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Barony (Ireland)

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This article is about geographical subdivisions. For titles of nobility, seePeerage of Ireland § Barons.For feudal honours, seeIrish feudal barony.

Map of the Baronies of Ireland in 1899

InIreland,abarony(Irish:barúntacht,pluralbarúntachtaí[1]) is a historical subdivision of acounty,analogous to thehundredsinto which thecounties of Englandwere divided. Baronies were created during theTudor reconquest of Ireland,replacing the earliercantredsformed after the originalNorman invasion.[2]Some early baronies were later subdivided intohalf baronieswith the same standing as full baronies.

Baronies were mainlycadastralrather than administrative units. They acquired modest local taxation and spending functions in the 19th century before being superseded by theLocal Government (Ireland) Act 1898.Subsequent adjustments of county boundaries mean that some baronies now straddle two counties.[3]

The final catalogue of baronies numbered 331, with an average area of 255 km2(98 sq mi; 63,000 acres); therefore, each county was divided, on average, into 10 or 11 baronies.

Creation[edit]

See also:Cantred

The island of Ireland was "shired" into counties in two distinct periods: the east and south during theAnglo-Norman period(fromthe 1169 invasionto the early fourteenth century) and the rest in theTudor conquestof the sixteenth century. "Barony" was used in three overlapping but distinct senses in the early period:

Over the centuries, these senses diverged, and many administrative baronies were not associated with feudal or noble titles.[4]Spurious "barony" titles have been sold by using the names of administrative baronies for which there is no corresponding hereditary orprescriptive barony.[4][5]In countiesLouthandMeath,the administrative subdivisions were called "baronies" from the beginning,[4]originally as portions given byHugh de Lacy, Lord of Meathto hisvassals.Further south the name "cantred" was used till the fifteenth century.[4]The cantreds declined with the rest of the English colony as its influence retreated tothe Palein the fourteenth century, and when the Tudors and Stuarts revived and extended county government, the baronies which they delimited often bore little relation to the earlier cantreds.[2][4]

Most cantreds corresponded to thetúath('country') ortrícha cét('thirty hundred [men]') of aGaelicchief. However, sometimes baronies combined small territories, or split a large one, or were created without regard for the earlier boundaries.[4]In the Norman period most Gaelic chiefs were killed, expelled, or subordinated by the new Norman lord; in the Tudor period, many Gaelic and Hibernicized lords retained their land by pledging allegiance tothe Crownundersurrender and regrant.

SirJohn Perrot's commissioners reported 184 "cantreds, otherwise called hundreds or baronies" in 1589;[6]William Pettyreported 252 baronies in 1672.[7]

Baronies were sometimes subdivided, and occasionally combined. The parts of a subdivided barony were calledhalf-baronies,but had the same legal standing. Some subdivisions came about when new counties were formed, and the new boundary split a pre-existing barony. In three cases, there are adjacent half-baronies in neighbouring counties with the same name: Rathdown (Dublin—Wicklow), Fore (Meath—Westmeath), and Ballymoe (Galway—Roscommon). Subdivision happened especially in the 19th century, when qualifiers "Upper" / "Lower" (/ "Middle" ), "North" / "South", or "East/" West "were used for the half-baronies.[4]The main basis for this subdivision was theGrand Jury (Ireland) Act, 1836,which empowered a county'sgrand juryto divide baronies of at least 45,000 acres (18,000 ha) and unite baronies totalling at most 40,000 acres (16,000 ha).[8]An 1837 act relaxed these restrictions forCounty Fermanagh,where many baronies were split byLough Erne.[9]The baronies of Iveagh, Muskerry, and Connello were each subdivided twice: Upper and Lower Iveagh each have Upper and Lower Halves; East and West Muskerry each have East and West Divisions; the western divisions split from Upper and Lower Connello were named Shanid and Glenquin respectively.[10][11]WhenCounty Tipperarywas split intoNorthandSouth Ridingsin 1838, the barony of Kilnamanagh was split into Upper and Lower half-baronies.[12]

At theReformationtheparishes for civil purposeswere the ecclesiastical parishes of the establishedChurch of Ireland.Originally each parish was usually within a single barony, but less so over time. Atownlandmight be anexclaveof a parish, and potentially of its barony; under theValuation of Lands (Ireland) Act 1836,detached parts of baronies were annexed to an adjacent barony, but not so for parishes.[13]The rationalisation of small ecclesiastical parishes into largerbeneficessometimes entailed merging the corresponding civil parishes, which might thus cross barony (and county) boundaries.

