In the history of the British Isles no stronger events ever occurred than
those that led to the Londonderry Plantation: those events had momentous
consequences, not only for Ireland, but for the political development of
England. The far-reaching effects are still very much with us today.
During the Tudor period both State and dynasty face great dangers, not least
when Ireland almost became a base for a Counter-Reformation invasion by Spanish
and Irish forces. The most unruly part of Ireland was the north, where in
Elizabethan times a rebellion took several years to quell. The Flight of the
Ulster Earls in 1607, left huge tracts of land forfeit to the Crown, which then
coerced the City of London to finance and carry out the 'Plantation', or
colonisation, of part of the area with loyal settlers, to prevent future
rebellion.
In this massive and scholarly study, Dr Curl traces the historical events
throughout three centuries of London's involvement in Ireland, up to 1914, from
the original planning and building of towns and villages and the movement of
colonists, through the 17th century uprising (with its slaughter of settlers,
wholesale destruction, and the later Jacobite war), to the slow recovery in the
18th century and the major building programmed of the 19th century. He deals in
detail with the individual Livery Companies, in the 'Proportions' that each has
been obliged to develop and colonise, identifying their Planners and Architects,
and using original documentation with great skill to reveal the personalities
involved. Throughout the work he describes the dilemma of the native Irish
resistance with insight and sensitivity, and investigates the problems of the
colonists with care and understanding.
The author's vivid text brings to life an extraordinary short that will be as
invaluable to architectural and urban historians as it is to all with an
interest in England, Irish and London history. For the local historian in Ulster
its publication is a landmark. Perhaps most of all the book should be studied by
all to whom the Ulster problem is an enigma, for it establishes the historical
basis of that problem from impeccable sources, expressed in measured prose.
Contents:
List of Plates
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. The Historical Background to the Londonderry Plantation
2. The Creation of the County of Londonderry and the Involvement of the City of
London in the Ulster Plantation
3. The First Years of Endeavour in Ulster, and the Distribution of Land in
County Londonderry
4. The Londonderry Plantation from 1617 to the Great Rebellion and its Aftermath
5. The Plantation from the Restoration to the Beginning of the Present Century
6. The Estates of the Mercers' Company
7. The Estates of the Grocers' Company
8. The Estates of the Drapers' Company
9. The Estates of the Fishmongers' Company
10. The Estates of the Goldsmiths' Company
11. The Estates of the Skinners' Company
12. The Estates of the Merchant Taylors' Company
13. The Estates of the Haberdashers; Company
14. The Estates of the Salters' Company
15. The Estates of the Ironmongers' Company
16. The Estates of the Vintners' Company
17. The Estates of the Clothworkers' Company
18. The Estates of Sir Thomas Phillips
Afterword
Colour Plates
Explanatory Figures
Notes
General Bibliography
Index
