CHAPTER V. THE COMMISSIONERS OF PLAntation at WORK. I. E have already mentioned the move of the commissioners, with their attendant military force, from Dublin to Dundalk, on the 31st of July, 1609, and also the preparations that had been previously made for their comfort on the northern journey (see p. 124). One of themselves, (1) fortunately, took the trouble of noting down the dates of their moving from place to place, and some other incidents connected with that memorable sojourn in Ulster. The heading of his notes is too pretentious, however, and calculated to excite higher hopes than readers are likely to realise. His paper is styled A Relation of the Proceedings of the Lord Deputy and the rest in Ireland, from 31 July to 30 September, when the camp was discharged. This title implies very much more than the scribe has performed; but we are grateful in a case of this kind even for small mercies, and his notes, although meagre, will be interesting by the way. The commissioners, according to this 'Relation,' remained two days in Dundalk, and during that time were employed, principally, in arranging their subsequent course of procedure. "In every county," we are told, "they were to summon the assizes, wereunto all people of any worth used to resort; of whom they were to swear some for the grand jury; others chosen of every barony for a jury of survey or inquiry what ecclesiastical lands, tenements, or hereditaments the clergy had in every parish within each county, and by what title; what lands and tenements belonged to the King's Majesty; and other articles prescribed from his Majesty. And, also, they agreed to select out of every barony men that were able to nominate, meere, and bound every parish, balliboe, or ballybetagh; and these were to attend Sir Josias Bodley (2) and the surveyor (3), who were to make card [chart or map] of every country." Thus, in addition to the regular (1). Of themselves.-This was Sir Humphrey Winche, who was chief baron of the exchequer, but had then recently succeeded Sir James Ley as chief justice. Chichester, writing to Salisbury, in Dec., 1608, says-"Sir Humphrey Winch, chief baron of the exchequer here, has been informed from thence that Sir James Ley, the chief justice, is to be preferred to some place there, and to return no more hither. Perceives by him [Winche] that he better affects the place of chief justice than this of the exchequer. He is a learned and upright gentleman. Is of opinion that a more fit man can hardly be sent from thence; if there be any such exchange, a man well experienced in the course of the exchequer there should succeed him, for his carriage in that court must bring [greater] profit to his Majesty than any [chosen] in this kingdom.' (2). Bodley.-Sir Josias Bodley, so well known in Ulster at the period referred to as a builder and mender of forts, an architect and engineer, was the fifth and youngest son of John Bodley, gent., and brother of that Sir Thomas Bodley whose name will be ever memorable as the founder of the library at Oxford known as the U Bodleian. After the defeat of the English at the Blackwater, on the 10th of August, 1598, a reinforcement was sent to Ireland of more than 1,000 men, who had been drawn home from the Low Countries, and were placed under the command of Sir Samuel Bagenal as colonel, with nine captains, Bodley being second on the list. He distinguished himself as an active and intelligent officer, but did not prosper in worldly matters so well as many who were much less deserving. Robert, the second Devereux Earl of Essex, had strenuously recommended Sir Thomas Bodley, the eldest brother, to be secretary, instead of Robert Cecil, who, as Earl of Salisbury, was prime minister of James I., and who, as such, had the conferring of patents of the forfeited lands in Ulster on Sir Josias Bodley's brother officers; but no good things in the scramble fell in his way. Bodley afterwards complained of unfair treatment, in several letters addressed to Sir Michael Hicks, Salisbury's secretary. See Ulster Journal of Archæology, vol. ii., pp. 97, 98. (3). The surveyor.