On Friday 12th October at 10.30 our Autumn Lecture Series with the Down U3A continues at Downpatrick Golf Club - admission free. 

The Ulster Plantation - An Illustrated Talk by Roddy Hegarty, Director COFLA

As we begin a decade of significant centennial commemorations it is perhaps tempting to think that all of our troubled history began with the Home Rule crisis and the ultimate partitioning of Ireland. However, four hundred years ago Ulster fought against another form of government only to see that most Gaelic of provinces transformed by the resultant defeat and settlement. The image of the ‘Planter’ and the ‘Gael’ have become synonymous with the difficulties in the north of Ireland over the last four centuries and are still being played out in the political rivalries of today, but do we really know the story of the Ulster Plantation? Who were the great losers and winners? Was this the event in our shared histories that can be identified or blamed for the subsequent generations of strife and bloodletting? Perhaps it is time to take another look at the Ulster plantation to find out.