The Plantation of Ulster and Its Effect on Native Woodlands
There are few events in Irish history whose ramifications can still be felt so strongly now as the Plantation of Ulster. The cultural, political and religious ramifications of the Plantation are well-known, but the impact the Plantation had on the environment, particularly Ulster’s forestry, is rather less known, and its ramifications are no less tangible.
A near wholesale destruction of native forestry in Ireland was certainly exacerbated by, if not almost certainly caused by, English colonial rule in Ireland. Natural forest cover at its peak was estimated to have been around 80% across the island, a figure which plummeted to 2.5% of Ireland’s total land area (170,000 hectares) by 1656.
However, there has been some upward trend in the growth of forest cover throughout the island. From 1928 to 2017, the Free State’s natural forest grew from 89,000 hectares (1.2%) to 770,020 hectares (11.0%). Forest cover in the North sits at 8%, below not only the South, but below the British average of 13%. Both these figures remain however some of the lowest in Europe.
This rapid afforestation program is not without its caveats and critics either, as around half of Ireland’s trees are Sitka spruces, a foreign import from North America. There has long been severe criticism of these spruce plantations as a threat to Ireland’s native ecology, with the prominent role of the state-owned Coillte coming under particular criticism in this regard. Mismanagement by Coillte will be a topic for another time, as it goes much beyond the scope of this article.
Native Woodlands in
The Seventeenth Century
Not much is particularly known about the extent of forestry in Ulster prior to the Tudor period. The renowned botanist Eileen McCracken in her authoritative work, The Woodlands of Ulster in the Early Seventeenth Century, noted that much of the remaining woodland in the late sixteenth century was likely shrubby brush-wood mixed with bog, rather than dense oak forest. However, certain areas, such as Lough Erne in Fermanagh, due to their remoteness, were well preserved, and that even as late as 1769 were being described as a “rural Venice”.
South Derry, particularly the Glenconkeyne valley, was probably home to the densest forestry in Ireland, because of the lack of bog which made the land suitable for oak trees. A base for the O’Neills of Clandeboye, Glenconkeyne was the most impenetrable region in Ulster and would be a known hotspot for native Irish woodkern during the Plantation. In 1607, Sir John Davys, the Irish attorney-general, described the Glenconkeyne valley as having “the best timber in Ireland”.
In County Antrim, local tradition stated that a man could have crossed the Glens of Antrim from the treetops, and if cattle strayed into the glens then their owners would not be able to retrieve them, and would have to wait for them to return. A large stretch of woodland (shrubbery, oak, hazel, ash, etc.) extended from the northern outskirts of modern-day Belfast to just south of the town of Larne. The Six Mile Water river which flowed directly into Lough Neagh was known in Irish as Abhainn na bhFiodh, or the “River of the Wood”.
The Dufferin barony in south Down, which makes up modern-day Killinchy and Killyleagh, was arguably as densely forested as Glenconkeyne. Its trees were also described as “the fairest timber in Ireland”. Poyntzpass on the Armagh-Down border is described by McCracken as being “a morass of wood and wood-covered bog”. Local tradition there also stated that a man could go from Newry to Lough Neagh from the tree-tops.
It is clear then, that Gaelic Ulster had a substantial level of forest cover, with many woodlands geographically spread throughout the province.
The Plantation and Its Consequences
The devastation wreaked by the Nine Years’ War would have almost certainly contributed to the decline of native woodland; but it would be the Plantation of Ulster which led to its ultimate demise.
Lowland Scottish settlement in the counties of Antrim and Down had already been underway since 1606; an event known as the Hamilton and Montgomery Plantations. However, the official Plantation comprising six of Ulster’s nine counties (excepting Antrim, Down and Monaghan) begun in 1609, comprising both Scottish and English settlers.
The plantation in the county of Derry was overseen by The Honourable The Irish Society, a consortium of livery companies based in the city of London, who were tasked with the construction and development of the towns of Derry and Coleraine.
The Glenconkeyne valley was targeted especially for timber, with James I permitting the cutting down of 50,000 oak trees, 100,000 ash trees, and 10,000 elm trees in the valley to assist in the building of Derry city. By 1635, much of the Glenconkeyne valley was now clear of woodland, a trend that would be replicated throughout the rest of the province as native woodland began to be eradicated.
McCracken writes:
“At the end of the seventeenth century the greater part of Ulster’s woods were gone. The adoption of a resolute policy by the Tudors was probably the first step towards the general reduction of the forest-areas, for it brought open war to Ulster and later an influx of land-greedy Scottish and English settlers. The Irish fought whenever possible within the shelter of their bogs and woods, where it was hard for the English horsemen to manoeuvre and dangerous for detached bodies of infantry. The military, then, were glad to see the areas of wood becoming smaller and the settlers were equally glad for the same reasons.”
As for the timber:
“The timber was used up in a number of ways, apart from clearings deliberately made by the army or for agriculture. Its chief uses were for the building of frame houses for the new settlers (few of these timber-houses survived the 1641 rebellion), for shipbuilding, and in tanneries, ironworks, and the making of pipe-staves. Many leases bound the tenant to clear so much timber annually and trees were sold for as little as sixpence each.”
A 1609 application for a private allotment of 8,000 acres by John Carvile, an English lawyer with a military background, reads:
“That the place may be such as hath within the precinct therof, some convenient river or streame wheruppon may be built one or moe corne milnes, woods havinge with sufficient tymber for all manner of buildings and plowgeare, and sufficient underwood for fire and hedging, and stone for wallinge, slatinge and lyme.”
A 1625 petition from the planter population of Draperstown (which was within the Glenconkeyne valley) noted the constant threat from the native Irish woodkern who took refuge in the dense forestry:
“To speake of the dangerousness of the place werein wee live, wee need not make anie ample relation of it, noe man havning bene in these parts, but can testifie of yt, that the like or equall yt is not almost to be found in Ireland, wee here beinge daily subiectt to the incursions and continuall stealthes of the woodkerne, which these parts allwaies hitherto have been subject unto, and wee thinke will never be free from…”
McCracken notes also:
“It may be pointed out that the official attitude towards preservation was not that the woods should be preserved for their own sakes, but that any profit arising out of their destruction should be at the disposal of the government. In practice nearly all profit fell into private hands.”
The destruction of the native woodland thus proved hugely beneficial to the planter population and the private consortiums for differing reasons. The planters were now spared from the constant attacks by woodkern and the private consortiums made significant profit of which they held a total monopoly and could now use the wood in the construction and development of the towns and villages across the province.
For the native Irish, the near-total destruction of the woodland saw devastation wreaked not only on the ecology and native wildlife, but the annihilation of one of the last organised bands of resistance against English colonisation. It also served to solidify the displacement of the native Irish by hostile settlers, and began a mass expropriation of the wealth of the island by private interests.
The map of Ulster’s woodland today is strikingly different from that of the early seventeenth century. The woodland that once surrounded Lough Neagh, particularly in South Derry and the Glenconkeyne valley has almost completely disappeared, and the remaining woodland cover is only concentrated in a few pockets throughout the province.
The Land of Ireland for The People
of Ireland
A land is often thought of as an inanimate mass which serves as a mere holding place for a people, but a land is a living soul in and of itself. We thus need to revive our native forestry, the sustenance of our people, wildlife and nation. Such efforts must be led by living communities, and must overcome existing state bureaucracy and private profiteering. A healthy land will rear a healthy nation, and as Ireland is nothing without her people, Ireland without her land will be worth nothing either.