June, 1654
[23 June, 1654.]
What Assessment shall be paid out of Ireland.
His Highness the Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of
England, Scotland and Ireland, and the Dominions thereunto
belonging, taking into consideration how much the Honor and
Safety of this Commonwealth is concerned in the speedy setling
of Ireland; For the further Encouragement of the Adventurers
for Lands in Ireland, and of the Soldiery of the Army, and late
reduced Forces there in their Plantations; and for the better ease
of all the Proprietors of Lands, and all other the Inhabitants of
Ireland; doth Ordain, and be it Ordained by His Highness the
Lord Protector, by and with the advice and consent of His
Council, That from and after the four and twentieth day of June
One thousand six hundred fifty and four, for and during the
space of five years, from thence next ensuing, there shall be Taxed
Assessed and Levyed upon all the Counties, Towns and Places in
Ireland, and all the Estates real and personal therein, the several
Sums and Proportions hereafter mentioned, and no more; That
is to say, for two years, to commence the four and twentieth day
of June, One thousand six hundred fifty and four, and ending
the four and twentieth of June, One thousand six hundred fifty
and six, Ten thousand pounds by the Moneth, for every Moneth
during the said Two years.
For one year, commencing the four and twentieth day of June,
One thousand six hundred fifty and six, and ending the four and
twentieth day of June, One thousand six hundred fifty and seven
Twelve thousand pounds by the Moneth for every Moneth during
that year.
For one year, commencing the four and twentieth of June,
One thousand six hundred fifty and seven, and ending the four
and twentieth of June, One thousand six hundred fifty and eight,
Thirteen thousand pounds by the Moneth for every Moneth
during that year; And for one year, commencing the four and
twentieth day of June, One thousand six hundred fifty and eight,
and ending the four and twentieth of June, One thousand six
hundred fifty and nine, Fourteen thousand pounds by the Moneth
for every Moneth during that year, accompting every Moneth as
they are in the Assessments in England.
Colledges, Hospitals, Alms-houses, &c. exempted.
Provided, That this shall not extend to charge any Manors,
Lands, Tenements, Hereditaments, Rents, or Revenues belonging
to any Colledge, Hospital, Alms-house, or given to any charitable
or pious use, towards the payment of the several sums and
proportions aforesaid, save onely for so much as the said Manors,
Lands, Tenements and Hereditaments are and shall be respectively worth by the year over and above the Rent and Revenue
therefore respectively due and pavable to the said Colledges,
Hospitals, Alms-houses, Charitable or pious uses, and every of
them respectively.
After the 24 of June, 1659 Assessments in Ireland shall be proportionably with England.
And be it further Ordained by the Authority aforesaid, That
from and after the four and twentieth day of June, One thousand
six hundred fifty and nine, all publique Assessments, Impositions
and Taxations whatsoever, be imposed, taxed and levyed proportionably from all the Inhabitants of England and Ireland, so
that whatsoever shall be generally and in most counties charged
upon one hundred pounds by the year of Lands, or upon one
hundred pounds personal Estate in England, the same and no
more shall be charged upon one hundred pounds by the year of
Lands, and upon one hundred pounds personal Estate in Ireland
respectively, and so in proportion for greater or less sums; and
that therein such maner and way of imposing, assessing and
levying shall be directed and used, as shall for the time being be
directed and used in England.
Lands unplanted exempted.; No Forrage, Billet-money, Free-quarter, &c.
Provided always, and it is Ordained, That during the said five
years, no Lands unplanted, unimployed or unmanured, shall
(during their being unplanted, unimployed or unmanured) be
charged to pay any rate or proportion towards the said
monethly tax and assessment hereby ascertained as aforesaid,
nor any other publique Tax or Assessment whatsoever. And
that no Forrage, Billet-Money, Free-quarter of any sort, Carriage,
Carriage-Money, Salt, Caddows, Small Rugs, Bedding, Bedclothes, or any payment or publique Tax, Burthen or Charge
whatsoever, for or to the use or in behalf of the State, be layed,
assessed or taken from any the Inhabitants, Owners or Occupiers of Lands in Ireland, but according to this Ordinance;
And that no Officers or Soldiers quarters be taken, or had in
private houses without the consent of the respective Inhabitants
but onely when and where there is no other provision for them,
and at such time and in such case every Officer and Soldier
shall pay a reasonable rate or value for the same; and in
default thereof, the Captain or other Officer on the place,
immediately commanding the Defaulter or Defaulters, shall
pay the same, and is hereby impowered to retain or defalk so
much of the pay of every Soldier making default, as he shall pay
for him.
