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To celebrate the 390th
anniversary of the Royal School, Dungannon, a detailed
history of the school was produced called "The Castle
and The Crown".
Below is an extract from
the first few pages of this book. Copies are
available from the school.
"Plantation School
During the spring of 1601
Dungannon began to experience some of the devastation
which its lord, Hugh O'Neill, had been visiting on many
other parts of Ireland. Since he had deserted the
service of Queen Elizabeth at Enniskillen in
1594,
O'Neill, the Earl of Tyrone, had been at war with the
Crown. He had welded together a formidable coalition of
the Gaelic lords of Ulster and, following his
spectacular victory at the Yellow Ford in Co. Armagh in
1598, had won so much support in the other three
provinces that for a time the very survival of English
rule in Ireland was in question. Elizabeth, for her
part, could not contemplate failure: the triumph of
Gaelic lords in alliance with Philip II of Spain would
expose England to Counter Reformation attacks from the
west.
In
Charles Blount, Lord Mount joy, the Earl of Tyrone
found an opponent as tenacious and resourceful as he
himself was. Appointed Lord Deputy in 1600, Mount
joy planned to break O'Neill's rebellion by an
unceasing war of attrition: he preferred to fight in
winter when it was more difficult for the Irish to
hide in the leafless woods, their stores of grain
could be burned and their cattle exhausted by hunger
when stampeded. In short, Mount joy intended to
break Ulster's resistance by slaughtering the
fighting men and starving the people. Mount joy
engaged
O'Neill
himself in the Moyry Pass, north of Dundalk; leading an
amphibious operation at Derry, Sir Henry Docwra drove a
wedge between the O'Neills and the O'Donnells as he
worked his way up the River Foyle; and Sir Arthur
Chichester, Governor of Carrickfergus, built a fleet of
vessels at Antrim and made daring raids across Lough
Neagh towards the capital of O'Neill's earldom,
Dungannon. In May 1601 Chichester reported to Mount joy:
we have killed, burnt, and spoiled all along the lough
within four miles of Dungannon, from whence we returned
hither yesterday; in which journeys we have killed above
one hundred people of all sorts besides such as were
burnt, how many I know not. We spare none of what
quality or sex soever and it hath bred much terror in
the people. .. and Tyrone himself lay within a mile of
this place, but kept himself safe.
In September the Spanish landed in west Cork
and, after much heart-searching, the Ulster
lords set out southwards to join them only to
meet with decisive defeat at the hands of Mount
joy on Christmas Eve at Kinsale. Finally, in
March 1603, O'Neill submitted to Mount joy at
the house of Sir Garret More at Mellifont.
At Mellifont Mount joy knew, but Tyrone did
not, that Elizabeth had died and that lames
VI of Scotland was now lames I, the first
monarch to rule all of the British Isles.
Political uncertainty in 1603 had resulted
in lenient treatment of O'Neill, apart from
the wholesale confiscation of church lands.
Soon, however, the Gaelic order found the
new order intolerable and in 1607 around one
hundred men, women and children - the cream
of Ulster's old aristocracy - sailed away
from Lough Swilly, never to return.
Chichester, now the King's Lord Depury,
advised lames to confiscate the abandoned
territory and 'withal bring in colonies of
civil people of England and Scotland. .. the
country will ever after be happily settled'.
The advice was taken and preparations for
colonisation were well under way when Sir
Cahir O'Doherry raised the standard of
revolt again in 1608. Once the rebellion had
been crushed, Chichester was given authority
to extend the scheme of colonisation to one
which became the largest of its kind ever
carried out in western Europe.
The 'Printed Book' of conditions for
successful applicants for Ulster land was
published in London in April 1610. The
confiscated land of each county was divided
into baronies or 'precincts' and each
precinct subdivided into large, middle and
small estate or 'proportions' with a
rent-free allowance for woodland and bog.
The largest group of colonists, known as
Undertakers, had to be Protestant English or
Scots and were to clear their estates
completely of native inhabitants. Servitors,
those who had served the Crown, and favoured
native Irish were not required to plant but
paid lower rents to the king if they did.
