Byrne's Dictionary of Irish Local History

by Joseph Byrne

  Statute of Uses. See use.

  statute rolls. The statute rolls which began as a series in 1427 comprised both the public and private statutes passed in the Irish parliament from Henry VI to James I. In 1861 there were 45 rolls. The original rolls were destroyed in 1922 except for the year 1594 – which Charles McNeill was reading when the anti-Treatyites burst into the Four Courts. However, the rolls for the years 1427–72 had already been published in two volumes by the Public Record Office and a volume for the years 1473–81 appeared in 1939 based on surviving Irish Record Commission transcripts. Both are printed in the original Norman French, the legal and general language of the court, with parallel English translations. The Record Commission’s transcripts of the parliamentary rolls for 1484, 1485 and 1493 are to be published by the National Archives. (Berry, Statutes; Idem, Statute rolls; Idem, Statute rolls of the parliament of Ireland, first to the twelfth years of the reign of King Edward the fourth ; Irish statutes: revised edition; Morrissey, Statute rolls.)

  Statute Staple. The Irish staple emerged in the thirteenth century as a regulatory body to govern the trade in basic or staple goods such as wool and hides. Dublin, Cork, Waterford and Drogheda were designated staple towns and it was only in these towns that such goods could be sold to foreign merchants. Later other towns, such as Carrickfergus, Belfast, Derry, Galway, Kilkenny, Limerick, New Ross, Sligo, Wexford and Youghal were also so designated. By the seventeenth century the staple’s significance as a trade regulatory body had declined and it became a means by which loans could be raised and spare capital ventured in relative security. The staple officers, comprising a mayor who was elected annually by the merchants of the staple and two constables, supervised the financial transactions and enforced repayment. The borrower entered into a bond of recognisance, known as a statute staple, to pay the creditor a fixed amount on a specified date plus interest at 10%. This fixed sum was usually twice the amount borrowed and represented security for repayment of the loan. Failure to repay could lead to imprisonment or the seizure of property. The records of the Dublin Staple are held in the city archives and have recently been issued on CD-ROM by Dublin City Archives. (O’Brien, ‘The Irish staple’, pp. 42–56; Ohlmeyer and Ó Ciardha, The Irish statute staple books.)

  Steelboys, Hearts of Steel. In the late 1760s the absentee earl of Donegall attempted to raise a substantial sum of money to complete his mansion at Fisherwick Park in Staffordshire by imposing heavy fines upon his Antrim tenants as a consideration for renewing their leases. Inevitably, intermediate landlords sought to recoup their investments by canting farms at higher rates. Styling themselves Steelboys or Hearts of Steel, the under-tenants resisted and engaged in a campaign of intimidation, house-burning and cattle-houghing to deter others from settling on new terms or from taking up the farms of ousted tenants. Evictions, excessive rent demands, increased competition for land, unrest over county cess and a fodder famine encouraged the spread of discontent into counties Derry, Tyrone, Down and Armagh. In retaliation large numbers of troops were dispatched to the disturbed areas and several Steelboys were brought to trial at Carrickfergus but were acquitted by partisan juries. When the trials were brought to Dublin the defendants were again acquitted. After some fierce confrontations and executions the outrages dissipated about 1773, assisted by largescale emigration. (Donnelly, ‘Hearts of Oak’, pp. 7–73; Maguire, ‘Lord Donegall’, pp. 351–76.)

  stinting. The regulation of cattle grazing on common land. When common land was stinted graziers with liberty of pasture on the commons were restricted to a specific number of cattle. See collop, soum, cow’s grass.

  stipend. Salary, payment.

