It was provided that the townsmen were to receive compensation as near to the towns as possible, and furthermore that the King could by letter, restore any individual to his property within a corporate town if he desired. To his credit it would seem that Charles took advantage of this clause to restore a very large number of townsmen, although his efforts in this respect were thwarted as far as possible by the Dublin authorities.
The Books of Survey and Distribution show that the chief of the old inhabitants of Cork and Kinsale recovered the lands which they had held in and round the liberties of these towns. But the grant to the Earl of Leicester shows that the poorer citizens of Cork, at any rate, lost their houses within the walls. It is doubtful if they ever got reprisals elsewhere.[1] Even in the case of a Cork family of wealth and influence, the Sarsfields of Sarsfield's Court, the Cromwellian in possession managed to hold his ground until 1681.[2]
To carry out the Act a Court of Claims was set up. The members, seven in number, were all Englishmen, but apparently were unconnected with any of the English interest in Ireland.
- ↑ The forfeited lands in the baronies of Barrymore and Muskerry were set aside by Clause XVII. of the Instructions in Act to reprise such of the inhabitants of Cork, Youghal and Kinsale as were not restored to their property within the walls. But Clause CCVII. granted to Lord Muskerry all forfeited lands in Muskerry not in possession of Adventurers or soldiers, and as most of the proprietors held from his father the Earl of Clancarthy the forfeitures fell to him not to the Crown. Similarly in Barrymore the Earl of Barrymore, who was a Protestant, owned most of the barony. So the provision for the dispossessed townspeople can have been of little benefit to them.
- ↑ This I have from a descendant of the Cromwellian grantee Surgeon-General G. J. H. Evatt, Junior United Service Club.
