Identity and economy on an Anglo-Irish estate: Castle Caldwell, Co. Fermanagh, c. 1750-1793

Journal of Historical Geography

Volumn 26, Issue 2, 2000, Pages 174-202

  Busteed, Mervyn ^a,b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER   (United Kingdom)

^b NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY; LANDOWNER; POLITICAL HISTORY;

NORTHERN IRELAND(COUNTY FERMANAGH); UNITED KINGDOM;

EID: 0034175999     PISSN: 03057488     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1006/jhge.2000.0211     Document Type: Article

References (165)

1. L. J. Proudfoot, Spatial transformation and social agency: property, society and improvement, c. 1700 to 1900, in B. J. Graham and L. J. Proudfoot (Eds), An Historical Geography of Ireland (London 1993) 219-257.
2. D. Large, The wealth of the great Irish landowners, Irish Historical Studies 15 (1966-7) 22
3. R. A. Butlin, Historical Geography: Through the Gates of Space and Time (London 1993) 137.
4. D. E. Cosgrove, Social Transformation and Symbolic Landscape (Second edition, Madison 1997) xiv, xx.
5. Ibid., xxiv.
6. Ibid., 196.
7. S. Daniels, Fields of Vision: Landscape Imagery and National Identity in England and the United States (Oxford 1994) 5.
8. Ibid., 80.
9. Cosgrove, op. cit., 190.
10. Daniels, op. cit., 80-82.
11. Proudfoot, op. cit., 111.
12. S. Daniels and S. Seymour, Landscape design and the idea of improvement 1730-1900, in R. A. Dodgshon and R. A. Butlin (Eds), An Historical Geography of England and Wales (London 1990) 487.
13. Ibid., 489.
14. S. Daniels, The political iconography of woodland in later Georgian England, in D. Cosgrove and S. Daniels (Eds), The Iconography of Landscape: Essays on the Symbolic Representation, Design and Use of Past Environments (Cambridge 1988) 48.
15. Daniels and Seymour, op. cit..
16. L. J. Proudfoot, Urban Patronage and Social Authority: The Management of the Duke of Devonshire's Towns in Ireland 1764-1891 (Washington 1995) 42.
17. S. J. Connolly, Religion, Law and Power: the Making of Protestant Ireland 1660-1760 (Oxford 1995) 145.
18. L. Colley, Britons: Forging the Nation 1707-1837 (London 1994).
19. J. C. Beckett, The Anglo-Irish Tradition (Belfast 1976) 47.
20. S. J. Connolly, Culture, identity and tradition: changing definitions of Irishness, in B. Graham (Ed.), In Search of Ireland: A Cultural Geography (London 1997) 49.
21. E. M. Johnston, Ireland in the Eighteenth Century (Dublin 1974) 18.
22. R. F. Foster, Ascendancy and union, in R. F. Foster (Ed.), The Oxford Illustrated History of Ireland (Oxford 1989) 166.
23. T. Bartlett, The Fall and Rise of the Irish Nation: The Catholic Question 1690-1830 (Dublin 1992) 29.
24. Proudfoot, op. cit., 42-43.
25. R. F. Foster, Modern Ireland 1600-1972 (London 1989) 172.
26. J. L. McCracken, The ecclesiastical structure, 1714-60, in T. W. Moody and W. E. Vaughan (Eds), A New History of Ireland. IV. Eighteenth Century Ireland 1691-1800 (Oxford 1986) 39.
27. Foster, Modern Ireland 177.
28. Connolly, Religion, Law and Power 71.
29. C. Maxwell, Country and Town in Ireland under the Georges (Dundalk 1949) 29.
30. L. M. Cullen, The Emergence of Modern Ireland 1600-1900 (London 1981) 39.
31. Connolly, op. cit., 190, 193.
32. Cullen, op. cit., 39.
33. L. M. Cullen, An Economic History of Ireland Since 1660 (London 1976) 54-56.
34. W. J. Smyth, Locational patterns and trends within the pre-Famine linen industry, Irish Geography 8 (1975) 99.
35. W. H. Crawford, The political economy of linen: Ulster in the eighteenth century, in C. Brady, M. O'Dowd and B. Walker (Eds), Ulster: An Illustrated History (London 1989) 136.
36. Manchester Central Library: language and literature section: broadside ballads collection Q 398.8.S9 Vol. 1, no. 8.
37. T. Reeves-Smyth, Demesnes, in F. H. A. Aalen, K. Whelan and M. Stout (Eds), Atlas of the Irish Rural Landscape (Cork 1997) 201.
38. E. Malins and The Knight of Glin, Lost Demesnes: Irish Landscape Gardening 1660-1845 (London 1976) 79.
