Byrne's Dictionary of Irish Local History

by Joseph Byrne

  Ibid. (L., ibidem, in the same place) An abbreviation used in references to cite the same book or passage as has been cited immediately previous.

  Idem. (L., same) A footnote convention repeating the immediately preceding male author(s) but a different work. Eadem (pl, eaedem) is used where the author is female.

  imparking. In late medieval documents, refers to the engrossing or enclosure of open field strips.

  impropriate. Tithe assigned to a lay person. Where all of the tithe of a parish, both great and small, was in lay hands it was termed ‘wholly impropriate’. Impropriation of tithe – which was intended to support clergymen in the conduct of their duties – was a consequence of the granting of the lands of the dissolved monasteries to laymen after the Reformation. In receiving a grant of the land they also received the attendant tithe. With the tithe came the advowson or right to present and maintain an Anglican clergyman but in many cases, and especially where the lay impropriator was a Catholic, clergymen were poorly paid in proportion to the value of the tithe. In any case many parishes had few or no Anglicans and so the lay impropriator no doubt considered the clergyman privileged to receive anything at all considering the few duties he would be called on to perform. A clergyman’s appointment in instances where the tithe was wholly impropriate was known as a perpetual curacy. See appropriate.

  improved land. Land that has been drained and brought into production.

  income tax. Introduced in Ireland in 1853 (16 & 17 Vict., c. 34) but earlier in England, income tax affected only a small minority and was introduced as a quid pro quo for the extinction by the government of famine debts incurred by the Irish poor law unions, the repayment of which imposed a crippling burden on ratepayers.

  Incorporated Society for Promoting English Protestant Schools in Ireland. See charter schools.

  incumbent. A clergymen such as a rector or vicar who possessed an ecclesiastical benefice but not a curate who was merely an assistant to the incumbent.

  indenture. (Med. L., indentare, to give a serrated edge) 1: An indented document used to record a contract or lease between at least two parties. The contract was written out in duplicate form on a sheet of vellum and cut in two so that in disputes the fitting of the two halves proved them authentic. In a lease the landlord’s portion was known as the part, that of the tenant, the counter-part. A tripartite indenture involved at least three parties. Indentures were used to record transactions of some importance. A short-term lease was not worth the bother and was recorded on a straight edged poll 2: A sealed agreement binding an apprentice to a master.

  Independents. Independents (later known as Congregationalists) formed a minor puritan non-conformist sect which became influential during the Commonwealth (1649–1660) under the Independent Oliver Cromwell. They insisted on the autonomy of each congregation and repudiated a nationally-organised church in favour of loose affiliation. They first appeared in Ireland in the 1640s and included adventurers as well as Cromwellian soldiers among their number. About 30 Independent congregations were formed but this number dwindled to a mere handful by the close of the seventeenth century. The Independents enjoyed a revival during the nineteenth century – by 1836 there were 28 functioning congregations – but very few could trace their lineage back to the seventeenth century and the survival of the sect owed much to the missionary efforts of English communities. (Kilroy, Protestant, pp. 60–81; Greaves, God’s other children, pp. 22– 25.)

  indult. A dispensation, usually of a temporary nature, granted in the Catholic church.

  industrial schools. The concept of schools that would educate impoverished, abandoned or delinquent children in the habits of industry, regularity, self-denial and self-reliance was borrowed from an English model and introduced to Ireland in 1869. Industrial schools received convicted children under the age of 12 while convicts aged between 12–16 were dispatched to reformatories. By 1900 there were 70 such schools with a capacity for over 8,000 children operating in Ireland, entirely under religious control yet financed by the state. A degree of supervisory responsibility was accepted by the state in 1908 when the schools became subject to the annual visits of an inspector of reformatories and industrial schools. Industrial schools were abolished in England in 1933 but retained in Ireland until the 1970s when they were slated as ‘Dickensian’ by the Kennedy Report (Reformatory and Industrial Schools System Report, 1970) which also recommended their closure. (Barnes, Irish industrial schools.)

