Plantation and Reformation

One of the expectations of the government was that the Plantation would serve to advance the Reformation in Ulster. While at an institutional level the beginnings of a Protestant infrastructure were emerging in the early seventeenth century, at grass-roots the Reformation had made very little impact.

Nearly all of the escheated counties were divided between the five dioceses of Armagh, Clogher, Derry, Kilmore and Raphoe. That part of Co. Londonderry on the east side of the Bann was in Connor diocese, while a small portion of north-east Co. Armagh was in the diocese of Dromore.

The dioceses in turn were divided into parishes. For the most part, the medieval network of parishes continued in use after the Reformation. There had been a suggestion that a new network of parishes be created whereby each parish equated with a plantation proportion. However, this was never carried out.

Image: Benburb Parish Church, Co. Tyrone

An important component of the movement of the English and Scots into Ulster in the early seventeenth century was the migration of Protestant ministers. Dozens of clerics moved to the officially planted counties in the years after the inauguration of the Plantation scheme. Some were bishops, but most were clergymen serving in parishes.

In his 1610 pamphlet promoting the Plantation Thomas Blennerhasset wrote ‘Art thou a minister of God’s word? Make speed, the harvest is great, but the laborers be fewe’. Undoubtedly some clergymen have shared such views and so were drawn to seek appointments in the province. However, their lack of understanding of the Irish language was a major barrier to ministering to the Irish and they tended to restrict their work to the settler population.

Some of the bishops and ministers were important agents of change, encouraging settlement in their dioceses. For example, in 1632 Andrew Knox, bishop of Raphoe, claimed to have introduced 300 British families to his bishopric lands, the majority of which were almost certainly Scottish. It was also possible for individual clergymen of ambition to use this period of rapid social mobility to make the most of opportunities for advancement.

Presbyterianism did not establish a foothold in the escheated counties in the early seventeenth century. Whereas in Antrim and Down a significant number of Protestant ministers espoused Presbyterian views on church government and discipline, which eventually led to their expulsion, clerics in the escheated counties of Ulster on the whole conformed to the canons of the Church of Ireland.

For the identity of ministers in Plantation Ulster in the early seventeenth century the works by Canon J.B. Leslie are indispensable. These are listed below and cover all of the dioceses in the escheated counties.

Armagh Clergy and Parishes (Dundalk, 1911)
Supplement to Armagh Clergy and Parishes (Dundalk, 1948)
Clogher Clergy and Parishes (Enniskillen, 1929)
Derry Clergy and Parishes (Enniskillen, 1937)
Raphoe Clergy and Parishes (Enniskillen, 1940)
Clergy of Kilmore, Elphin and Ardagh, revised, edited and updated by D.W.T. Crooks (Belfast, 2008)

Leslie’s meticulous research, much of it carried out in the old Public Record Office in Dublin before its destruction in 1922, means that it is possible to identify the names of those who served in parishes in Plantation Ulster. In many cases Leslie has been able to identify the probable English or Scottish origin for these ministers and details on their education.

For example, Rev. Gervase Walker, who was the rector of Badoney and Cappagh parishes in County Tyrone in 1622 and whose grandson George played a prominent role in the siege of Derry, was probably the son of Thomas Walker of Ruddington in Nottinghamshire. Leslie’s historical notes also provide invaluable historical information about each parish.

In 1629 the celebrated William Bedell was appointed to the bishopric of Kilmore. Bedell has a reputation as a reforming bishop, though this frequently put him at odds with his fellow clergy, while he was also accused of being an Arminian and being too soft on Catholicism. Bedell was conscious of the need to improve the infrastructure of the Church and under his direction a major programme of church building in Kilmore diocese was initiated. Bedell also sought to introduce an effective pastorate.

He was the subject of numerous writings, links to some of which are given below:

Memoir of the life and episcopate of Dr William Bedell, by Alexander Clogie (his son-in-law)
The life of William Bedell, by Gilbert Burnett
Two biographies of William Bedell, bishop of Kilmore, with a selection of his letters and an unpublished treatise, by E. S. Shuckburgh

An account of the life of James Spottiswood, bishop of Clogher, 1621-45, probably written by the bishop himself, was published in 1811.

The Reformation in Ireland did not result in the conversion of more than a fraction of the native population to Protestantism; nearly all continued to look to Rome for supreme authority in matters ecclesiastical. The Catholic Church suffered considerably as a result of the disruption caused by the plantations and wars of the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The story of the Catholic Church in this period is looked at in more detail in the section Catholics in the Penal Era. While most of the settlers were Protestant, a few of the settlers were Catholic. In the Strabane area, several of the Hamilton landlords and some of their tenants were Catholics.

The Ulster Plantation

Plantation and Reformation