|
To Hell or Connacht
The execution of Charles I in 1649, on the orders of Oliver Cromwell, brought
the English Civil War to an end. England became a Commonwealth or republic ruled
by parliament with Cromwell as Lord Protector. Cromwell and his army of well
trained and experienced soldiers, came to Ireland in August 1649 with the
intention of subduing the Irish rebellion and stamping out all opposition to
parliament. Cromwell, a Puritan, ‘believed he was an instrument of divine
retribution for (alleged) atrocities committed by Catholics against
Protestants in 1641 and he accordingly gave orders to deny mercy to Catholics.’
Cromwell arrived in Ireland with a force of 17,000 men to finally bring the
Irish to submission. The campaign was savage and is remembered for the slaughter
of women and children as well as unarmed captives. The city of Drogheda,
population 3000, was stormed. Nearly the entire populace was slaughtered. In
his dispatch after Drogheda to the House of Commons, Cromwell declared: “It has
pleased God to bless our endeavor... The enemy was 3000 strong. I believe we put
the sword to the whole number.” On October 11, 1649, Cromwell repeated the
devastation, this time, at Wexford. Two thousand including women, children, and
even infants were mercilessly butchered. Cromwell told parliament, “A righteous
judgment of God upon these barbarous wretches, “adding that these massacres
would tend to prevent intermingling of blood in the future. Cromwell writes, “I
thought it not right or good to restrain off the soldiers from their right of
pillage, or from doing execution on the enemy.”
Cork, Kinsale, Bandon, Youghal and Clonmel had surrendered before he returned to
England in May 1650. The Puritan Parliamentarians persecuted not only Catholics,
but Ulster Presbyterians, members of the Church of Ireland and those of other
minority religions. Priests were hanged; exiled and Puritan preachers were
brought over from England to replace them.
Parliament was now faced with settling its enormous debts. The English army in
Ireland had not been paid for 18 months and the adventurers were demanding to be
recompensed. The adventurers were so called because they lent or adventured
money to parliament, a decade earlier, in response to an act called the
Adventurers’ Act. They were members of Parliament, merchants and tradesmen. The
money was required to raise an army to subdue the rebels in Ireland. The
adventurers were offered two and a half million acres of Irish land, which was
to be confiscated at the end of the rebellion, as security of their money.
Suppliers of provisions and ammunition to the army also had to be paid. Irish
land was to be used to settle all these debts.
The lands of the defeated Irish and Old English Catholics were declared
confiscated and preparations began for its distribution to the various people to
whom the government was indebted. In order to facilitate the redistribution a
survey of the land was begun.
In September 1653 the English Parliament issued the order for the great
transplanting. The fertile fields of Ireland were declared to be the property of
British soldiers who had won them by the sword and of the English adventurers
who had supported the incursion. Under penalty of death all of the Irish were
to be exiled to Connaught. No Irishman, woman, or child was to allow himself,
herself, or itself to be found east of the Shannon River after May 1, 1654.
THE ACT FOR RESETTLING IRELAND OF 1652
The Act for Resettling Ireland was passed by the English Parliament in August
1652. While the land was being surveyed the government was deciding who should
forfeit land. Degrees of guilt were established and penalties defined. By 1 May
1654, a total of 44,210 names were recorded on certificates of transplantation.
Owners of Irish land, whether they were Catholic, Protestant or Old English
were to suffer. Some were dispossessed totally; others forfeited one fifth, one
third, two thirds or three quarters of their land depending on whether their
part in the rebellion was a major or minor one. They were to be recompensed from
forfeited land west of the Shannon by an area equal to the proportion they were
entitled to retain.
The initial step taken by an Irish landowner was to appear before delinquency
courts where he was interrogated about his political conduct over the previous
ten years thus determining his degree of guilt and the amount of land he was to
forfeit. His local revenue commissioner then issued him with a Transplanter’s
Certificate, a licence to cross the Shannon. The certificate gave a brief
description of the transplanter and those traveling with him, the type and
number of livestock and other goods he proposed to take with him. He then
appeared before commissioners in Loughrea who allotted him land in Clare or
Connacht on a temporary basis according to his entitlement. He would have had to
appear at court in Athlone a year or two later when he would have been given
permanent title to his Connacht or Clare land. This was called his final
settlement.
The process was carried out with callous efficiency. Thousands of weak, weary,
and starving creatures forced themselves along every highway that headed west,
to deeper misery, more painful starvation and often-a slow unmerciful death.
Those who survived the journey, existed on milk and potatoes, and upon arrival
in Connaught lived in crudely constructed turf cabins (hovels) without chimney,
door, stairs, or even a window. To those who experienced Cromwell’s great
transplantation; it was- To Hell or Connaught. To most Connaught or Clare
became a hell on earth.
Eustace Family Property Attainders, Confiscations & Forfeitures
On January 27, 1656, the following Eustaces were issued official decrees
of land forfeiture:
County Barony
Name Property/Residence
Dublin Newcastle & Uppercross Alexander
Eustace Dowdanstown
Dublin Newcastle & Uppercross Anne & Jane
Eustace Ballymore
Dublin Newcastle & Uppercross Morris
Eustace Castlemartin
Dublin Newcastle & Uppercross Nicholas
Eustace Elverstown
Dublin Newcastle & Uppercross Oliver
Eustace Ballymore
Dublin Newcastle & Uppercross Oliver
Eustace Blackall
Dublin Newcastle & Uppercross Thomas
Eustace Topperkever
Dublin Newcastle & Uppercross Walter
Eustace Elverstown
Dublin Castleknock James
Eustace
Dublin Castleknock James
Eustace Confey
Dublin City of Dublin
Nicholas Eustace Confey
Kildare Connell
Christopher Eustace* Newland
Kildare Ikeatny, Oughter Kunny
James Eustace Clongoweswood
Kildare Ikeatny, Oughter Kunny
Morris Eustace Castlemartin
Kildare
Salt James
Eustace Confey
Kildare
Thomas Eustace
Kildare Thomas
Eustace
Kildare Narragh & Rebon Richard
Eustace Timolin
Kildare Narragh & Rebon Rowland
Eustace Blackhall, Naas
Kildare Narragh & Rebon William
Eustace Cradoxtown
Kildare Kilkagh & Moone Thomas
Eustace Moone
Kildare Kilkagh & Moone Morrice
Eustace Moone
Kildare Kilkagh & Moone Walter
Eustace Ballycolone
Kildare Killcullen Half Barony
Morrice Eustace Castlemartin
Kildare Naas
Rowland Eustace Blackhall
Kildare Naas
Rowland Eustace Mulla Cash
Kildare Naas
Alexander Eustace Dudingstown
Kildare Naas
Christopher Eustace New Land
Wexford Ballyaghkeen James
Eustace
Carlow Edmond
Eustace Garryline
(transplanted 1653/54)
*Christopher Eustace was restored to his estate by the ACTS SETTLEMENT AND
EXPLANATION: 1661-1665 by King Charles II.
Connaught Certificates of Transplant were issued in 1653-54
to:
Anne Eustace
Cisly Eustace
Francis Eustace
John Eustace
Martha Eustace
Mary Eustace-Blackhall
Walter Eustace-Ballycotlan |