  Stopford rule. In 1844 Archdeacon Stopford of Meath began a campaign to change the national school regulation that required managers of vested schools to exclude all children from religious instruction unless their parents asked that they be present. The regulation was introduced as a safeguard against proselytism but to Stopford it hindered Anglican ministers in their duty to convert Catholics. In 1847 the commissioners of education yielded and re-interpreted the rule to mean that school managers could not compel children of one denomination to be present at the religious instruction of another. By abolishing the safeguard the commissioners encouraged the drift towards denominational schooling for parents were unlikely to permit their children to attend schools where they would be targets for proselytisation. In non-vested schools the commissioners of education had already yielded on this issue to Presbyterians in order to secure their connection with the national system. From 1866, however, the attendance of children of one faith during the religious instruction of another faith was forbidden. (Akenson, The Irish education experiment, pp. 200–1 passim.)

  stoup. A basin for holy water set into the wall at the entrance of a church.

  Stowe Manuscript. Dating from c. 800 ad, the Stowe manuscript comprises extracts from the gospel of St John and liturgies of the eucharist, baptism and prayers for the sick. Stowe is so-called because it was found in the Duke of Buckingham’s library at Stowe House. Possibly written in Tallaght, Co. Dublin, the manuscript contains 67 leaves of minuscule, angular script. It is preserved in the Royal Irish Academy.

  Strafford Inquisition (1635–37). A series of inquisitions into landownership in Connacht conducted by the lord deputy, Thomas Wentworth (later earl of Strafford) as part of a wide-ranging programme to boost royal revenue. Wentworth arrived in Connacht with a commission to find the king’s title to Connacht (with the exception of Leitrim) by instructing juries of the largest landowners in each county to find for the king or suffer the loss of their estates. All proved amenable with the exception of the Galway jury which relented only when the jurors were hauled before the court of castle chamber and heavily fined. Apart from some dispersed fragments only the records for Co. Mayo survive. They provide, barony by barony, a list of proprietors, the extent and location of their holdings together with notices of church lands, abbey lands, land held by dower, incidences of wardship, reversions, mills and fisheries. The existence of so recent an inquisition obviated the need for the the commissioners of the Civil Survey (1654–56) to survey Connacht. (O’Sullivan, The Strafford inquisition.)

  strays. Wandering domestic animals which were impounded and, if left unclaimed, forfeited to the manorial lord. Owners of strays were liable to fines in the manorial courts. See waif, poundage.

  string course. A moulded horizontal band around a building which projects out from the wall.

  striping. An early nineteenth-century innovation associated with the rundale system of commonfield agriculture, striping was the process by which inter-mixed holdings within a single arable field were consolidated. Striping gave each farmer a consolidated share of the various qualities of land which he had previously held as a cluster of scattered plots. It was achieved by creating new straight boundaries at right angles to the contours and across the different soils while at the same time equalising access to water, roads and pasture. When mapped, evidence of striping can be seen in ‘ladder farms’, a series of parallel, long, narrow fields. A less common alternative was the practice of squaring which involved throwing the land into squares as opposed to stripes.

  subsidy. A parliamentary grant to the crown. Subsidies were levied on property owners and were overseen by county commissions appointed to assess the levy and compile lists of taxpayers. The lists were conveyed to the sheriff who collected the levy. The names and payments of taxpayers were entered on the subsidy rolls which are records of the court of the exchequer. Twenty-four subsidies were voted between 1662 and 1668 and a further 24 from 1672, each subsidy being to the value of £15,000 and levied at the rate of 2s. 8d. in the pound on all owners of property of the value of £1 yearly or possessed of goods valued at £3 or more. The original subsidy rolls perished in 1922 but transcripts survive for the period 1634–69 in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland and the National Archives. (PRI rep. DK, 33, pp. 44–47; Walton, ‘The subsidy roll’, pp. 47–96.)
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  suffragan. Subordinate, the relationship of a bishop to his archbishop.

  sugán. (Ir.) A versatile straw rope used for tethering animals, making harnesses, tying thatch, mat-and basket-making, seating, mattresses and hen roosts. Straw rope also served as an improvised belt.

  suit of court. The obligation to attend and participate in the manorial courts.

  summonister (summonitor). An Irish exchequer official engaged in the collection of the royal revenue who cited defaulters and made out the first process. The office of summonister was abolished in 1835–6 by 5 & 6 Will. IV, c. 55.

  super modo et causa, writ of. A writ requiring a statement of cause as to why an official carried out a particular action.

  supersedeas, writ of. (L., you shall desist)A writ ordering a stay on legal proceedings.

  supporters. In heraldry, figures of living creatures placed at the side of a shield and appearing to support it.

