Laois‐Offaly plantation

Laois‐Offaly plantation, the first and most troublesome of the Tudor colonial projects. It had its basis in the garrison policy to impose order in the lands of the O'Connors and O'Mores. Allotments were made to leaseholders in the vicinity of the forts in 1549 and then to copyholders in 1556, but revolts by the original occupiers meant few colonists remained when Sussex put the plantation on a more permanent footing in 1563. He made 44 grants to New English soldiers, much to the annoyance of the Old English who received only 15. Lands given to 29 Gaelic recipients continued to diminish through confiscation and indebtedness. The colony was ill begun, composed of soldiers who made reluctant farmers, and initiated without a proper survey, the co‐operation of the powerful earl of Kildare, or permanent freehold grants. In 1575 Lord Deputy Sidney complained that the revenue of King's and Queen's counties, as the former Gaelic lordships were now known, was less than a twentieth of what they cost the government to maintain. In 1608 Chichester, reflecting on the eighteen revolts in the last 60 years, attempted to transplant the native inhabitants, beginning with the O'Mores to Kerry, but they soon returned home.

Hiram Morgan