  industry, house of. The earliest workhouse in Ireland opened in Dublin in 1706 to receive vagrants. It was funded by a local house tax, a transport levy and voluntary contributions but it was not a success and a parliamentary committee censured the institution for mismanagement and neglect. Closure, however, was ruled out lest the public be inconvenienced by the sudden release of the most miserable and helpless. Financed by a coal tax, the Cork workhouse opened in 1748. In 1772 (11 & 12 Geo. III, c. 30) parliament legislated for the establishment of a poor relief committee in every county and city of a county empowered to badge beggars and construct workhouses or houses of industry. The act proposed a nationwide system of workhouses but, in the event, funding (by subscription and church collections) proved inadequate and only about six (including Cork, Limerick and Waterford) were actually erected. Houses of industry were intended to provide accommodation and work for beggars, vagrants and the needy. Admission was not necessarily voluntary for most inmates were committed there by the courts. Funded by parliamentary grant, the Dublin house of industry was by far the largest, housing up to 5,000 at one point. Here able-bodied men prepared oakum for caulking wooden ships, chipped and rasped logwood for dye production and beat hemp for the rope-making industry. Women spun, combed and carded textiles. Some houses of industry received grand jury subventions but the Belfast poorhouse (founded 1774) was funded entirely from local subscriptions. Belfast inmates engaged in weaving, cotton-spinning and horticulture. Houses of Industry that survived until the passing of the 1838 Poor Law Act were absorbed into the poor law system. See badging. (Strain, Belfast, pp. 169–180; Widdess, The Richmond, pp. 7–30.)

  infangenetheof. (OE, fang, to lay hold of, seize) The right to seize and prosecute a thief within the jurisdiction of a manor and to confiscate the chattels of a felon or to share in the profits arising from the forfeiture after hanging. See outfangtheof.

  infield. See rundale.

  infirmary. By 5 Geo. III, c. 20 (1765), amended 7 Geo. III, c. 8 (1767), parliament legislated for the erection of county infirmaries to be funded by public moneys and private subscriptions. By 1800 there were 26 small and poorly-run infirmaries in the country.

  information. A formal accusation of a crime made by a prosecuting officer as distinct from an indictment presented by a grand jury.

  Inland Navigation, Directors General of. In 1730 the Irish parliament appointed commissioners of navigation to encourage the development of canals and improve river navigation with the particular intention of increasing tillage and ensuring a cheap and dependable supply of food and fuel for the capital city. Funding for canal-building was secured largely from private subscribers and was supplemented by grants of public money. Enthusiasm for improving the navigability of rivers or building canals outstripped the available capital and many projects were under-financed and remained incomplete. Few justified the expense incurred. The commercial success of the Newry Canal (1731–42) – constructed to facilitate the transport of coal from Tyrone to Carlingford and onwards to Dublin – derived from the growth of the linen trade. In 1751 the commissioners of navigation were subsumed into the Corporation for Promoting and Carrying out an Inland Navigation or the Board of Inland Navigation and granted £7,000 per annum. Between 1778 and 1812 almost £2 million was spent on the Grand and Royal canal systems which linked the east, west and south of the country but neither was a commercial success. At the last session of the Irish parliament before the passage of the Act of Union, £500,000 was earmarked for the promotion of canal building. Salaried commi
ssioners known as the Directors General of Inland Navigation were appointed by the lord lieutenant to assess all applications for grants and to supervise the progress of grant-aided work. Later they were given control of the Shannon navigation and the Tyrone, Newry and Royal Canals. The directors served as a board to develop and regulate fisheries and during the famine of 1822 they maintained roads constructed under the public works relief scheme in the west of Ireland. Subsequently this body was absorbed into the Board of Works.

  Innisfallen, Annals of. One of the earliest surviving Irish annals and the most significant collection pertaining to Munster, the Annals of Innisfallen detail events down to 1326. Almost 40 scribes worked on the manuscript which is associated with monasteries at Emly, Toomgraney, Lismore, Killaloe and Innisfallen. The original is held in the Bodleian Library, Oxford (MS Rawlinson 503). (Best and McNeill, The annals; MacAirt, The annals.)

  innocence, decree of. A decree issued to those who proved in the first court of claims (1663) that they were innocent of complicity in the 1641 rebellion. As innocents they were entitled to resume their former estates without having to pass new letters patent.