Peculiar districts[edit]

Many towns had a specificroyal chartergranting themborough status similar to English law.These were originally independent of the baronies, which were rural divisions of the "county at large". By the time of Beaufort's 1792Memoir of Ireland,this was true of fewer towns. Beaufort distinguishes between baronies and "peculiar districts"; the latter encompassingcounties corporateandlibertiesin the environs of some of the older or larger towns and cities.

Liberties[edit]

The liberties listed by Beaufort separately from baronies are those ofKinsale,MallowandYoughalinCounty Cork;[14]CallaninCounty Kilkenny;[15]KilmallockinCounty Limerick;[16]DerryandColeraineinCounty Londonderry;[17]andWexfordinCounty Wexford.[18]Of these, those of Wexford, Mallow, and Youghal are no longer counted as separate from the adjacent baronies. Those of Kinsale, Callen, and Kilmallock are now counted as baronies. A 1791 act dealt with the two in County Londonderry; it made theNorth West Liberties of Londonderry,together with the city, into a barony, while the liberties on the east bank of theRiver Foylewere attached to the half barony ofTirkeeran.[19]Similarly, theNorth East Liberties of Coleraineformed a barony together with the town, while the liberties on the west bank of theRiver Bannwere attached to the separatehalf-barony of Coleraine.[19]The lands of theLordship of Newry,originating with theCisterciansofNewry Abbeyand passing to theEarl of Kilmorey,were similarly regularised into a barony of County Down and acivil parishofCounty Armagh.[20]

Counties corporate[edit]

There were eight counties corporate: the "County of the City" of each ofCork,Dublin,Limerick,Kilkenny,andWaterford,and the "County of the Town" of each ofCarrickfergus,DroghedaandGalway.[21][22]These were excluded from the enclosing "county-at-large" and exercised at a single level the functions which elsewhere were split between county and barony level.[22]Thus, they had "baronial presentment sessions" although they were not strictly speaking baronies.[23][24]Each such city or town also had amunicipal corporationwhich had parallel authority with the grand jury; however, each county corporate exceptCarrickfergusincluded rural "liberties" outside the municipal boundary. TheMunicipal Corporations (Ireland) Act 1840abolished the corporations of Carrickfergus and Galway, while the Counties and Boroughs (Ireland) Act 1840, passed simultaneously, transferred the liberties of the other six counties corporate to the adjoining county-at-large. The transferred area was sometimes assigned to one or more existing county baronies, but sometimes made a barony in its own right. The reduced-size counties corporate continued till theLocal Government (Ireland) Act 1898,at which point each of those of Kilkenny and the three towns was merged with a neighbouring county to form a newadministrative county,while the other four counties of cities each became acounty borough.Both before and after 1898, where a statute presupposed that a county was divided into baronies, judges sometimes construed it by assuming that each county corporate constituted a single barony.[23][25]

Historical functions[edit]

The variousPlantations of Irelandwere organised largely by barony. Different categories of English and Scottish settlers were planted in particular baronies in the midlands and Munster. Likewise the "precincts" into which theplantation of Ulsterwas organised were mostly coterminous with baronies, though some were split or combined.[26]In certain counties after theCromwellian reconquest,Adventurersgot lands in half the baronies, withsoldiersin the other half.[27]The Irish who had forfeited their lands in those regions were resettled inConnachtandClare,with each county of origin assigned to particular destination baronies.[28]William Petty'sDown Surveyof 1655–6 collected statistics and produced maps at barony level to assist the reorganisation.

Acts of 1787 and 1792 allowed theLord Lieutenant of Irelandto appoint aconstablefor each barony, and the countygrand juryto appoint up to 16 sub-constables. These powers were seldom used and the constables had few powers; they were usually older men nicknamed "old Barnys", with the archetypal "old Barny McKeown".[29]They were superseded by theRoyal Irish Constabulary.[29]

Thecessto pay for roads, bridges, and otherpublic workswas set per barony. "Presentmentsessions",where petitioners applied for funding for such works, were originally held as part of the countyassizes,though the costs were paid from the barony cess if the work was of local benefit only. The county grand jury was supposed to have included jurors from each barony, though this did not always happen.[30]From 1819,[31]significantly modified in 1836,[32]baronial presentment sessions were held for these purposes, with a local jury picked by the county grand jury from among the barony's highest rate-payers, according to a complicated formula.[33]The baronial presentment sessions were a convoluted process, lacking public confidence and marred by allegations of corruption and favouritism.[33]Special emergency sessions were held during theFamine of the 1840sfor themake-workschemes.[33]

Several parallel local administrative divisions were formed in the nineteenth century, which were not based on the barony.[4]ThePoor Law Unionswere established in 1838, each centred on an eponymous town; most new or altered responsibilities were given to them in subsequent decades.[34]These Unions which were divided intodistrict electoral divisions(DEDs) for funding purposes.[35]Petty sessionscourts for civil cases andquarter sessionsfor criminal cases used still another set of land divisions.

