The Land-War in Ireland: A History for the TimesGodkin, James
History
The Land-War in Ireland: A History for the Times
Godkin, James
Ireland -- Economic conditions; Land tenure -- Ireland
With respect to rents, Sir Toby Caulfield left a memorandum, stating
that there was no certain portion of Tyrone's land let to any of his
tenants that paid him rent, and that such rents as he received were
paid to him partly in money and partly in victuals, as oats, oatmeal,
butter, hogs, and sheep. The money-rents were chargeable on all the
cows, milch or in calf, which grazed on his lands, at the rate of
a shilling a quarter each. The cows were to be numbered in May and
November by the earl's officers, and 'so the rents were taken up at
said rate for all the cows that were so numbered, except only the
heads and principal men of the _creaghts_, as they enabled them to
live better than the common multitude under them, whom they caused to
pay the said rents, which amounted to about twelve hundred sterling
Irish a year.
'The butter and other provisions were usually paid by those styled
horsemen--O'Hagans, O'Quins, the O'Donnillys, O'Devolins, and others.'
These were a sort of middle men, and to some of them an allowance was
made by the Government. 'Thus for example, Loughlin O'Hagan, formerly
constable of the castle of Dungannon, received in lieu thereof a
portion of his brother Henry's goods, and Henry O'Hagan's wife and her
children had all her husband's goods, at the suit of her father Sir
G. O'Ghy O'Hanlon, who had made a surrender of all his lands to the
crown.'
The cattle were to be all numbered over the whole territory in one
day, a duty which must have required a great number of men, and sharp
men too; for, if the owners were dishonestly inclined, and were
as active in that kind of work as the peasantry were during the
anti-tithe war in our own time, the cattle could be driven off into
the woods or on to the lands of a neighbouring lord. However, during
the three years that Caulfield was receiver, the rental amounted
to 12,000 l. a year, a remarkable fact considering the enormous
destruction of property that had taken place during the late wars, and
the value of money at that time.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account