Model Plantation Village at Moneymore

An excellent community sector tourism project has been developed by Moneymore Heritage Trust in Co. Londonderry, with the construction of a 17th century historically accurate scale model of Moneymore in the Plantation period.

In September 1607, the Earl of Tyrconnell, Curconnaght Maguire of Fermanagh and many of their followers sailed out of Lough Swilly in what became known as the "Flight of the Earls".  They fled Ireland through fear of arrest and subsequent execution or lifelong imprisonment in the Tower of London.  Seeking refuge among England's traditional enemies in Europe, the Irish leaders were denounced as traitors and their lands confiscated.

The "escheated" lands were made available for "Plantation" by English and Scottish settlers.  Some scholars have put the Plantation of Ulster in the context of European colonisation.  Indeed, the first ship had left England filled with colonists bound for Virgina a month before the Flight of the Earls took place.

The "Articles of Plantation" instructed that "every undertaker will build a stone or brick house thereupon (his land), with a strong court or bawne about it and all the said undertakers shall draw their tenants to build houses for themselves and their families near the principal bawne for their mutual defence or strength".

The word bawn is the Anglicised form of the Irish badhun: a "cattle fortress".  Bawns were generally one hundred feet square with two flanking towers at diagonally opposite corners.  Sometimes there were four flankers, one at each corner.  The flankers projected beyond the line of the walls allowing flanking fire to be directed along the exterior of the bawns walls.  Other defensive features were incorporated in the design of the bawn, like wall-walks and pistol loops.

The settlers dwelling was within or adjoining one wall of the bawn.  It was often of intricate design with large windows and straight stairs to make optimum use of natural light.  Tall Jacobean chimneys and stair turrets gave an imposing look to these defended houses which were often whitewashed and thatched.

The Moneymore model village consists of dwellings from the Plantation era in cottages, manor house, bawn, church, mill etc.  The lay-out of the village and the style of the buildings derives from Raven's 1622 map of Moneymore.

The Plantation era is of clear importance and deserved interest to Ulster-Scots, being the period when many of the ancestors of Ulster-Scots came to Ulster.

The model village is deserving of a visit by anyone with an interest in history and cultural heritage.

It is in the Manor Park in Moneymore and access is via the Manor House car park (contact Keith on 028 8674 8367 to arrange access).