Williamite plantation of Clare post 1691

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matthewmacnamara
Posts: 139
Joined: Mon Mar 28, 2011 6:38 pm

Williamite plantation of Clare post 1691

Post by matthewmacnamara » Mon Aug 27, 2018 4:36 pm

Would any person know of literature or documentation
on the Williamite plantation of Clare post 1691?

Sduddy
Posts: 1826
Joined: Sun Sep 26, 2010 10:07 am

Re: Williamite plantation of Clare post 1691

Post by Sduddy » Tue Aug 28, 2018 10:19 am

Hi Matthew

This thesis by Terri Shoosmith, “Settlement and Social Change in the Barony of Tulla”: https://aran.library.nuigalway.ie/bitst ... sequence=1 has many mentions of the effect of Williamite War on the Barony of Tulla (not just the parish) including the confiscations. I know this is not an answer to your query, but her footnotes may lead you to one.

Sheila

matthewmacnamara
Posts: 139
Joined: Mon Mar 28, 2011 6:38 pm

Re: Williamite plantation of Clare post 1691

Post by matthewmacnamara » Tue Aug 28, 2018 10:39 am

Many thanks SDuddy.

I will follow up your source.

One reason for the query is to discover how the
Conyngham estate got so much land in Clare,
including most of Meelick.

The Landed Estates website on the Conynghams
seems to point in the Williamite direction.

matthewmacnamara
Posts: 139
Joined: Mon Mar 28, 2011 6:38 pm

Re: Williamite plantation of Clare post 1691

Post by matthewmacnamara » Thu Aug 30, 2018 5:46 pm

This extract from evidence given by the [infamous] Conyngham land agent Marcus Keane to a parliamentary commission of inquiry in 1881 mentions a
Williamite plantation of Meelick.


I may mention a case on part of Lord Conyngham’s estate at Meelick. About one hundred years ago it was let on leases for three lives to a very respectable tenantry – a Protestant colony who had come there in King William’s time – all very intelligent and respectable men.

I take it that the land came to the Conynghams through the Burtons.

Sduddy
Posts: 1826
Joined: Sun Sep 26, 2010 10:07 am

Re: Williamite plantation of Clare post 1691

Post by Sduddy » Fri Aug 31, 2018 10:20 am

Hi Matthew

Well, I just looked at the Coynghams on the Landed Estates site: http://www.landedestates.ie, and it looks like the Conyghams made a very wise move when they backed Williamite side. I don’t know if their estate in Meelick was granted to them after the Williamite* war, but certainly they were confirmed in any estates they already held. That site shows that they were connected to other important families, including the Burtons (as mentioned by you): http://landedestates.nuigalway.ie:8080/ ... sp?id=1891

*For anyone not much into history: The Williamite War in Ireland was a part of a European war, often called the War of the Three Kings (1689 – 1691): Louis XIV of France, James II of England, who as a Catholic was a threat to his Protestant subjects - especially when a son was born to him in 1688 , and William of Orange. There’s a nice clear piece in askaboutireland, which does not take long to read: http://www.askaboutireland.ie/narrative ... ar-in-ire/
The supporters of James (Jacobites), who fled Ireland afterwards, were called The Wild Geese. Some of these were from the upper strata of society, but some were not. Lord Clare, for instance, brought his own army from Ireland, along with their wives and children, natives of Carrigaholt (I got this from a very interesting, information-packed article ‘The Regiment of Clare, 1689-1775’, by Kieran Kennedy in The Other Clare, Vol 25 (2001)).

Sheila

matthewmacnamara
Posts: 139
Joined: Mon Mar 28, 2011 6:38 pm

Re: Williamite plantation of Clare post 1691

Post by matthewmacnamara » Sat Sep 08, 2018 11:41 am

Thanks Sheila,

I imagine that what Marcus Keane had to say was accurate. The Burtons were in Meelick until the 18th
century at least, and gave their name to a townland. And built the Church of Ireland church at
Punchbowl.

Local tradition however ascribed an earlier Cromwellian origin to families such as Frost and Ringrose [mine
maternally].

I take it that Meelick was part of the Cromwellian cordon sanitaire - five mile strip along the Shannon.

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