The Irish and the economy of plantation Ulster

Abstract

This paper examines the place of the native Irish population in the economy of plantation Ulster between the outset of the project and the rising of 1641. Evidence concerning landholding, rents and employment, as well as the promotional literature and administrative records of the time, is marshalled to highlight a significant divergence between the professed intentions of the state and the reality of economic developments as they affected the Irish. Distinction is also made between the landless class of Gaelic society, those made landless by the plantation, and those ‘deserving Irish’ who received grants of land in the project. The discrete fate of each of these groups is traced, and a native population which remained physically present but largely unintegrated into the economy is posited.