For each two-seatcounty constituencyin theIrish House of Commons,the election was held in thecounty town,with a separate polling booth for electors resident in each barony or half-baroiny. The single-seat divisions into which theRedistribution of Seats Act 1885split most Irish county constituencies were defined largely or exclusively in terms of the baronies which they comprised; however, in some cases a barony was split parish by parish between two divisions. The 1891 census was the last for which returns were aggregated by barony as well as by Union and DED; the 1901 census used only the latter classification, though it and the 1911 census included the barony in the detailed returns.

The 1898 Act replaced the county assizes with an electedcounty council;at a lower level, the county was divided intourban and rural districts,each with an elected council. These councils had power to levyratesand build public works, and the baronial presentment sessions were abolished.

Modern existence[edit]

While baronies continue to be officially defined units, they are no longer used for many administrative purposes. Their official status is illustrated by Placenames Orders made since 2003, where official Irish names of baronies are listed under "Administrative units".[36]

Baronies continue to be used inland registration,and specification such as inplanning permissions.For example, the form for registration of afreeholdproperty includes a schedule "To contain description of the property, giving area, townland, barony and county, or, if in a city or urban district, the street or road and city or urban district".[37]

Barony boundaries have remained essentially unchanged since 1898. An exception occurs when land isreclaimed from the sea,whereupon themaritime boundaryof the coastal land units will be extended accordingly. For example, a 1994statutory instrumentextended the boundary of theBarony of Arklow,along with the boundaries of the county (Wicklow), thedistrict electoral division(Arklow Rural), thecivil parish(Arklow), and thetownlands(Rock Big, Rock Little, and Money Big).[38]

The Local Government (Ireland) Act also caused a number of county boundaries to be modified, with the result that a number of baronies now cross county boundaries. This can cause confusion togenealogyresearchers, who may be unable to find an area referred to as being in a particular county in 19th century sources in the modern county. Most markedly, the entire territory of the small barony ofKilculliheenwas moved fromCounty WaterfordtoCounty Kilkenny.Likewise in 1976, when suburbs of Drogheda were transferred from County Meath to County Louth, barony boundaries were not adjusted.[39]

The marginal relevance of baronies means many people have no idea which barony they live in.[4]However, some remain a focus for local patriotism. Somepublic housesand older provincial hotels bear the name of the barony in which they are located; likewise some clubs of theGaelic Athletic Association,for exampleCarbury(County Kildare),Castlerahan,andKilmurry Ibrickane.Four of the six regional divisions ofCork GAAare named after baronies corresponding to major parts of their respective areas:Carbery,Duhallow,Imokilly,andMuskerry.

List of baronies[edit]

