I am most grateful to David J. Morgan, B. Agr. Sc., Retired Grade 1, Land Commission Inspector, Ballyhaise, Co Cavan, for preparing the following article.

At the beginning of the 20th Century the pattern of land tenure throughout Ireland was predominantly tenanted estates i.e. Landlords owned the estates and leased the land to tenants in the form of residential farms of varying sizes. In the preceding century and beyond the tenure of the land by tenants was precarious insofar that the tenant more or less held his farm or holding at the will and pleasure of the Landlord from whom he had the land rented.
Eviction of tenants by the Landlord was not uncommon. Indeed there were examples of some high profile cases which were subsequently the subject of films. One such film was Captain Boycott. The work Boycott later became embedded in the English language.
Eventually the Land League Movement eminently spearheaded by its founder Michael Davitt countered the excesses of the Landlord system. The Irish Parliamentary Party eminently led by Charles Stewart Parnell at Westminster adopted the aims of the Land League at political level. Eventually the then British Government legislated to better the position of the tenant farmer.
Arising from this legislation the Irish Land Commission was established in 1881. Initially the main function of the Irish Land Commission (I.LC.) was to fix a fair rent on tenant holdings, progressing to securing the 3 F’s for tenants, i.e. Fair Rent, Fixity of Tenure and Freedom of Sale.
Further advance in the land situation for the tenant evolved arising from legislation or Land Acts, which empowered the Irish Land Commission to purchase the land from the Landlord and vest full ownership thereof in the tenant, which was certified and recorded in the Irish Land Registry. A fair resale price on the holding was determined by the I.L.C. and an advance or loan for this amount was made by the I.L.C. to the tenant who then paid for it by way of long term annuity (approximately 60 years) payable on a half yearly basis, usually in May and November or June and December. The principal Land Purchase Act enacted by the British Parliament for Ireland was the 1904 Wyndham Act.
With the establishment of the Irish Free State the native government, the 1923 Land Act was enacted which comprehensively and conclusively completed the purchase of tenanted land from the Landlords for vesting in the tenants, through the agency of the Irish Land Commission. This Land Act extended the power of the Land Commission to purchase untenanted land with vacant possession for redistribution for the purpose of enlarging existing smallholdings i.e. vested tenants with full ownership, mainly by direct addition and for exchange.
The application of this legislation is well represented in both tenanted and untenanted estates in the hinterland of Butlersbridge.
The Farnham Estate in the south and southwest hinterland of Butlersbridge comprising about ten town lands, all or part thereof, was a tenanted estate purchased by the Land

Commission in 1925. The implementation of such a purchase and vesting scheme involved the survey and mapping of the lands comprised in the estate for vesting. Occupancy of all the tenants’ holdings had to be checked and verified, the land valued and the resale value of each holding determined. An outline of the extent of the lands comprising this estate is shown coloured red on the accompanying map.
A copy of the schedule of areas with the names of the tenants blanked out is also included with the corresponding map. It is obvious from the schedule of areas that the average size of the then tenanted holdings was relatively very small.
Untenanted lands of Lord Farnham’s Estate were purchased by the Land Commission under Section 36 of the 1923 Land At in the Butlersbridge vicinity areas 1928/29.

This is n example of voluntary purchases of untenanted land by the Land Commission under the 1923 Land Act for the enlargement of smallholdings by way of direct addition or exchange.
The lands in this scheme comprised an area of about 100 acres in the town land of Deredis Upper, which is approximately one-mile crow flight distance southwest from Butlersbridge village, shown coloured orange on accompanying map. The balance of the land of 150 acres is situated in the townlands of Drumullen, Breandrum and Farnham, which is at least 2 miles crow flight distance from Butlersbridge adjacent to or adjoining the Lord Farnham demesne
The Deredis Upper lands were allotted in two sizeable additions of about 30 acres each more or less, while the balance of 40 acres was allotted as a migrants residential holding to a family who exchanged a smaller residential holding about 15 miles further west in County Cavan.

The Andrew McCarron Estate comprising approximately 145 acres of untenanted land, shown coloured green on the accompanying map, in the town lands of Tullybuck,

Drummany and Derrygarra Upper, which are all contiguous to Butlersbridge village, was purchased in 1936 by the Land Commission under Section 24 of the 1923 Land Act. It was subsequently allotted to 32 allottees, comprising 25 allottees whose holding were then significantly enlarged.

In today’s terms and particularly where the land is situated in the heartland of a village and near the county town of Cavan, such allotments have a value other than their agricultural value. Two allotments comprising about 27 acres each were allotted as exemployee holdings. Three other allotments comprising a graveyard plot and two small residential plots make up the balance of the 32 allotments.
The foregoing outline of the history of land reform carried out by the Irish Land Commission up to the middle of the 20th. Century paints a picture of land tenure patterns in the Butlersbridge hinterland. In conclusion I wish to gratefully acknowledge the assistance and facilities I received from the staff of Land Commission Records Branch and Lands Division of the Department of Agriculture and Food and in particular Mr. John Dunne, Keeper of Records, Records Branch and Ms. Heather Walsh of Lands Division and James Higgins.eather Walsh of Lands