Sir, – Fintan O’Toole rightly praises the elaborate Down Survey (1656-58) and welcomes Trinity College’s decision to make its details widely available online (Weekend Review, May 11th). May I comment on two points?
“If you want to engage in large-scale expropriation of land, you need to know what you’ve got” (so you conduct a survey). I’m not convinced. Extensive confiscations in Laois/Offaly in the 1550s, Munster in the 1580s and Ulster from 1606 onward were accomplished without such surveys. I believe the Commonwealth authorities wanted to appear more scientific and orderly than the Tudor and Stuart monarchs.
“Witness statements on the atrocities committed against Protestants in 1641”, also available online, are fascinating to read, but were not always made by actual witnesses. They must be read with caution. A namesake of my own made sworn accusations in 1651 about alleged occurrences in 1641, ie, well before he arrived in Ireland. What with the ferocious war, the no less ferocious propaganda and the victors’ wish to strengthen their hold on confiscated lands, hearsay “evidence” about atrocities committed by previous owners was never likely to be trustworthy! – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL DRURY,
Avenue Louise,
Brussels,
Belgium.