Provided, That it shall and may be lawful to and for the
Commissioners for the said Assessments, when they shall see
cause, to give Order and Directions to any Officers or Soldiers
of the Army to quarter upon such person or persons as they
shall finde to be in arrear, or shall refuse to pay their assessments, until such person shall pay and satisfie the moneys due
for the same.
Liberty to transport horses and other Cattel and goods to Ireland for seven years, without Custom or Excise on security.
And be it further Ordained and Established by the Authority
aforesaid, That it shall and may be lawful to and for all and
every the people of this Commonwealth, and of the Dominions
thereunto belonging, to export out of England, Scotland, Wales,
and every the Dominions of this Commonwealth into Ireland,
Horses, Mares, Cattel, Sheep, Housholdstuff, Corn, Victuals.
Tools, Instruments, Materials, necessary or useful for Planting,
Building, Stocking, Imploying or Improving of Houses, Lands,
or other Hereditaments in Ireland, and all other goods necessary
or useful for any the purposes aforesaid, at any time during the
space of seven years, to be accompted from the four and
twentieth day of June, one thousand six hundred fifty and four,
without paying any Custom, Subsidy, Excise or Import for the
same in England or Ireland, upon sufficient security to be given
to the Officers of the respective Ports, in such sort as by former
Laws is provided, or hath been accustomed for those that ship
and carry goods from Port to Port in England.
The same Custom and Excise in Ireland as in England.
And be it further Ordained by the Authority aforesaid, That
the same Custom, Subsidy and Impost, which is now payable in
England, for any Commodity, Goods or Merchandize, imported
from, or exported into Forein parts, and the same Excise payable upon the Consumption or use of any Commodity in England,
and no other, shall be from henceforth imposed, collected,
levyed and paid in Ireland according to the respective books of
Rates for the Customs and Excise in England, paid by Englishmen, as the same now are or hereafter shall be setled or altered
by Act of Parliament.
Quit-Rents remitted for a time.
And be it further Ordained by the Authority aforesaid, That
all and every the Quit-rents charged or reserved upon the Lands
granted or intended to the said Adventurers and Soldiers, by any
former Acts or Ordinance, be remitted and discharged unto
every the said Adventurers and Soldiers, their respective heirs
and assigns, for five years next ensuing, from the four and
twentieth of June, One thousand six hundred fifty and four, and
until the Assessments of Ireland be brought into an even proportion with the Assessments of England, as is before expressed
and after that time the Adventurers and Soldiers, their Heirs
and Assigns shall pay all and every the Quit-rents expressed in
one Act of Parliament, Entitled, An Act for the speedy and effectual
reducing of the Rebels in his Majesties Kingdom of Ireland, to their
due obedience to his Majesty and the Crown of England, according
to the rates for Lands in the respective Provinces.
The State not bound hereby as to the rates of letting lands.
Provided, That this shall not binde up or conclude the State
from letting or disposing such Lands in Ireland, as do or shall
belong or remain to them, upon such terms as they shall judge
advantageous to the Commonwealth.
Satisfaction for Rents, Services, &c. payable out of the lands intended for the Soldiers and Adventures.
And be it further Ordained by the Authority aforesaid, That
for and in consideration of every Rent, Service, Charge or Duty,
issuing, reserved, charged, due or payable (on or out of the Lands
or other the hereditaments granted or intended to or for the said
Soldiers and Adventurers, or either of them) to any person or
persons, who have duly claimed the same, and according to this
Ordinance, shall have the same allowed and ordered and certified.
Every Adventurer and Soldier, on or out of whose Lands or Here
ditaments the same shall be issuing, reserved, charged, due or
payable, shall have set forth, and enjoy to him and his heirs for
ever, so much Land in the County of Kildare (according to the acts
and values of Adventurers at such measure as was allowed to such
person for his adventure, in satisfaction whereof such Lands so
charged were allotted unto them) as would have been produced
or due for an adventure of such certain sum of money as the purchase or buying out of such Rent, Service, Charge or Duty shall be
computed to amount unto, computation being thereof made and
certified by such person and persons as shall be authorized by His
Highness the Lord Protector with the consent of His Council.