39. F. H. A. Aalen, Imprint of the past, in D. A. Gilmor (Ed.), The Irish Countryside: Landscape, Wildlife, History, People (Dublin 1989) 108.
40. Cullen, Emergence of Modern Ireland 45.
41. Op. cit., 83.
42. K. Whelan, The modern landscape from plantation to present, in Aalen, Whelan and Stout, op. cit., 68.
43. Cullen, op. cit., 47.
44. C. O'Grada, Ireland: a New Economic History 1780-1939 (Oxford 1995) 123.
45. Cullen, op. cit., 49.
46. Large, Wealth of Irish Landowners, 35-42.
47. Proudfoot, Urban Patronage.
48. W. H. Crawford, The influence of the landlord in eighteenth century Ulster, in L. M. Cullen and T. C. Smout (Eds), Comparative Aspects of Scottish and Irish Social History 1600-1900 (Edinburgh 1978) 196.
49. P. Robinson, The Plantation of Ulster: British Settlement in an Irish Landscape 1600-1670 (Dublin 1984);
50. W H. Crawford, Landlord-tenant relations in Ulster 1609-1820, Irish Economic and Social History 2 (1975) 8.
51. J. Cunningham, Castle Caldwell and its Families (Enniskillen 1980);
52. for the process whereby many of the original Plantation estates changed hands, see P. J. Duffy, The evolution of estate properties in south Ulster 1600-1900, in W. J. Smyth and K. Whelan (Eds), Common Ground: Essays in the Historical Geography of Ireland Presented to T. Jones Hughes (Cork 1988) 98-99.
53. W. J. Smyth, Estate records and the making of the Irish landscape: an example from Co. Tipperary. Irish Geography 6 (1976) 29.
54. Ibid., 30.
55. L. J. Proudfoot, The management of a great landed estate: patronage, income and expenditure on the Duke of Devonshire's Irish property c. 1816 to 1891, Irish Economic and Social History 13 (1986) 33.
56. Large, op.cit., 22.
57. Smyth, op. cit., 30.
58. F. Taylor, Hand-list of the Bagshawe muniments Deposited in the John Rylands Library (Manchester 1955) 4-5;
59. see also his: Johnsoniana from the Bagshawe muniments in the John Rylands Library: Sir James Caldwell, Dr Hawkesworth, Dr Johnson and Boswell's use of the 'Caldwell minute', Bulletin of the John Rylands Library 35 (1952-3) 211-247; Sir James became a Fellow of the Royal Society and married the eldest daughter of the Archbishop of Tuam; in 1756 he was made High Sheriff of Co. Fermanagh, in 1762 a Gentleman of the Privy Chamber and in 1764 a Freeman of the city of Dublin; he died in February 1784. The archive contains not only letters received, but also in many cases copies of those sent, often made by a series of amanuenses.
60. Bishop Hervey to Sir James Caldwell 30 January 1776; Bagshawe Muniments B 3/17/32. Henceforth all material from this archive will simply be designated "B"; original grammar, spelling, punctuation, abbreviations and emphases will be retained.
61. A Wager about Killing Grouse 12 April 1762 B 3/24/9.
62. Wager between Sir James Caldwell and Lord Newton. Undated B 3/24/50.
63. Sir James Caldwell to Duke of Bedford. Undated, but probably late 1759. B 3/23/26. Shelburne, one of the wealthiest Irish landowners, was Prime Minister 1782-3 and a cousin of Lady Caldwell; John Ponsonby was a notably influential figure in the politics of eighteenth century Ireland, serving as Commons Speaker 1756-71; see Foster, Modern Ireland, 187, note xxix.
64. John Johnston to Sir James Caldwell 30 January 1764 B 3/20/210.
65. Sam. Stonehouse to Sir James Caldwell 8 August 1749 B 3/20/272.
66. Henry O'Neil to Patt Maguire 7th February 1779 B 3/20/276. Lord Ely was a wealthy Ulster peer responsible for the construction of Ely House and Ely Place in Dublin; Sir Guy Carleton served as Governor of Quebec 1768-78 and Canada 1786-94. See Dictionary of Canadian Biography Vol. 5, 1801-1820 (Toronto 1983) 141-155.
67. Sir James Caldwell to Rev. J. Garnet, Bishop of Clogher 12 May 1775 B 3/17/18.
68. W. H. G. Bagshawe, The Bagshawes of Ford: A Biographical Pedigree (London 1886) 310-311.
69. Rev. Thomas Higginbottom to Sir James Caldwell 4 January 1760 B 3/17/35; the quotation is from a note Sir James added to the original letter, explaining how he disposed of the chaplaincy.
70. Proposal for the relief of the blind poor in and about the city of Dublin. 1769. B 3/21/12.