-The surveyor-general at this time was William Parsons, who came to Ireland as a penniless adventurer, and, unlike Sir Josias Bodley, soon enriched himself on the spoils then so abundantly provided by routine of holding an assize in each county, there were certain other duties of a much more laborious nature. Of these, the first and most important was, to hold an inquisition in each of the six counties, for the purpose of distinguishing more correctly than had been done by the former commission, between the crown and ecclesiastical lands. "The commissioners," according to their own account published in the month of May, "may this summer proceed to make a more exact survey than the former was, wherein they may supply the omissions, assure the quantities, divide and plot the proportions, and make a model ready for casting the lots. By reason of the monastery lands, termon lands, bishops' lands, and church lands, which lie intermixed with the escheated lands, the casting out of the proportions will become very difficult." Another, and certainly a not less important labour was to arrive at something approaching to, if not altogether an accurate, admeasurement of the lands. The great precincts or baronies were to be truly described in separate maps or charts—a work which was to be done, not only by viewing every barony or precinct in succession, but by information gathered from the intelligent inhabitants in each district, verified by personal observation and experiment. This part of the commissioners' labours was expected to be so exactly performed, that the name and situation of every ballyboe, tate, quarter, and poll, would be preserved and expressed; and not only so, but the name of every lake, river, brook, wood, bog, fort, and any other landmark throughout the entire region the commissioners were then to traverse. Preliminaries being thus satisfactorily arranged, the commissioners came northward from Dundalk at the head of a formidable army, commencing their march on the morning of the third of August. The weather, strangely enough at that season, was stormy, and the North, no doubt, looked characteristically 'black.' The day was so wet, or as the chronicler expresses it, so 'foul,' that the party were obliged to pitch their camp "in the midst of the Fewes,”- —a rather indefinite description of their place of encampment. "The next morning," we are told, "they rose and passed through the rest of the Fewes, a long march, and pitched their tents within four miles of Armagh." At an earlier period, military expeditions coming northward invariably took the road leading from Dundalk through the level district of Cooley [the ancient Cuailgne], to Carlingford, confiscation. In 1602, he succeeded Sir Geoffry Fenton as surveyor-general of Ireland; and in 1620, on presenting to the King surveys of escheated estates, he received the honour of knighthood, and was created a baronet in the same year. He obtained large grants of land in the counties of Wicklow, Kildare, Meath, Cavan, Cork, Tipperary, Limerick, and Fermanagh. Sir Edward Brabazon, an honest outspoken privy councillor in Ireland, writing to Salisbury, in March, 1610, says: "The general surveyor [Parsons], now in England with the Treasurer, has raised his fortunes from nothing to great estate; he is sometimes the escheator's deputy, and thereby cheateth well for himself and his friends. About three years past he procured his pardon, and at this moment he has his fiant signed for another pardon." Parsons had been guilty of acts in his offices of surveyor and deputy escheator which might at some time have thoroughly compromised him, but for the protection afforded by these pardons. "The Humble Remonstrance of the Northern Catholics of Ireland now [1641] in arms" contains the following passage in reference to this man's deeds :- "The said Sir William Parsons hath been a mean to supplant out of their ancient possessions and inheritances many of the inhabitants of this realm upon old feigned titles of three hundred years past, and he thereupon procured the disposing of their lands by way of plantation; but he having the survey and measuring thereof, did most partially and corruptly survey the same, making [representing] the best land waste and unprofit able in his survey, and in the admeasurement did reduce more than the half of these plantations to fractions under an hundred acres, being of far greater measure; of which fractions the natives, antient possessors thereof, were wholly defeated, and your Majesty not answered thereout any rent or other consideration, but the same wholly disposed of by the said Parsons for his private lucre." 6 and thence along the southern shore of the lough to Newry. The coast, from the head of Dundalk bay, is nearly all a sandy beach, left dry over a breadth of between one and two miles, and forming the edge or rim of a slowly sloping expanse of inland country. The upper or inland road from Dundalk northward, lay along the Fews mountains, a long march,' for the ancient territory of the Fews [now comprised in the two modern baronies of the same name], was seventeen miles in length. This mountain road was considered a dangerous one for English troops, as the adjoining woods afforded the amplest cover to the native Irish enemy. But the danger had been removed at the time of this journey in 1609, and principally by the energy of Mountjoy, who caused large fragments of the woods to be