THE SCOT IN ULSTER

THE SCOT IN COUNTY DOWN

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O'Neale and his heirs)." [1] Thus this great tract of land, the northern half of County Down, was handed over to Hamilton, who had before entered into agreement with Montgomery and O'Neill as to what portion he should retain, what share Hugh Montgomery should receive, and how much of his ancestral estate should be restored to Con O'Neill.

It is a strange story, but thoroughly characteristic of the time; for it was a period in which popular feeling was singularly inert, the Reformation fire having burned down, and the great Puritan revival not yet arrived. The affairs of the country were therefore "arranged" by King James, with the assistance of a knot of courtiers--shrewd, keen men, without any very high sense of the beauty of unselfishness. There is no doubt, too, that the main points in the story are strictly true, and the principal actors are real figures in history. James Hamilton became first Sir James and then Viscount Clanna-boye, a title now borne by his descendant, the late Viceroy of India, Lord Dufferin and Clannaboye. Montgomery became Lord Montgomery of the Ards, and although the peerage has become extinct, the Montgomerys still hold a portion of the land which they acquired at this time, and still bury among the romantic ruins of Grey Abbey. Con soon managed to run through his property, and disappears from history: but his son Daniel fought for Charles I.; went into exile with Charles II.; returned with him; mar-...continue reading »

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[1] Calendar of State Papers, Ireland, 1603-6, p. 271; also see 'Miscellany of the Abbotsford Club,' p. 270.

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Page 11

The Scot in Ulster:
Sketch of the History of the Scottish Population of Ulster

by John Harrison

1888