  Supremacy, Act of. The supremacy act established the key tenet of the Reformation that the king rather than the pope was the supreme head of the church in England and Ireland. It was enacted by statute in England in 1534 and in Ireland in 1537 (28 Hen. VIII, c. 131). Queen Mary repealed the act in 1557 but it was re-enacted under Elizabeth in 1560 (2 Elizabeth I, c. 1). The Irish parliament also prescribed the taking of the oath of supremacy for all office-holders and clergymen. In the short-term the act had little effect in Ireland because it carried no major theological implications for believers and no great effort was made to enforce it. Later it became the means by which Catholics were progressively excluded from office.

  surcoat. A coat worn over a suit of armour. The term ‘coat of armour’ derives from the surcoat which bore a duplicate of the design on the noble’s shield.

  Surnames, Index of. An index to names recorded in the tithe applotment books and Griffith’s Valuation, also known as the Householder Index. Surnames are conveniently listed in alphabetical order by barony and civil parish. Names which can be found in Griffith’s Valuation are indicated by the letter ‘G’ together with a number indicating the frequency of that surname. The letter ‘T’ denotes an entry in the tithe applotment books. It is important to remember that Griffith’s Valuation and the tithe applotment books are not censuses. Griffith’s overlooked some families living in very poor houses or families sharing tenements in urban areas. The tithe applotment books are land surveys and so labourers and tradesmen and landless families are omitted. The index can be consulted at major repositories such as the National Archives, National Library and the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.

  surplice. A white broad-sleeved outer gown worn by priests and choristers.

  surrender and regrant. From the mid-sixteenth century, the crown policy of accepting the surrender of land by native Irish lords and re-granting it under letters patent to be held with titles valid under English law. This process invalidated tanistry and gavelkind (the native Irish system of succession and inheritance) by introducing the feudal principle of primogeniture. The difficulty was that the native lords didn’t actually own the freehold on the land they were surrendering – it belonged to the sept – and succession by primogeniture added a new layer of divisiveness to a system of succession that was, in any case, often a source of division in itself.

  Survey and Distribution, Books of. The manuscript Books of Survey and Distribution contain, townland by townland, records of the transfer or recovery of land forfeited during the 1641 rebellion. They contain the names of the original landowners, the extent of their estates, the grantees under the Restoration land settlement and the Commission of Grace, purchasers under the Trustees Sale and the official instrument by which transfer or recovery was effected. There are two sets in the National Archives (Quit Rent and Headfort sets), a third in the Royal Irish Academy (Taylor set) and a fourth in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (the Annesley set). Some county books of survey and distribution have been printed by the Irish Manuscripts Commission. (Simington, Books of survey, I, II; MacGiolla Coille, Books of survey, III; MacGiolla Coille and Simington, Books of survey, IV.)

  survey, manorial. A detailed and lengthy description of all aspects of a manor undertaken to discover areas of potential revenue within the manor as well as areas where revenue might be increased. It was often initiated upon the accession of a new lord and was conducted at a meeting of the manor known as a court of survey. A manorial survey comprises three parts: an outline of the manor boundaries, a jury presentment of the customs and appurtenances of the manor and finally a rent roll or rental of all the tenants, their names, details of their holdings and the rents they paid.