hewn down during the war with O'Neill, and a fort to be built at the celebrated Moyry Pass, then known as the gate to Ulster. The railway now runs exactly along the line of Chichester's march from Dundalk, and the remains of this fort still crown the hill, at a little distance westward from the line. The encampment of the commissioners, on the night of the 3rd of August, was, no doubt, at or near this fort which commanded Moyry pass. The next day's march lay through the remaining part of the Fews, and was broken probably by a brief halt at Fort-Norris. Thence the cavalcade could see at some distance eastward, the outlines at least of those extensive earthworks thrown up originally for the protection of Hugh O'Neill's army, and still retaining the name of Tyrone's Ditches. These vestiges are in the parish of Ballymore, barony of Lower Orior, between Acton and Poyntz-pass, and in a part of the country extremely well fortified by nature. The halt near Armagh, on the evening of Thursday, the 4th, was made for a special purpose, which delayed their progress longer, no doubt, than was expected. The chief justice states that they "there rested the Friday and Saturday, which they spent in hearing the claims of the lord primate, the surveyors setting in certainty the limits of some land. They passed the Thursday [Sunday] in observing many particulars from the inhabitants of the country, who gathered to the camp as they passed. On Monday, the 7th of August, they came to Armagh; there they began the assizes, proceeding according to their former resolutions [at Dundalk], and ended on Saturday following." The real work of the commission, therefore, was begun on Monday, the 8th, at Armagh, the members of each section devoting themselves to their special labours during the week. The assize work in Armagh, and throughout the other counties was very light in 1609, and contrasted remarkably with the state of affairs at the same time in 1608. So few and trifling, indeed, were the duties of lawyers and judges on this occasion, that Davys, in writing to Salisbury at the conclusion of their peregrinations, informed the latter that there had not been so profound a peace as then prevailed in Ulster, since the time of the conquest,-meaning since the invasions of Ireland by the English in the twelfth century. The work of the commissioners was thus, in one department at least, greatly abridged; so that, by the time the lands of the county were divided into precincts, measured, and laid off in proportions, the assize business was over, and the inquisition as to the portions belonging respectively to the Crown and the Church completed. They divided the county for plantation purposes into five great precincts, or rather they adopted the five baronial divisions as so many precincts, one of which named Toughranny [now Tyrany], was not available for plantation, two others only partially so, and the remaining two yielding but comparatively scant portions of the lands contained in each. In a paper recording the number, names, and quantities of the great precincts, or baronies "which may be clearly disposed to undertakers," the county of Armagh is represented as standing thus :-"Orier, 15,500 acres; Oneilan, 16,500 acres; Fewes, 6,000 acres; and Ardmagh, 4,500 acres." The barony or precinct of Toughranny was pre-occupied, being held in part by the primate in virtue of his archbishoprick, and by the heirs of Sir Henry Oge O'Neill. The barony of Fewes was only partially available, being held to a considerable extent by the Church, and by Sir Tirlagh McHenry O'Neill. The same may be said of the barony or precinct of Armagh, the lands therein being largely in possession of the Church and Dublin College. On Friday, the 12th of August, was held the inquisition which was to distinguish more clearly than any previous investigation had done the temporal and ecclesiastical lands of Armagh, and to decide according to sufficient evidence, the controversy between the Crown and the Church as to the rightful ownership of the termon and herenagh lands. The commissioners present on this occasion were Sir A. Chichester, the Archbishop of Dublin, the Archbishop of Armagh, Sir Thomas Ridgeway, Sir Humphrey Winche, Sir Oliver St. John, Sir Oliver Lambert, Sir Garrett Moore, Sir John Davys, and William Parsons, surveyor-general. It was rather remarkable that the Bishop of Derry, who was mainly interested in the question of the termon lands, was absent; but he afterwards made his appearance when the commissioners were traversing his own diocese. The jurors, appointed to assist the commissioners, were selected, with one exception, from the leading septs or families of the county, their names being as follow: 1. Marmaduke Whitechurch, Esq. 2. Sir Tirlagh [M'Henry] O'Neale, Knight. 