  inns of court. Inns of court provided a convenient meeting-place for barristers to dine, discuss legal affairs and exchange gossip. Members could also lease chambers or offices there. In England they functioned as hostels where apprentice lawyers were accommodated and fed. In time the inns assumed a role in the education of apprentices through lecture sessions known as ‘readings’ which were presented by able barristers. The inns regulated admission to practise and until the late nineteenth century residence at an English inn of court was required for admission to practise in Ireland. See King’s Inns.

  inquisition. Despite its forbidding resonance, an inquisition was simply an inquiry, the means by which chancery and the exchequer acquired knowledge about landownership. It was a local inquiry initiated by a request from the surveyor-general to the escheator to summon a jury of those most likely to be in a position to testify to the ownership of a particular parcel of land and motivated by the need to ensure that the crown was not defrauded of revenue associated with the feudal incidents. The inquisition was also an instrument used to establish the extent and valuation of crown lands that were available to be granted as a reward to a loyal or favoured subject. The most extensive inquisition conducted in Ireland was the Civil Survey (1654–56) which sought to ascertain the amount of land available to reward adventurers and soldiers for their role in the suppression of the 1641 rebellion.

  inquisition ad quod damnum. 1: An inquisition conducted by the escheator to determine whether the crown’s interest was prejudiced by the grant of a particular piece of land to a religious house (alienation to mortmain) 2: A writ sued out as a precursor to the granting of liberties by the crown to ascertain whether such a grant might be disadvantageous or injurious to others.

  inquisition on attainder. An inquisition which compiled an inventory of the property and chattels of an attainted individual so they could be taken into crown hands. (Griffith, Calendar.)

  inquisition post-mortem. An inquisition post-mortem was activated by a writ of diem clausit extremitum to the escheator on the death of a tenant-in-chief (one who held land directly from the crown) to ensure that the crown was not defrauded of the feudal incidents of wardship, relief, escheat and marriage. The escheator summoned a local jury to inquire of what lands the deceased was seised, by what tenure they were held and to ascertain the name and age of the heir. If the heir was a minor he became the king’s ward and the rents of his estate were received by the crown. Usually the wardship was auctioned to the highest bidder subject to some restrictions such as the requirement that Catholic minors be educated to Protestantism at Trinity College. Inquisitions post-mortem contain a brief description of the land, its appurtenances and its value. They are an excellent source for determining descent, property and tenure for in many instances they contain transcripts of deeds, wills and other legal instruments. The format of the inquisition post-mortem was later adopted for the compilation of the manorial survey which recorded the rents and services owed to the manor. The original medieval Irish inquisitions have not survived but inquisitions concerning landowners who also held land in England may be found in Calendar of inquisitions post-mortem, Henry III – Richard II (16 vols, London, 1904–74). Inquisitionum in officio rotulorum cancellariae Hiberniae asservatorum repertorium (2 vols, Dublin, 1827–9) contains printed repertories of later chancery inquisitions for Leinster and Ulster. (Griffith, Calendar.)

  inspeximus. (L., we have inspected) An inspeximus or exemplification is a certified copy in charter form that confirms that an earlier document or charter has been inspected and delivers a recital of the original.

  inst. An abbreviation for instant, the term refers to the current month as in the twenty-fourth inst., the twenty-fourth of this month.

  inter Anglicos. Because of a dispute over primacy in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, part of the diocese of Armagh – largely Co. Louth – was presided over by an archdeacon and the English half of the cathedral chapter and was served by Anglo-Norman clergy. It was therefore known as the ecclesia inter Anglicos. (Watt, ‘Ecclesia’, pp. 46–64.)

  inter Hibernicos. That part of the diocese of Armagh – largely Co. Armagh – administered by the dean of Armagh cathedral and half of the cathedral chapter and served by native Irish clergy.

  interregnum. The period between the death of Charles I in 1649 and the restoration of the monarchy in 1660.

  investiture. The act of creating tenure by investing the tenant in his fief. It followed the rituals of fealty and homage. The lord invested the tenant by handing him an object such as a rod which symbolised his fief. Once invested the tenant had now acquired tenure.

  inventory, probate. A list of a deceased person’s possessions (but not realty) which accompanies a will. It was compiled by an appraiser. Probate inventories are highly valued by local and family historians for what they reveal about the social and economic life of the testator. (Berry, Register.)

