User:Jnestorius/Upper and Nether Tyrone

See

 * County Tyrone
 * County of Nether Tyrone
 * County of Upper Tyrone
 * Talk:Counties of Ireland/Archive 1

Text
Tír Eogain divisions:
 * This geographical distinction is reflected in the line dividing the diocese of Derry from Armagh, in the annals' references to Tir Eoghain 'north of the Mountain' (of Slieve Gallion) and 'south of the Mountain'[1], in the sixteenth-century terms 'Upper and Nether Tyrone'[2] and in the creation of a separate county of Coleraine or Londonderry at the time of the Ulster Plantation.

The Description and Present State of Ulster, 1586:
 * The Countie of Tyron conteyneth all the land from Blackwater to Liffer; the chife Capten there is Tur. Oneyle, (save) that of late the halfe thereof and more, by a composition made by the nowe Lord Deputie, is let to the Erle of Tiron for certen yeres, for which he shold paie to Tur : a 1000 marckes by yeare, which hath ben deteyned by the said Earle.

H. F. Hore comments: 'According to Blaen's map, engraved from a survey of Elizabeth's time, that district was divided into 'Upper" and "Nether;" this corresponds with the partition above mentioned.' Blaen is a mistake for Joan Blaeu, whose maps are from 1662.

The abovementioned composition was at Dungannon on 10 September 1585:
 * Witnesseth that Turlough demises to the earl of Tyrone and Sir Arthur the captaincy, lands, and inhabitants that the said Turlough enjoyeth at present from the mountains of Mullaghgory southward towards the Pale, south-eastward to Lough Neagh and River Ban to O Hagan's Country, and from Lough Neagh and the Ban to Maguire's Country, for the term of seven years, yielding to said Turlough a yearly rent of 1000 marks.

Francis Jobson's 1590 [or 1598? ] map recognised all the counties of Ulster "except Tyrone, where he distinguished two territories, nether and upper, both of indeterminate status. Annaleigh Margey describes Jobson's 1590 maps as "mapping the proposed counties of Ulster" [my emphasis]. Later she writes [emphasis added]:
 * But what distinguishes this map as more than a mere representation of these lordships is the detailed inscription that frames it, acting as a legend to the map and describing England’s imperial plans for Ulster. A colour code, letter reference system and new county names spell out England’s intention to impose political structures in Ulster, thus effectively claiming Ulster for the Crown.

[John] Speed's Ulster [in The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine published in 1610/11] followed suit in this respect, despite the official reinstatement of County Tyrone in 1603–4". Speed's map of Ireland incorrectly labels east Tyrone "upper" and west "nether"; his Ulster map follows Jobson with the reverse labelling. Andrews' 1603-4 date references p.213-4 of the 1988 edition of John Davies' A discoverie of the true causes why Ireland was neuer entirely subdued nor brought vnder obedience of the crowne of England, vntill the beginning of His Maiesties happie raigne, probably p.264 of 1747 edition, "And to that end, Sir George Cary (who was a prudent Gouernor, and a iust, and made a fair entry into the right way of reforming this Kingdome) did in the first yeare of his Maiesties raigne, make the first Sheriffes that euer were made in Tyrone and Tirconnell".

Agreement on local government made 17 June 1590 between earl of Tyrone and the Privy Council, based on three memoranda by John Perrot, Geoffrey Fenton, and Henry Wallop & Robert Gardiner. "In the summer of 1591 the county of Tyrone was delimited, divided into eight baronies, and Dungannon was appointed county town. The significant inclusion of O'Cahan's country prevented earlier plans for its separate creation as the county of Coleraine." Michaelmas 1592 first sheriffs: Cormac Mac Baron for Tyrone and Sir Oghy O'Hanlon for Armagh. Earl O'Neill said territory too poor for two sheriffs. (I presume "territory" was Tyrone + Armagh rather than Upper + Nether; "the earl envisaged a single county roughly cotermonous with the three modern units of Tyrone, Armagh, and Derry. The district would have enjoyed a sort of palatine status". ) See also Maginn.

Andrews says "lists and tables in the Theatre's written text imply that both Upper and Nether Tyrone were counties, and in its maps of the British Isles and Ireland (but not Ulster) the name 'Cou. Tyrone' appears near the western border of the present county." Speed's Ulster has Upper and Nether divided but with a lesser boundary than other counties. Compare Munster, where boundary colours are at sub-county level. Regarding "lists and tables", the Upper and Nether appear in "The particular Counties in the foure SEVERAL PROVINCES OF IRELAND, AS NOW THEY ARE DIVIDED, AND LIMITTED"; and in "the division of Ulster" in both the list of counties and the index of places.

Unlike earlier authorities, including Jobson, [Richard] Bartlett makes no distinction between upper and lower Tyrone, from which at one time it had been proposed to make two separate counties.

William Camden's Britannia 1607 edition has one "Tir-Oen"; but maybe Theatre's text derives from an earlier edition of Britannia.

Gerard Boate's Natural History of Ireland lists the obsolete counties of Upper and Nether Tyrone, Desmond, and Coleraine, and omits Wicklow; he might have cribbed that from an earlier source, but he mentions "Upper Tyrone" specifically twice, as the location of two rivulets flowing from Slieve Gallion into Lough Neagh named as sources of metal: gold in the "Miola" (Moyola) and iron by the "Lishan" (Lissan Water?).

The Parliamentary Gazetteer of 1846 (Vol 3, p.447) states "Previous to the flight and attainder of O'Neill, Tyrone was divided into the districts of North Tyrone and South Tyrone; but, about the period of 'the plantation of Ulster,' North Tyrone was transferred to the county of Londonderry." Loughinsholin is in the Gazetteer (Volume 2 (D-M) p.695) but unfortunately is missing from the Google Books scan.