71. T. Bartlett, The Townshend Viceroyalty, 1767-72, in T. Bartlett and D. W. Hayton (Eds), Penal Era and Golden Age 1690-1800 (Belfast 1979) 88-112.
72. J. C. Beckett, The Making of Modern Ireland 1603-1923 (London 1969) 203.
73. An Essay on the Character and Conduct of his Excellency Lord Viscount Townshend 1771, 24-25, B 3/21/16.
74. A considerable proportion of Sir James' correspondence is taken up with this quest - see especially B 3/19/1-153; his lack of success is discussed in Bagshawe, op. cit., 295-300.
75. A Scheme to Encourage Sale of Fish in Dublin on a Larger, more Regular Basis 1767. B 3/ 21/11 Letter 2.
76. An Enquiry into how far the Restrictions laid upon the Trade of Ireland by British Acts of Parliament are a Benefit or Disadvantage to the British Dominions in General and to England in Particular for whose Separate Advantage they were intended 1776 B 3/21/20.
77. An Address to the House of Commons of Ireland by a Freeholder 1771, 25; B 3/21/17.
78. Cunningham, op. cit., 91.
79. Rev. Denis Maguire to Sir James Caldwell 26 March 1778 B 3/17/41 & 12 November 1781 B 3/17/43.
80. A Franciscan college founded to train priests for Ireland at a time when such establishments were banned in Ireland itself; it had ceased to function by 1793. See C. Giblin, Irish exiles in Catholic Europe, in P. Corish, (Ed.), A History of Irish Catholicism Vol. 4 (Dublin 1971) 8, 25.
81. Peter Kelly to Sir James Caldwell 21 September 1765 B 3/17/40.
82. An Address to the House of Commons, 11, 26.
83. A Brief Examination of the Question whether it is Expedient Either in a Religious or Political View, to Pass an Act to Enable Papists to take Real Security for Money which they Lend. 1764. B 3/21/25. Hand written draft of second edition. Unpaginated.
84. Ibid.
85. Ibid.
86. Ibid.
87. An Address to the House of Commons, 13-14.
88. A Brief Examination of the Question. . .
89. An Address to the House of Commons, 10.
90. Ibid., 5.
91. Ibid., 56.
92. Ibid., 57.
93. Proudfoot, Urban patronage, 44.
94. Robinson, op. cit., 77-79.
95. Castle Caldwell Return Book B 3/44/5.
96. Connolly, Religion, law and power, 145-146.
97. W. H. Crawford, Change in Ulster in the late eighteenth century, in Bartlett and Hayton, op. cit., Fig. 43.
98. A Case with Respect to the Light Horse 1763 B 3/23/21.
99. A Rent Roll of Sir James Caldwell Baronet's Estate in the Year 1770 B 3/28/5.
100. Arthur Young's Tour in Ireland (1776-79) Volume 1, edited with introduction and notes by A. W. Hutton (London 1892) 191.
101. Ibid., 188; 'rundale' was the term widely used-Young was one of the first to employ it-to describe an Irish system of farming based on communal ownership and working of scattered plots of arable land; a complimentary dimension was the seasonal migration of livestock to upland summer pastures under the care of younger members of the community, a practice known as 'booleying' from the Gaelic for milking place or summer dwelling. For fuller discussion see E. E. Evans, Irish Heritage (Dundalk 1963) 47-56.
102. Castle Caldwell Return Book 10 July 1793 to 15 October 1793, note at end B 3/44/4.
103. Castle Caldwell Return Book 25 April 1794 to 18 July 1794: 30 April 1794 B 3/44/5.
104. Whelan, The Modern Landscape 83, Fig. 40.
105. Castle Caldwell Return Book 9 July 1794 B 3/44/5.
106. E. E. Evans, Irish Folk Ways (London 1957) 173-175.
107. Rent Roll of Sir James Caldwell. . .1770 B 3/28/5.
108. Young, op. cit., 188.
109. Renewal of Licence for Distillery at Belleek 15 January 1755 B 3/20/405.
110. Fran. Foster to Sir James Caldwell 17 October 1758 B 3/20/123; Pat Hamilton to Sir James Caldwell 27 September 1755 B 3/20/155.
111. Castle Caldwell Return Book B 3/44/4.
112. Young, op. cit., 190.
113. Crawford, The Political Economy of Linen 144.
114. Estate Accounts (agricultural) 1784-5, flax gave out to spin 6 December 1784 B 3/44/1.
115. Young, op. cit., 188.
116. Estate Accounts B 3/44/1.
117. Account Book 1778-90 January 1794, 116 B 3/28/9.
118. Young, op. cit., 190.
