Commodities and the Import Trade in Early Plantation Ulster

Abstract

As a new wave of British settlers moved into Ulster following the plantation there in the early seventeenth century, ports, towns, markets and fairs were both established and further developed. The survival of the port books for Londonderry, Coleraine, Carrickfergus and the Lecale ports of County Down for the years 1612–15 offers detailed information of goods imported into Ulster which affords us insights into the consumer habits and preferences of the British settlers now living in that province. While it was hoped by some that the introduction of a new market and trade culture would have a ‘civilising’ effect upon the Gaelic Irish, evidence of consumer preferences tells a somewhat different story, which a study of Ulster’s import trade and settler society in early Plantation Ulster can illustrate.