People, Place and Power – The Grand Jury System in Ireland

21 1.2. Place The confiscation of the lands of Catholic landowners and their transfer into the hands of newly arrived British Protestants during the Cromwellian period could not have occurred without the extensive surveying and mapping of Ireland which occurred in the latter half of the 1650s, under the eye of Sir William Petty. Although useful as a source of placenames, these Down Survey maps had long become outdated following the rapid expansion of Ireland’s communications network and built environment during the century that followed. Although Petty’s published atlas was a private undertaking, his survey had been financed by the Cromwellian authorities measuring land for confiscation. After Petty, and before the grand jury maps, the surveying and publication of county maps in Ireland were commercial enterprises. The best known of these is John Rocque’s map of County Dublin on four sheets, published in 1760. Rocque also produced a fine map of County Armagh during this period (Fig. 4), and Jacob Neville one for County Wicklow, while Noble and Keenan’s map of County Kildare appeared even earlier, in 1752. Fig. 4. John Rocque’s survey of County Armagh, 1760, for the Grand Jury. Courtesy of L. Brown Collection