Discharge from Exchequer and other old Rents and Arrears.
And be it also Ordained by the Authority aforesaid, That all
and every the said Soldiers and Adventurers, their respective
Heirs and Assigns, be and shall be for ever freed and discharged
of and from all Exchequer, and other old Rents, Pavments and
Arrears whatsoever, due or forfeited to the Publique; and their
Lands for ever freed and discharged of and from all distresses
and seizures concerning the premises.
Time to make claim
And be it further Ordained by the Authority aforesaid, That
every person, or the Heirs, Executors or Assigns of such person
who (upon the three and twentieth day of October, in the year
One thousand six hundred forty and one) had any lawful
Estate, Right, Title, Interest, Use, Possession, Reversion,
Remainder, Office, Annuity, Service, Rent, Common Debt,
Charge, or Incumbrance, in, to, or out of any Honors, Castles,
Manors, Messuages, Lands, Tenements, Rents, Reversions,
Remainders, Uses, Possessions, Offices, Rights, Conditions, or
any other Hereditaments of what name or quality soever
they be (within the Counties of Eastmeath, Westmeath,
Kings County, Queens County, Limerick, Tipperary,
Waterford, Antrim, Down, Armagh and Lowth, or any of
them) forfeited or any ways deemed, vested, adjudged, or
taken to be in the actual and real possession of the late
King Charles, his Heirs and Successors, upon or by
force of any Act or Acts of Parliament, specified in a Commission under the great Seal of England to Charles Fleetwood
Esq., Lieutenant-General of the Army in Ireland, and others, in
the year One thousand six hundred fifty and three, or into or
out of any Chantry Lands, Lands or Tenements given to
superstitious uses, for maintenance of Popish Priests, and
Idolatrous Masses, Trentals, Dirges, and the like, or for
maintenance of Lazars, and Lazarous people, concealed in the
possession and occupation of such person or persons who upon
the fourteenth day of July, One thousand six hundred forty
and three, or at any time since, was or were in Rebellion, shall
on or before the three and twentieth day of October, One
thousand six hundred fifty and four, make the truth and
reality of such Estate, Right, Title, Interest, Use, Possession,
Reversion, Remainder, Office, Annuity, Service, Rent, common
Debt, Charge or Incumbrance, appear unto such persons as are
appointed for receiving and determining Claims in Ireland, and
obtain from them an Order or Certificate of their allowance
thereof, and shall cause the same to be sent unto the Register
for forfeited Lands, and to be by him annexed to the Survey of
those Lands or other the premises, touching which such
allowance shall be made: And in default thereof, the said
Estate, Right, Title, Interest, Use, Possession, Reversion
Remainder, Office, Annuity, Service, Rent, common Debt, Charge
or Incumbrance, and every of them, shall be, and the same be
hereby discharged, extinct, made null and void.
None shall incur a for feiture by selling or letting lands to any persons comprehended in the Qualifications, but such as shall do it knowingly.
And be it further Ordained and Established by the Authority
aforesaid, That no persons shall incur either of the Penalties for
or upon Selling, Aliening, or for or upon Letting, Setting or
Granting by Lease, any of the forfeited Houses and Lands to
any person or persons comprehended in the Qualifications of the
Act of Parliament, Entituled, An Act for setling Ireland, but
such onely who shall knowingly do the same; And that it shall
be lawful to all persons to Let or Grant by Lease, Lands to any
persons, who now, or by future Directions or Declaration of
State, shall be exempted from Transplantation into Connaught
or Clare.
Places returned among the Baronies, or for Baronies, to be deemed as they are returned in the Surveys.
