My
Comments on Caldwell - The Ulster
Plantations (Page
3)
Baronies,
or precincts, would be divided into lots of 1000, 1500, and 2000
acres, not including bogs and mountains. Those who received these
lots would be known as "Undertakers". Over each barony
or precinct was placed a Chief Undertaker, who was allowed to
receive up to 3000 acres of land. Chief Undertakers were chosen
by the King and included one Duke, one Earl, three Barons and
four Knights.
Fifty
ordinary Undertakers would then be chosen by the Chiefs. For every
1000 acres received, there was to be 24 able bodied Scots or Englishmen
heading families to minimize old clan allegiances. Two of the
families were to be freeholders; three were to be leaseholders,
and the remainder could be cottagers. Undertakers had to be prepared
to muster their tenants twice a year and to provide them with
weapons. They were to be called on to fight any insurrections
of the Irish.
Undertakers
were given three and one half years to erect fortifications, the
type determined by the size of the lot granted. Men of 2000 acres
were required to build a small castle of stone or brick, with
a stone wall surrounding it. All Undertakers had to post bonds,
as a guarantee that they would comply with the conditions. Failure
to comply resulted in forfeiture of the land. Reporting requirements
resulted in the production of countless muster rolls and maps,
many of which have survived. Because of surviving muster rolls
and maps, the names of most of the original planters can be determined.
By 1622, there were between 3000 and 4000 Scottish adults on the
land in these six counties.
Nine
extensive areas of the six counties were to be assigned to Scots
for plantation. As many as 200,000 Scots would cross the North
Channel to settle in Ulster during an almost 90 year period following.
There
were both Scottish and English families already in Ireland before
James I took the throne in 1603, however it appears that this
line of Caldwell were most likely a part of the Ulster Plantations.
By
1620 there were an estimated 50,000 Scottish, with some English,
settlers in the province of Ulster in Northern Ireland.
Undertakers
were given three and one half years to erect fortifications, the
type determined by the size of the lot granted. Men of 2000 acres
were required to build a small castle of stone or brick, with
a stone wall surrounding it. All Undertakers had to post bonds,
as a guarantee that they would comply with the conditions. Failure
to comply resulted in forfeiture of the land. Reporting requirements
resulted in the production of countless muster rolls and maps,
many of which have survived. Because of surviving muster rolls
and maps, the names of most of the original planters can be determined.
By 1622, there were between 3000 and 4000 Scottish adults on the
land in these six counties.