  surveyor-general. Established in the sixteenth century, the office of surveyor-general was attached to the court of exchequer. The full title of office was ‘surveyor, appraiser, valuer or esteemer and extensor general of all and singular the king’s honours, manors, lordships, messuages, lands, tenements, woods, possessions, revenues and hereditaments in Ireland’. The surveyor-general performed an important function in the issuing of royal grants of land. Such grants were issued in terms of a specific monetary value and it was the surveyor-general’s function to locate a suitable piece of land in crown hands and conduct a local inquisition to determine whether it was equivalent in value to the sum stated in the king’s letter of grant. This function became redundant after the seventeenth century since no land remained in the sovereign’s gift. In the eighteenth century the surveyors-general were responsible for civil buildings such as Dublin Castle and military fortifications. They controlled the money granted for barrack construction and were involved in their design and erection. Scandals associated with barrack contracts and sub-standard construction led to the circumscription of the powers of the surveyor-general and in 1762 the post was suppressed. Henceforth responsibility for barracks and fortifications was transferred to the Ordnance and the surveyor’s residual responsibility for civil buildings devolved to the Barrack Board and Board of Works, the forerunner to the Office of Public Works. See patent. (McParland, ‘The office’, pp. 91–101; Idem, Public architecture, pp. 127–130, 135–8.)

  survey, parliamentary. A parliamentary survey was equivalent to a manorial survey writ large to embrace a wide area. It resembles a manorial survey in structure, detailing the boundaries of each holding, the owner’s name, the amount of land held and the nature of tenure. It also includes an estimated annual rental value, details of the number of houses on the land together with a description of appurtenances such as mills or kilns and the disposition of the tithe. The parliamentary survey known as the Civil Survey was conducted in Ireland between 1654–56 to ascertain the amount of land available to the Commonwealth to satisfy army arrears of pay and to recompense adventurers for money they had contributed towards quelling the 1641 rebellion. This was an unmapped survey and all acreages were estimated. A subsequent survey, the Down Survey, had a narrower focus but was more accurate. Each forfeited holding was physically measured and then mapped. The Down Survey eschewed the detail of the Civil Survey in all but the owner’s name in 1641 and the amount of land he held. See Gross Survey.

  sustenation fund. The perilous state of Church of Ireland finances after disestablishment led to the inauguration of the sustenation fund in 1870 which was used to support the Irish clergy. Church of Ireland parishioners were invited to contribute to the fund an average of 2% of their annual income or property values for 15 years and to subscribe a penny per week. Parishes also paid assessments into the fund. This prudent initiative and the generous response of the Anglican community ensured the financial stability of the church. See Representative Church Body.

  sweat house. A small corbelled chamber used to treat rheumatic pains.

  synod. 1: The governing or advisory assembly of a church 2: The annual assembly of Presbyterian presbyteries which meets to co-ordinate the work of the church and elect a moderator. See General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, presbytery, session.

  T

  t
abard. A loose, sleeveless surcoat worn by peasants, monks and infantry. Emblazoned with the sovereign’s arms it was the official dress of a herald or pursuivant. Knights in armour also wore short-sleeved tabards opened at the sides and emblazoned front and back and on the sleeves.

  tail ploughing. A method of ploughing by tying a wooden plough to an animal’s tail. Much derided by the English as a cruel practice, tail-ploughing prevented damage to the plough because the animal stopped whenever it struck a rock. (McAuliffe, ‘Ploughing’, pp. 9–11.)

  tale-money, money in tale. 1: Money of account, cash 2: Money reckoned by counting the nominal value of the coins and not by weight.

  tallage. 1: A crown tax imposed on the king’s estates and on boroughs from the twelfth century. The boroughs were later exempted when they began to send representatives to parliament since they were now liable for taxes levied by parliament 2: Any payment exacted arbitrarily by the lord without the consent of his tenants.

  tallow. The solid white fat (lard) of cattle and sheep procured by boiling and skimming. It was used for candle-making, soap and lubrication.

  tally. A wooden stick which recorded details of payments into the lower exchequer and served as a receipt to the sheriff or official making the payment. The tally was split down the middle and one-half was retained in the exchequer to be matched with the payees half when his accounts were audited. Written records of the tallies were kept on the receipt rolls. (Connolly, Medieval record, pp. 18–19.)

  tanner. A tradesman who converted hide into leather by infusing it in a liquid containing tannic acid which was extracted from the crushed bark of oak and other trees.