  Invincibles. A splinter group of the IRB with close Land League and Fenian connections, the secret revolutionary Irish National Invincibles was formed in 1881 to attack high-ranking government officials. Early targets included the chief secretary, William Edward Forster, and Superintendent John Mahon of the Dublin Metropolitan Police. In an action almost universally condemned, members of the Invincibles assassinated the new chief secretary for Ireland, Lord Frederick Cavendish, and his under-secretary, T. H. Burke, in Phoenix Park on 6 May 1882, the day they arrived in Ireland to take up office. In January 1883, 17 Invincibles were arrested, five of whom (Brady, Curley, Kelly, Fagan and Caffrey) were subsequently executed. Following the executions the organisation collapsed in Ireland. (O’Broin, ‘The Invincibles’, pp. 113–125.)

  Ionic. An architectural style and one of the three Grecian orders, Ionic columns are distinguished by a capital ornamented with four spirals and a fluted shaft. See Corinthian, Doric.

  Irish Architectural Archive. Founded in 1976 to collect and preserve records of Ireland’s architectural heritage, the Irish Architectural Archive now holds the largest collection of historic architectural records in Ireland. In addition to 80,000 drawings, 300,000 photographs and 11,000 printed items, the archive holds related business records, account- and letter-books and architectural models at its premises in 73 Merrion Square, Dublin.

  Irish Church Act. The Irish Church Act (32 & 33 Vict., c. 42, 1869) was the legislative instrument which disestablished and disendowed the Church of Ireland and sundered the union of the Anglican churches in Ireland and England. From 1 January 1871 the Church of Ireland ceased to be the state church and became a voluntary body. In recognition of the fact that the people of Ireland had contributed to the grossly over-endowed Irish church, most of its temporalities were seized and vested in commissioners of church temporalities who were to liquidate the assets and re-distribute the funds as specified in the legislation. A corporate
body, the Representative Church Body, was established to receive ownership of church buildings, glebes and schoolhouses subject to purchase clauses. Existing ministers were protected by compensatory lifetime annuities. Those who elected to retire – and about 1,000 did so choose – were given lump sum payments. The vast majority of clergymen opted to commute their life interest into a lump sum and had it paid to the Representative Church Body which became their new paymaster. In tandem with the disendowment of the Church of Ireland, the regium donum to the Presbyterian church and the annual state subvention to Maynooth College were discontinued. The Presbyterians and Maynooth College, however, were compensated for their losses by final payments of £750,000 and £372,000, respectively, from the former assets of the church. When the foregoing sums were deducted, Gladstone calculated that between £7–8 million would be available to relieve distress in Ireland. The Irish Church Act included one of the earliest land purchase schemes. The Church Temporalities Commissioners were empowered to sell land to church tenants who were aided by the advance of three-quarters of the purchase price subject to a mortgage repayable over 32 years. The idea came from John Bright who advocated a similar scheme in the 1870 Landlord and Tenant Act. See Bright clauses, Church Temporalities Commission, General Convention. (Nowlan, ‘Disestablishment’, pp. 1–22; Connell, Finances.)

  Irish Folklore Commission (Coimisiún Béaloideas Éireann). A government commission established in 1935 for the collection, preservation, classification, study and exposition of all aspects of Irish folk traditions. The commission replaced the earlier Irish Folklore Institute (founded 1930) which evolved and recruited from the voluntary Folklore Society of Ireland. A further mutation in 1971 saw the Irish Folklore Commission re-styled the Department of Irish Folklore and its incorporation into University College Dublin. The core of the commission’s collection comprises almost 2,000 volumes together with sound recordings, photographs, sketches and plans which were donated or collected by full-time and part-time collectors working in different parts of the country. A schools’ collection conducted in 1937–8 in practically every national school in the 26 counties amassed over 1,100 manuscript volumes. The bulk of material printed in Béaloideas, the journal of the Folklore Society of Ireland, is drawn from the commission’s collection. (Almqvist, ‘ The Irish Folklore Commission’, pp. 6–26.)