And be it further Ordained and Established by the Authority
aforesaid, That all and every City and County, or County of a
City, City and Liberties, Town and County, half Barony,
Territory, Franchise, Liberty, Parish, Town, Place or Land
which is returned among the Baronies, or for or as a Barony (on
the abstract of the Surveys, or estimate made concerning the
ten Counties appointed for the said Soldiers and Adventurers)
shall, as to the Division, Sub-division and enjoyment thereof
amongst the said Soldiers and Adventurers, and every of them
respectively therein concerned, be deemed and taken to be as
the same are returned in the Survey, although the same then
were not a Barony, or were in another County, or were a County
Franchise or Liberty of it self: And that all Counties, Baronies
and Places returned or certified in or by miswritten, mistaken or
wrong names, shall be enjoyed by those whose Lots are or shall
be on such Counties, Baronies or Places, as if they had been
returned or certified by their true and proper names.
Adventurers and Soldiers may enter on places within their lots, if they be not Garisons.; Places being now Garisons, when they shall be dismantled, may be possessed by those in whose lot they fall.
And be it further Ordained, If within six moneths after
publication of the late Act, for the speedy and effectual satisfaction of the Adventurers for Lands in Ireland, any Castles,
Citadels, Forts, Bulwarks, Rampiers, Blockhouses, or any places
of defence (in any of the Towns or Counties appointed for the
said Soldiers and Adventurers) were judged and declared by the
person or persons therein specified, to be fit and meet to be
reserved for the publique safety of the Land, and the service of
the Commonwealth (notwithstanding such Judgement and
Declaration, and the Proviso in the said Act referring thereunto)
the respective Adventurers and Soldiers, their several Heirs and,
Assigns, in whose Lots or Proportions any such declared Castle,
Citadel, Fort, Bulwark, Rampier, Blockhouse or other place of
defence is or shall be, shall or may presently, or at any time
hereafter, if the same be not now a Garison, enter upon, have
and enjoy the same to him, his Heirs and Assigns; And if the
same now be a Garison, and shall hereafter be dismantled, or
the Guard of Soldiers withdrawn from the same, then and from
thenceforth, it shall and may be lawful to and for such person
his Heirs and Assigns, in whole Lot or Proportion the same is
or shall be, to enter upon, have and enjoy the same to his and
their own use for ever; And that upon the dismantling any
such Castle, Citadel, Fort, Bulwark, Rampier, Blockhouse, or
place of defence, or the pulling or taking down any part thereof,
such person and persons, in whose Lot or Lots the same shall
be, shall have and enjoy all and singular the Iron, Lead,
Timber, Stones and Materials thereof, to his and their own
use, without paying anything for the same: And that no person
or persons do or shall convert the same to any other use
whatsoever.
Incouragement to Preachers, who shall go into Ireland.
And to the end such godly and able Preachers as are already
in Ireland, or shall be willing to transplant themselves thither
for the spreading and publishing the knowledge of Christ in that
Land, may have due encouragement therein, and a competent
provision of maintenance, Be it further Ordained by the
Authority aforesaid, That there shall be allowed unto every such
person, as having first obtained from the Commissioners for
approbation of publique Preachers, such Testimonial as by the
Ordinance, Entitled, An Ordinance appointing Commissioners
for approbation of publique Preachers, is directed, of his fitness
after the four and twentieth of June, One Thousand six hundred
fifty and four, transport himself into Ireland, the sum of fifty
pounds towards the charge of his transportation, to be paid unto
every such person out of the publique Treasury. And that the
Commissioners for ordering and managing the Affairs of Ireland
for the time being, and such other person and persons as shall
hereafter be deputed by His Highness for the Government of
that Nation, shall and are hereby required to place every such
person in some such Benefice as shall be in the gift of His
Highness the Lord Protector [or confirm any Presentation which
shall be granted unto such person by the Patron] to the value of
One hundred pounds per annum, and in case the same shall not
be of that value, then to grant unto such person, such yearly
allowance by way of augmentation as shall make up the same to
that value, as also to grant such further augmentation as they
shall think fit, to any such person, or to any other Preachers
now there (whose Living doth not exceed the value of fifty
pounds per annum) as they shall finde worthy such augmentation, not exceeding fifty pounds per annum; And all and every
such person and persons so by them placed as aforesaid, shall
hold and enjoy such Benefice, and all the Houses, Lands, Dues,
and Profits of and belonging thereunto, and have such and the
like benefit and means for recovery thereof, as if such person
had been instituted and inducted according to the Laws in
Ireland.