Caball analyses the work of some bardic poets to provide an answer. (pp 24-7)

Reluctant colonisers: the City of London and the plantation of Coleraine
James Stevens Curl outlines how the Crown, lacking the means to implement the plantation plan itself, opted for colonisation-on-the-cheap by turning to the Livery Companies of the City of London. (pp 42-5)

1609: the Ulster Plantation in the Iberian context
As Ireland commemorates the 400th anniversary of the Ulster Plantation, Spain is attempting to recover the tragic story of the expulsion of the ‘Moriscos', Muslims who outwardly or sincerely converted to Christianity but who retained their own language, culture, customs and lifestyle. Igor Pérez Tostado teases out the connections. (pp 38-41)

Visualising the Plantation: mapping the changing face of Ulster
Maps provide a strong visual narrative of the transformation of the Ulster landscape during the early decades of plantation, as they display the new estates, the architecture and the progress of English settlement across the province. Annaleigh Margey gives an overview of the cartographic archives and examines some of the categories of maps for the Ulster Plantation in detail. (pp 42-5)

1607 and all that: memory and Irish and American exceptionalism
Patrick Griffin muses on the 400th anniversary of two interrelated events (the Flight of the Earls from Ulster and the planting of Jamestown in Virginia) that would have unrivalled significance for the histories of three nations. (pp 46-9)

The Guildhall: Derry's museum in glass
Billy Kelly traces the Maiden City's historical narrative in the stained glass windows - ‘illustrations, consecutive in character' - of its neo-Gothic Guildhall. (pp 66-9)

Note from Ireland in Schools
Web site: Ireland in Schools     

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