Main article:List of baronies of Ireland

The final catalogue of baronies numbered 331. A figure of 273 is also quoted, by combining those divided into half-baronies, as by east–west, north–south, or upper/middle/lower divisions. Every point in Ireland is in precisely one of the listed divisions. However, the municipal area of the four cities with barony status in 1898 has extended since then into the surrounding baronies. Prior to 1898, the baronies around Dublin City were shrunk according as they ceded land to the expanding city; but there is now land which is both within the current city boundaries and within one of the pre-1898 county baronies. Notably, the Barony of Dublin, created in 1842, is almost entirely within the city, although still separate from the Barony of Dublin City.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^"barony".Focal.Retrieved8 December2010.[permanent dead link]
  2. ^abMac Cotter 2005, pp.327–330
  3. ^General Register Officeof Ireland (1904)."Alphabetical index to the baronies of Ireland".Census of Ireland 1901: General topographical index.Command papers.Vol. Cd. 2071.HMSO.pp. 966–978.
  4. ^abcdefghijNicholls 1996
  5. ^Burns, John (24 July 2005)."Experts attack sale of" bogus "Barony of Clare for €90,000".The Sunday Times.Retrieved19 March2010.
  6. ^History of the political connection between England and Irelandp.121,fnby William Barron, 1780
  7. ^Petty,The Political Anatomy of Ireland,Chapter VI[permanent dead link]
  8. ^"Grand Jury (Ireland) Act, 1836".Irish Statute Book.pp. 175: Baronies, &c. may be divided, or may be united.Retrieved25 June2014.
  9. ^County Fermanagh Baronies Act, 18371 Vict. c.82
  10. ^lewis, Samuel (1837). "Limerick".A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland.
  11. ^Westropp, Thomas Johnson (1907). "The Ancient Castles of the County of Limerick (Western Baronies)".Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, Section C.26.Royal Irish Academy: 201–472.JSTOR25502743.
  12. ^Murphy, Donal A. (1994).The two Tipperarys: the national and local politics —devolution and self-determination— of the unique 1838 division into two ridings, and the aftermath.Regional studies in political and administrative history. Vol. 1. Relay. p.71.ISBN0-946327-14-9.
  13. ^"c.84 §§51–53".Valuation of Lands (Ireland) Act 1836.Public General Statutes. Vol. 6 & 7 William IV. G. W. Eyre and W. Spottiswoode, Printers to the Queen. 1836. pp. 742–3.Retrieved16 August2013.
  14. ^Beaufort 1792p.94
  15. ^Beaufort 1792p.52
  16. ^Beaufort 1792p.86
  17. ^Beaufort 1792p.25
  18. ^Beaufort 1792p.49
  19. ^abRichard Nun, ed. (1801)."40 Geo iii c.80: An Act to explain and amend an Act passed in the Thirty-fifth Year of his present Majesty's Reign, entitled An Act for regulating the Election of Members to serve in Parliament, and for repealing the several Acts therein mentioned, and to explain and amend an Act passed in the Thirty-Seventh Year of said Reign, entitled An Act for the further Regulation of the Election of Members to serve in Parliament.".From the Thirty-ninth Year of George III. A. D. 1799, to the Fortieth Year of George III. A. D. 1800, inclusive.Statutes passed in the Parliaments held in Ireland...: from the third year of Edward the second, A.D. 1310 to the fortieth year of George III A.D. 1800, inclusive. Vol. 12. George Grierson. pp. 300–303.
  20. ^Parliamentary gazetteer of Ireland,Vol.III pp.23–4
  21. ^Clarkson et al,Notes on Baronies of Ireland
  22. ^abHancock 1876
  23. ^ab"Cases in the Queen's Bench: In re Miller and Dowell. In re Meade".Irish Law Reports.2.Dublin: Hodges and Smith: 307. 1840.There are other acts which have been held not to extend to the county of the city of Dublin on account of this word "barony" occurring in them
  24. ^County Works (Ireland) Act 1846 [9 & 10 Vict. c. 2] s.23
  25. ^"Reports; Murphy v Cork County Council".New Irish Jurist and Local Government Review.2(49): 289. 17 October 1902.JSTOR44606341– via HeinOnline.
  26. ^Hill, George (1877)."6: Results and Arrangements; II.".An Historical Account of the Plantation in Ulster at the Commencement of the Seventeenth Century, 1608–1620.Belfast: M'Caw, Stevenson & Orr. pp. 201–4.ISBN9785876338280.Retrieved28 July2015.
  27. ^Prendergast 1868,pp. 79–80
  28. ^Prendergast 1868,pp. 208–210
  29. ^abCurtis, Robert H. (1871)."1: Position of matters previous to the formation of the Constabulary".The History of the Royal Irish Constabulary(2nd ed.). Dublin: McGlashan & Gill. pp. 2–3.
  30. ^Roche, Desmond; John Collins (1982). "Origins of Irish Local Government".Local government in Ireland(3rd ed.). Institute of Public Administration. pp. 27–31.ISBN0-906980-06-2.
  31. ^59 Geo. 3.c. 84
  32. ^3 & 4 Will. 4.c. 116
  33. ^abcHancock 1876,pp.186–91
  34. ^Hancock 1876,p.177
  35. ^Hancock 1876,pp.173–4
  36. ^Irish Statute Book,Statutory Instruments: 2003 Nos520,521,522,523,525;2004No 872;2005No 847
  37. ^"S.I. No. 349/2009 – Land Registration Rules 2009".Irish Statute Book.Government of Ireland. 2 September 2009.Retrieved3 March2010.
  38. ^"S.I. No. 333/1994 – Maritime Boundaries (County of Wicklow) Order, 1994".Irish Statute Book.Government of Ireland. 25 October 1994.Retrieved19 March2010.
  39. ^"Local Government Provisional Order Confirmation Act, 1976".Irish Statute Book.Government of Ireland. 20 December 1976.Retrieved20 March2010.

Bibliography[edit]

External links[edit]

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