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 The
Londonderry Plantation 1609-1914
In the history of the British Isles no stranger events ever occurred
than those which led to the Londonderry Plantation: those events
had momentous consequences, not only for Ireland, but for the
political development of England. During the Tudor period, both
State and Dynasty faced great dangers, not least when Ireland
almost became a base for a Counter-Reformation invasion by Spanish
and Irish forces. The most unruly part of Ireland was the North,
where in Elizabethan times a rebellion took several years to quell.
The Flight of the Ulster Earls, in 1607, left huge tracts of Ulster
forfeit to the Crown, which then coerced the City of London to
finance and carry out the 'Plantation', or colonisation, of part
of the area with loyal settlers to prevent further rebellion.
In this massive and scholarly study, Curl traces the historical
events through the centuries, from the original planning and building
of towns and villages and the movement of colonists, through the
17th-century uprising (with its slaughter of settlers, wholesale
destruction, and aftermath) and Jacobite war, to the slow recovery
in the 18th century and the major rebuilding programmes of the
19th century. He deals in detail with the individual Livery Companies,
with the 'Proportions' that each had been obliged to develop and
colonise, identifying their Planners and Architects, and draws
with great skill on original documentation to reveal the personalities
involved. Throughout the work he describes the dilemmas of the
native Irish with insight and sensitivity, and investigates the
problems and dangers faced by the colonists with care and understanding.
The vivid text brings to life an extraordinary story that is as
invaluable to architectural and urban historians as it is to all
with an interest in English, Irish, and London history. For the
local historian in Ulster its publication is a landmark. Perhaps
most of all it should be read by all to whom the 'Ulster Problem'
is an enigma, for it establishes the historical basis of that
'Problem' from impeccable sources, expressed in sober and measured
prose.
The Londonderry Plantation 1609-1914. The History, Architecture,
and Planning of the Estates of the City of London and its Livery
Companies in Ulster (Chichester: Phillimore & Co Ltd,
1986).
ISBN: 0-85033-577-9 (hbk.)
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to purchase this book
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Reviews
'In this monumental publication....Curl describes the...consequences
of the occupation by the English...It is not a pretty story,...but
Curl tells it with a scholarly detachment which contrives to be
sympathetic both to the colonists and to the native Irish resistance.
Curl provides an astonishingly painstaking study...of a saga that
links 55 Companies of the City of London with a large tract of
one of the most beautiful parts of Ireland. This judiciously written
book is...a tale of coercion, of heroism, of disaster, of failure,
of noble aspirations, of ineptitude, of perfidy, of perjury, of
cupidity, and of remarkable achievements against considerable
odds.'
The Salisbury Review
'...a sumptuous and scholarly book...a rounded study...that deserves
more than a specialised readership...'
The Oxford Times
'...a big book in every sense of the word...a lucid and balanced
study of a process rarely adequately understood on either side
of the Irish Sea... It unfolds with commendable balance a story
of endeavour and struggle which is all too often treated with
more heat than light....This is a book which no-one with an interest
in modern Ireland should leave unread.'
The Planner: The Journal of The Royal Town Planning Institute
'Space is too brief for adequate praise of this pioneering study...Although
daunting in its scholarship, this is no dry work of reference.
The text is gracefully fluent and vivid...'
RIBA Journal
'..an encyclopaedic work...with a wealth of information, excellent
photographs..., and charming reproductions of drawings... Curl
has organised his enormous mass of material skilfully into manageable
sections. ....It is a handsome volume, attractively produced,
and unlikely ever to be superseded...'
The Antiquaries Journal: The Journal of the Society of Antiquaries
of London
'...a large and impressive volume....a valuable addition to the
literature...providing...the local historian with a fresh synthesis
of a most complex subject. A detailed and scholarly exposition...it
breaks new ground...based not only on meticulous research...but
on detailed and prolonged field work. It is a....superb guide...
peopled with fascinating characters...Curl has done for the Londonderry
Plantation what Maurice Craig has done for Dublin...'
The Local Historian
'...a rare achievement and a monument to love and care....By contrast
with the academic rigour of Curl's book all others are amateur...'
Linen Hall Review
'No one before has assembled so rich a body of information and
illustration dealing with the buildings of the Plantation... Curl
is a pioneer among architectural historians in publishing archivally
based research on seventeenth-century Irish architecture...The
prodigious amount of detail is sustained by Curl's passionate
interest in the subject, and his sense of its importance...'
The Times Literary Supplement
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