The Plantation of Ulster — Knowledge Organiser (P5–P7)

Key vocabulary

1. 1 Plantation The policy of replacing the native Irish population with Protestant settlers from Scotland and England. The Ulster Plantation of 1610 was the most significant.
2. 2 The Flight of the Earls (1607) The departure of the Gaelic Ulster nobility — Hugh O'Neill (Earl of Tyrone) and Rory O'Donnell (Earl of Tyrconnell) — from Ireland after the defeat of the Nine Years' War (1594–1603). Their departure left Ulster without Gaelic leadership and cleared the way for plantation.
3. 3 Undertakers English and Scottish settlers who were given large grants of confiscated Ulster land in exchange for agreeing to bring over Protestant settlers and build towns and defences.
4. 4 Servitors English soldiers and officials who had served the Crown in Ireland and received smaller land grants under the plantation scheme.
5. 5 Native Irish grantees Some Irish landowners received smaller grants of their own former land — those who had been loyal to the Crown or had converted to Protestantism.
6. 6 Bawn A fortified enclosure required to be built by undertakers under the plantation scheme. Many plantation castles in Ulster still have their bawns.

• ▶ LAND: millions of acres of Ulster land were confiscated from Gaelic Irish families and given to Scottish and English settlers. The original landowners became tenants on their own land.
• ▶ RELIGION: settlers were Protestant (Church of Ireland and Presbyterian). The native Irish were Catholic. This religious divide was embedded in the landscape.
• ▶ TOWNS: the plantation created many of Ulster's towns — Londonderry (Derry), Coleraine, Enniskillen, Strabane were plantation foundations.
• ▶ LANGUAGE: Scots settlers brought Ulster Scots (a Germanic language, related to Lowland Scots) which became widely spoken in counties Antrim and Down.
• ▶ LONG-TERM DIVISION: the 1610 settlement created the conditions for centuries of conflict between communities — ultimately contributing to the partition of 1921 and The Troubles.
• ▶ CULCHIE WORDS: many everyday Ulster words come from Ulster Scots — 'brae' (hillside), 'burn' (stream), 'thole' (to endure), 'weans' (children), 'dander' (walk).
• ▶ TODAY: plantation-era castles and bawns are visible across Ulster counties — visible reminders of the 1610 settlement.