3. Carberie McCann. 4. Donagh Morchie [Murphy]. 5. Tirlagh McIteggart. 6. Christopher Fleminge. 7. Conn O'Neale. 8. Hugh McBrien McCann. 9. Donell McHenry O'Neale. 10. Neal McCoddane. 11. Donell McCann, 12. Redmond Hanlon. 13. Owen boy McMurcho. 14. Neale O'Calligan. 15. Hugh McHenry O'Neale. 16. Patrick Oge O'Conrie. 17. Cormack McTirlagh Braslowe O'Neale. 18. Bartholemew Owen. 19. Hugh McIteggart. 20. Tirlagh O'Cassaye. 21. Nice [Angus] O'Quin. The evidence submitted at this investigation tended to confirm the commissioners in their belief that the termon and herenagh lands did not rightfully belong to the bishops in demesne, although they had received therefrom certain chiefries and duties; and that if really belonging to the septs or families by whom they were occupied, these lands must then be considered as vested in the Crown by the Act known as the 11th of Elizabeth. In reference to the true ownership of the disputed lands in Armagh "the said jurors doe upon their oathes say and present that certain septs and families of the Irishrie hereafter named, have tyme out of mynde, possessed and inherited, according to the Irish custom, certen townes and parceles of land, hereafter specified, lying within the meares and boundes aforesaid, yeelding unto the archbushop of Ardmagh for the tyme being, in right of his archbushoppricke, onelye the rents and dueties ensuinge, viz., the sept of Pierce McGillechrany and their auncestors, tyme out of mynde, have been seized of, and in Gargagh, Imolchraine, and Balliheredene, contayninge half a towne land, yeelding and paying thereout yerely unto the archbishop of Armagh for the tyme being, ten shillings per ann." Immediately after this statement, the names of many septs are recited, together with the names of the several lands held by them respectively, the jurors further stating on their oaths "that the lord archbishop of Armagh for the tyme being could not att any tyme att his will and pleasure remove the above septs or families, or any of them, nor any of their auncestors, out of their said possessions or freeholds aforesaid." Besides the immediate question involved in the termon and herenagh lands, there are occasionally curious references to other matters in this Inquisition. Thus, the following passage explains to us where, and why, the Galloglass country existed in Armagh. "And further, the said jurors doe upon their oathes say and present, that within the territorie or Irish precinct of land called Toaghaghie, within the baronie of Armagh, the auncestors of Sir Henrie McTirlagh McHenrie O'Neale, Knight, longe before the tyme of Con Backagh O'Neale, were seized by virtue of a guift made longe sithence by one of the predecessors of the nowe lord archbushopp of Armagh, of, and in the townes and landes ensuinge, viz., of and in the townes and landes of Lisdromard, Ballyhoyed, Bothoran, Tawlaghboe, Balliduff, Collintra, Brackawnagh, Tonnagh, Agherefinn, Tree, Balleaghebeg, Balledeanin, and Balleskan, with the appurtenances, yeelding and payinge to the lord archbushopp of Ardmagh for the tyme beinge a small rent, the certentie whereof the jurors know not; and that Sir Tirlagh McHenrie's auncestors have bene tyme out of mynde seized thereof, and being to bear the bonnaght of some of the galloglasses for [the] O'Neale, did give to the said galloglasses foure of the said townes for their bonnaghts." These lands came to be known as the galloglass country, and being forfeited and vested in the Crown by the 11th of Elizabeth, were granted by her to Captain Thomas Chatterton (see p. 64). The latter, however, was soon slain by the men of Orior, and his heirs never ventured to carry out the terms of the grant, which, of course, became void. Sir Tirlagh McHenry O'Neill was naturally anxious afterwards to get back this fragment of his ancestrial lands, but could not prevail with the Government to surrender it, although he took a journey all the way to London about his claim. Chichester thought it might be good policy to gratify Sir Tirlagh in this matter, but did not mention that the lands in question had belonged to this ancient branch of the O'Neill family. In his [Chichester's] "notes of remembrances," he says:-"Sir Tyrlagh McHenry has been very earnest with him to enlarge his possession of land of the Fues, the same being more wood and bog than pasture or arable ground. Has promised to be a suitor to his Majesty to bestow upon him a part of Toghrighie [Toaghaghie] which lies adjoining unto the Fues, and thinks it well given if that will make him and his sons honest [loyal to the Government], which he humbly recommends to his Majesty and the Lords." The concluding paragraph of this Inquisition is sufficiently significant, as showing how much |