Books published by Ulster Historical Foundation

During the reign of James I, an official scheme was drawn up for the ''plantation'' of designated areas in west Ulster. However, the actual area settled by the new colonists was much more extensive. With them came innovation. A radical transformation of the landscape began.The spread of a market-based rural economy resulted in a quite spectacular growth in urbanisation. Permanent dwellings of a more sophisticated construction became the norm in many areas, and around the towns new field patterns emerged.The spread of hedged enclosures heralded innovations in agricultural methods, tools, livestock, and systems of land tenure. In a more abstract sense, the settlers also brought with them a new language, new surnames, new religion and of course a change in political and historical allegiances.This account of the plantation landscape shows how colonisation on the ground was not as much influenced either by the London Government or by the new landowners as has often been assumed. Environmental factors proved more important than governmental controls in shaping the emerging settlement pattern. The author also demonstrates how seeds of bitterness were quickly sown between the Protestant settlers and the Catholic natives whom they had displaced, with consequences that last to this day.

The first and second Presbyterian congregations of Belfast, in Rosemary Street, owned a collection of palls, cloaks and hats which were hired out for funerals. They were used by most of the better-off inhabitants of Belfast, regardless of religion, and many of the gentry, clergy and substantial farmers in the surrounding countryside. This register, which covers the years 1712 to 1736, is a record of the hiring of this funeral gear for about 2,000 funerals which took place in the town, and as far afield as Counties Londonderry and Tyrone. In this period both the population and trade of Belfast were growing rapidly and the town was well established as the social and economic centre of Ulster.Much of the original register has been printed here together with an index of names, making it immediately accessible for research. To this has been added a series of biographical notes on many of the merchants, gentry, clergy and tradesmen whose funerals are noted. The register is the single most important genealogical source for Belfast in this period but this book will fascinate anyone with an interest in local history. Finally, the transcript retains the phonetic spelling of the original enabling, us to hear the authentic voice of eighteenth century Belfast.

It is widely accepted that no understanding of modern Irish history is complete without an awareness of the significance of events in the seventeenth century. This is true in particular of the Ulster Plantation. Sir Henry Docwra''s military expedition, which arrived in Lough Foyle in May 1600, at the height of the Nine Years War, was instrumental in paving the way for James I''s Plantation of Ulster that began only a few years later ... after Docwra, the English stayed.The decisive intervention of Docwra''s small army brought to an end a conflict whose outcome was crucial in shaping the path of Irish history after 1600. It led also to Docwra bequeathing to us one of the most illuminating military journals in what was to become, even by Irish standards, a war-torn century. His ''Narration of the Services done by the Army Ymployed to Lough-Foyle vnder the leadinge of mee'' is not only a fascinating description of Docwra''s campaign in the north-west, it can also claim to be the best eyewitnessaccount of a military campaign of the period.Docwra''s ''Narration'' was first edited and transcribed by the great Irish scholar, John O''Donovan, in 1849. This edition, edited by Billy Kelly, not only includes O''Donovan''s comprehensive notes, including translations and descriptions of all the Irish place-names mentioned by Docwra, it also includes insights from more recent scholarship on the Nine Years War. An introduction, new maps, glossaries of terms, a bibliography, chronology anda full index all contribute to making this invaluable and previously scarcely-accessible text available for the general reader as well as being a ''must have'' for the many interested in military history.

First published in 1979 as a tribute to the late Professor J.C. Beckett, this volume of original essays on the history of 18th-century Ireland was conceived both as an exercise in revision, challenging accepted orthodoxies, and as an attempt to open up new areas of study in a period grown stale with competing cliches: the "penal era" for Catholic Ireland which was also the "golden age" of Protestant Ascendancy. As a collection, these essays may fairly be said to have inaugurated a new era in the writing of 18th-century Irish history, as well as launching the careers of a generation of young scholars, a number of whom have gone on to establish themselves as leading authorities in the period. 25 years on, the volume still stands as a landmark, the impact and freshness of the essays undiminished.