New Boroughs
Archived: 16 October 2026
In 1613, the administration intensified its remaking of Ireland through Ulster plantation surveys, municipal charters and a contested parliament. Josias Bodley’s inspection exposed settlement, while London’s Irish Society incorporated Londonderry and developed its county; Belfast and Coleraine gained corporations and parliamentary representation. These boroughs promoted trade and security but supplied Protestant votes. When parliament met in Dublin, conflict over Sir John Davies’s election as Speaker revealed Catholic fears of engineered representation, religious coercion and dispossession. Petitions and a inquiry failed to secure accommodation. Henry Ussher’s death marked change amid conformity. New institutions reshaped land, faith and politics without achieving consent.
