1661 forfeitures and settlements
The armies of the English Commonwealth, commanded by Oliver Cromwell came to Ireland in 1649. Over the next four years his army defeated all military opposition in a series of bloody sieges and battles, which included the notorious massacres at Drogheda and Wexford in late 1649. Although Catholic Irish resistance proved very stubborn, by 1652 Ireland suffered a demographic disaster with up to 25% of the population dying as a result of deliberately induced famine, which also encouraged the spread of diseases such as dysentery and the plague.
By 1653, when the last formal surrenders of the war took place, the country had been devastated, the population decimated, the economic infrastructure destroyed. The English had effectively created a blank slate in Ireland onto which they now sought to project a new plantation society. The armies of the English Commonwealth, commanded by Oliver Cromwell, emerged victorious and immediately undertook an ambitious project of social engineering, underpinned by a massive transfer in landownership from Irish Catholics to English Protestants as a way of recompensing their soldiers. For this to happen, the land had to be accurately surveyed and mapped, a task overseen by the surgeon-general of the English army, William Petty.
The Down Survey of Ireland
Taken in the years 1656-1658, the Down Survey of Ireland is the first ever detailed land survey on a national scale anywhere in the world. The survey sought to measure all the land to be forfeited by the Catholic Irish in order to facilitate its redistribution to Merchant Adventurers and English soldiers.
The Down Survey of Ireland Project was funded by the Irish Research Council under its Research Fellowship Scheme. The project began on 1 October 2011 and was completed on 31 March 2013. Read more about the Project here.
The townlands of Lackagh Parish can be accessed by clicking on the button below which brings you to the interactive map on the Trinity College Dublin website. Next, click on a townland on the map to view details of the 1641 owner and the 1670 owner.
By 1653, when the last formal surrenders of the war took place, the country had been devastated, the population decimated, the economic infrastructure destroyed. The English had effectively created a blank slate in Ireland onto which they now sought to project a new plantation society. The armies of the English Commonwealth, commanded by Oliver Cromwell, emerged victorious and immediately undertook an ambitious project of social engineering, underpinned by a massive transfer in landownership from Irish Catholics to English Protestants as a way of recompensing their soldiers. For this to happen, the land had to be accurately surveyed and mapped, a task overseen by the surgeon-general of the English army, William Petty.
The Down Survey of Ireland
Taken in the years 1656-1658, the Down Survey of Ireland is the first ever detailed land survey on a national scale anywhere in the world. The survey sought to measure all the land to be forfeited by the Catholic Irish in order to facilitate its redistribution to Merchant Adventurers and English soldiers.
The Down Survey of Ireland Project was funded by the Irish Research Council under its Research Fellowship Scheme. The project began on 1 October 2011 and was completed on 31 March 2013. Read more about the Project here.
The townlands of Lackagh Parish can be accessed by clicking on the button below which brings you to the interactive map on the Trinity College Dublin website. Next, click on a townland on the map to view details of the 1641 owner and the 1670 owner.