Deadlines were set for arriving, colonising,
building and rent payment; conditions were
laid down for bringing in craftsmen, for
putting up forts and castles and for
erecting parish churches.
The five precincts of Co. Tyrone
were Omagh, Strabane, Clogher,
Mountjoy and Dungannon. Dungannon
precinct was set aside for servitors
and the successful applicants
included Sir Arthur Chichester, Sir
Toby Caulfeild, Sir Francis Roe,
Francis Annesley, Sir Thomas
Ridgeway, Sir Richard Wingfield and
William Parsons. The neighbouring
Mount joy precinct was reserved for
Scots, the largest grant going to
Lord Ochiltree. Chichester, who had
already acquired vast estates in
Inishowen and the area around
Belfast and Carrickfergus, was
granted 'the manor of Dungannon with
the fort, castle, town and lands,
water mills and water courses of
Dungannon, alias Drumcoo...
Kenemele... Gortmarron, Moygashel...
Mullaghmore, Mullaghdun'. Natives
were also granted lands in the
Dungannon Precinct. The main
beneficiaries were Tirlagh O'Neill
with 3,000 acres; Catherine O'Neill,
12,000 acres; Brian Crossagh O'Neill
1,000 acres and Brian O'Neill, 480
acres. The surnames of those who
received smaller grants included
O'Hagan, O'Quinn, MacDonnell,
O'Devlin, M'Anallen, O'Gormley and
many O'Neills.
Captain John Leigh, High
Sheriff of Tyrone, observed
in a report to the King in
1608 that 'the best
gentlemen' wanted to have
schools established for the
benefit of their sons and
those of their tenants.
Before the year was out
James I ordered that there
shall be 'one Free School at
least appointed in Every
County, for the education of
Youth in learning and
religion'. Chichester made
arrangements that lands for
their upkeep were
'distinguished by mears and
bounds'; if possible the
school lands were to be
tenanted by British, but
otherwise native Irish were
permitted. Little seems to
have been done for several
years, partly in consequence
of the O'Doherty rebellion.
On 30 January 1613, the King
wrote to Chichester ordering
him to give the confiscated
lands to the bishops for the
maintenance of the schools
and their schoolmasters.
Lord Ochiltree, in
particular, was reluctant to
see Catholic native Irish
tenants in his precinct: 50
acres of land assigned to
the Dungannon school were in
his barony - which was
supposed to be entirely
cleared of Irish. In fact
Ochiltree, like most
undertakers, had been slow
to remove native Irish
because of their willingness
to pay high rents in order
to stay. James I refused to
countenance further delays
and on 21 April 1614 he
sternly ordered that the
lands be transferred
forthwith. On 13 May 1615
the Free School of Dungannon
was set up by letters patent
and John Bullingbroke,
recommended by the
Archbishop of Armagh, was
appointed the first master
by the king. The original
charter, in the Public
Record Office, was destroyed
in the Four Courts fire in
Dublin in June 1922.
The original site
Was the first site of
the Free School of
Dungannon at Dungannon
or Mountjoy? This is a
question which
historians, in
particular W. R.
Hutchison and Wilfred
Dilworth, have attempted
to solve and it looks as
if no completely certain
answer can be given.
Hutchison argues that
the Royal Letter of
1614, while it refers to
'Mountyjoy' added the
words 'or some other
town'. As further
evidence in favour of
the Dungannon site, he
continues that the
Articles and
Instructions concerning
Alienation of Church
Lands made by the
Archbishop of Armagh
refers to 'the two free
schools being nurseries
of learning in Armagh
and Dungannon'; that the
Visitation Book of
George Downham, Bishop
of Derry, in 1622 had
included the words 'as
touching schooles, it is
well known that his
Majesty intended a
convenient portion of
lands as well for
Londonderry as for
Dungannon and Donegal';
and that it appears that
no Royal School had been
built by 1622 and that,
if Bullingbroke did any
teaching in Mountjoy, it
was probably in Clonoe
rectory..."
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