119. A Scheme to Encourage the Sale of Fish. . . Letter 2.
120. Maxwell, op. cit., 76-78.
121. N. Canny, Early modern Ireland c. 1500-1700, in R. F. Foster, (Ed.), The Oxford Illustrated History of Ireland (Oxford 1989) 133.
122. Cunningham, op. cit., 147.
123. J. Bardon, A History of Ulster (Belfast 1992) 198.
124. P. Somerville-Large, The Irish Country House: a Social History (London 1995) 188.
125. Maxwell, op. cit., 101.
126. T. Reeves-Smyth, Demesnes, in Aalen, Whelan and Stout, op. cit., 197-205; The natural history of demesnes, in J. W. Foster and H. C. G. Chesney (Eds), Nature in Ireland: a Scientific and Cultural History (Dublin 1997) 549-572.
127. Reeves-Smyth, Demesnes 197.
128. Reeves-Smyth, The Natural History of Demesnes 557-560.
129. A Rent Roll of Sir James Caldwell Baronet's Estate in the Year 1770 B 3/28/5.
130. Pall Maguire to Sir James Caldwell 11 April 1770 B 3/20/276a; 20 June 1779 B 3/20/277; 9 April 1780 3/20/278; 2 July 1781 B 3/20/279.
131. Maxwell, op. cil., 100.
132. Reeves-Smyth, op. cil., 552.
133. John Johnston to Lady Caldwell 3 March 1755 B 3/20/209
134. Young, op. cit., 193-194.
135. Arthur Young to Sir James Caldwell 30 August 1772 B 3/16/410.
136. Return Book 23 July 1793 B 3/44/4.
137. Hugh Montgomery to Sir James Caldwell 19 October 1750 B 3/20/294.
138. Wm. Brennan to Sir James Caldwell 6 December 1758 B 3/20/42.
139. A Proposal for the Increase of Apiaries in Ireland 1765 B 3/21/14 & 15.
140. Rev. Thomas Barnard to Sir James Caldwell 8 June 1776 B 3/17/2.
141. A Letter to the Dublin Society Giving an Account of the Culture and Quality of Several Kinds of Grass Lately Discovered 1765 B 3/21/10.
142. Ibid.
143. Sir James Caldwell to Dublin Society 22 April 1770 B 3/16/414.
144. Sir James Caldwell to Dublin Society 16 February 1774 B 3/16/415.
145. Sir James Caldwell to Sir John Coghill 28 September 1773 B 3/14/24.
146. F. H. A. Aalen, The origin of enclosures in modern Ireland, in N. Stephens and R. E. Glasscock (Eds), Irish Geographical Essays in Honour of E. Estyn Evans (Belfast 1970) 209-223.
147. Cullen, Emergence of Modern Ireland 48.
148. Proudfoot, Spatial Transformation and Social Agency 232.
149. Rent Roll of Sir John Caldwell, Baronet, in the Counties of Fermanagh and Cavan, ending November 1814 B 3/44/10.
150. K. Whelan, The Modern Landscape 81-82.
151. W. H. Crawford, Change in Ulster in the late eighteenth century, in T. Bartlett and D. W. Hayton, op. cit., 193; Ulster landowners and the linen industry, in J. T. Ward and R. G. Wilson (Eds), Land and Industry: the Landed Estate and the Industrial Revolution: a Symposium (Newton Abbot 1971) 117-144.
152. Bryan Maguire to Sir James Caldwell 30 November 1750 B 3/20/255.
153. Return Book B 3/44/4.
154. A Rent Roll of Sir James Caldwell Baronet's Estate in the Year 1770 B 3/28/5.
155. Proudfoot, Urban Patronage.
156. L. J. Proudfoot, Estate villages, in S. J. Connolly (Ed.), The Oxford Companion to Irish History (Oxford 1998) 179.
157. Collector Hill to Sir James Caldwell 14 April 1778 B 3/20/173; 'Mr Conolly' was almost certainly Thomas Conolly, M. P. for Co Londonderry 1761-1800, one of the wealthiest and most politically influential commoners in Ireland.
158. Counsellor James Johnston to Sir James Caldwell. Date unclear, probably 1776. B 3/20/ 205.
159. Sir James Caldwell to Mayor etc. of Londonderry. Undated. B 3/16/417.
160. J. Burke, A General and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire, quoted in M. Wall, The age of the penal laws (1691-1778), in T. W Moody and F. X. Martin (Eds), The Course of Irish History (Cork 1984) 89.
161. Return Book B 3/44/4.
162. Sir James Caldwell to Rev. Philip Skelton 19 March 1758 B 3/17/66; given that Sir James was a devout member of the Church of Ireland, his outlook may have been consciously based on the parable recounted in Matthew 20 verses 1-16.
163. Rev. Philip Skelton to Sir James Caldwell 27 May 1771 B 3/10/350.
164. A Rent Roll of Sir James Caldwell Baronet's Estate in the Year 1770 B 3/28/5.
165. Henry O'Neil to Pall Maguire 7 February 1779 B 3/20/276.