DOI article:
Lucas, A. T.: Irish ploughing practices, 2
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.48999#0074
68
A. T. LUCAS
ford by 1282, when accounts relating to Old
Ross for 1282-4 state the cost of shoeing plough
a/er.s-(Hore23,30) ’Oxen anda/er^of the plough’
are mentioned in Co. Tipperary in 1299 (Mills
1905,224), at Cahirconlish, County Limerick,
in 1300 (White 155) and at Callan, County Kil-
kenny, in the same year (White 69). Moreover,
at a court held in the last named place in 1300,
a number of persons bearing Irish names were
accused of robbing by force ’two horses of
Douenald Fyn, and two horses of the widow of
Dermot Oknauyn, out of their ploughs’ (Mills
1905,352). Here plough horses appear in the
possession of persons who, to judge by their
names, were of native stock. Both plough oxen
and plough horses appear in court proceedings
in 1302 in County Wexford in which one man
was distrained by ’two oxen of his plough’ and
another by ’two afers of his plough’ (Mills 1905,
391, 392). This flexibility of practice in the use
of either horses or oxen continued till at least
the middle of the fourteenth century. The docu-
ments relating to the suppression of the Temp-
lars in Ireland contain particulars of the live-
stock on the various properties held by the
order and disclose the employment of oxen and
afers for ploughing, possibly in mixed teams or,
perhaps, in alternative teams of either kind. One
of the documents, which dates to 1326, gives
the following information regarding a number
of widely dispersed localities: Clontarf, County
Dublin, 30 oxen for 5 ploughs (Anal. 188); Coo-
ley, County Louth, 2 afers for the plough (Anal.
188); Kilsaran, County Louth, 12 oxen for 2
ploughs and 2 afers for the same (Anal. 189);
Kilcork (Kilcock?) and Kilbride, County Kil-
dare, 18 oxen for 3 ploughs (Anal. 189);
Templehouse, County Sligo, 12 oxen and 4
afers for 2 ploughs (Anal. 189); Kilcloggan,
County Wexford, 24 oxen and 8 afers for 4
ploughs (Anal. 190); Crooke, County Water-
ford, 12 oxen and 4 afers for 2 ploughs (Anal.
190); and Kilbarry, County Waterford, 30 oxen
and 10 afers for 5 ploughs (Anal. 191). Another
document, dating to 1328, states that there were
2 ploughs at Kilsaran and 10 afers for working
them (Anal. 195). Eight 'afers of the plough’ are
cited among the chattels of Thomas son of lohn,
Earl of Kildare, on his lands at Athlacca and
Adare, County Limerick, in 1329 (Mac Niocaill
105), while Richard son of Thomas, Earl of Kil-
dare, had, in 1331, 16 afers for ploughing on his
land at ’Kilcork’, County Kildare (Mac Niocaill
103), and 18 afers for ploughing on his land at
Rathangan in the same county (Mac Niocaill
102). Both these magnates also had oxen on their
estates, the former 18, the latter 15, although
it is not specifically stated that they were used
for ploughing. A little later in the century we
find oxen and horses in use for ploughing on
the estates of the Priory of the Holy Trinity in
the immediate neighbourhood of Dublin city,
the impression conveyed by the references being
that the former were the commoner. On the
Priory’s manor of Grangegorman, an ox for the
plough pro caruca and two horses for ploughs
and carts pro carucis et carectis were pur-
chased in 1338 (Mills 1891, 22, 23). In 1343, a
carpenter was employed to make ’ox yokes and
other requisites to fit up a fourth plough’ (Mills
1891, 28) and in 1344 an ox was bought ’for the
plough’ at the Priory’s manor of Clonkeen
(Mills 1891, 62). Thus by the middle of the
fourteenth century, we find the horse in use for
ploughing in various localities in Leinster and
Munster, which are the areas to which the bulk
of the extant documents refer. Although there
is only one reference to its use in Connacht,
there is no reason to believe that the situation
in that province or in Ulster differed from that
obtaining in the rest of the country.
Although the sources do not allow us to trace
in any detail the gradual replacement of ox-
ploughing by horse-ploughing during the course
of the fourteenth century, enough data are avail-
able to establish that by the fifteenth century
the ox had been virtually completely super-
seded by the horse. As early as 1400, the horse
A. T. LUCAS
ford by 1282, when accounts relating to Old
Ross for 1282-4 state the cost of shoeing plough
a/er.s-(Hore23,30) ’Oxen anda/er^of the plough’
are mentioned in Co. Tipperary in 1299 (Mills
1905,224), at Cahirconlish, County Limerick,
in 1300 (White 155) and at Callan, County Kil-
kenny, in the same year (White 69). Moreover,
at a court held in the last named place in 1300,
a number of persons bearing Irish names were
accused of robbing by force ’two horses of
Douenald Fyn, and two horses of the widow of
Dermot Oknauyn, out of their ploughs’ (Mills
1905,352). Here plough horses appear in the
possession of persons who, to judge by their
names, were of native stock. Both plough oxen
and plough horses appear in court proceedings
in 1302 in County Wexford in which one man
was distrained by ’two oxen of his plough’ and
another by ’two afers of his plough’ (Mills 1905,
391, 392). This flexibility of practice in the use
of either horses or oxen continued till at least
the middle of the fourteenth century. The docu-
ments relating to the suppression of the Temp-
lars in Ireland contain particulars of the live-
stock on the various properties held by the
order and disclose the employment of oxen and
afers for ploughing, possibly in mixed teams or,
perhaps, in alternative teams of either kind. One
of the documents, which dates to 1326, gives
the following information regarding a number
of widely dispersed localities: Clontarf, County
Dublin, 30 oxen for 5 ploughs (Anal. 188); Coo-
ley, County Louth, 2 afers for the plough (Anal.
188); Kilsaran, County Louth, 12 oxen for 2
ploughs and 2 afers for the same (Anal. 189);
Kilcork (Kilcock?) and Kilbride, County Kil-
dare, 18 oxen for 3 ploughs (Anal. 189);
Templehouse, County Sligo, 12 oxen and 4
afers for 2 ploughs (Anal. 189); Kilcloggan,
County Wexford, 24 oxen and 8 afers for 4
ploughs (Anal. 190); Crooke, County Water-
ford, 12 oxen and 4 afers for 2 ploughs (Anal.
190); and Kilbarry, County Waterford, 30 oxen
and 10 afers for 5 ploughs (Anal. 191). Another
document, dating to 1328, states that there were
2 ploughs at Kilsaran and 10 afers for working
them (Anal. 195). Eight 'afers of the plough’ are
cited among the chattels of Thomas son of lohn,
Earl of Kildare, on his lands at Athlacca and
Adare, County Limerick, in 1329 (Mac Niocaill
105), while Richard son of Thomas, Earl of Kil-
dare, had, in 1331, 16 afers for ploughing on his
land at ’Kilcork’, County Kildare (Mac Niocaill
103), and 18 afers for ploughing on his land at
Rathangan in the same county (Mac Niocaill
102). Both these magnates also had oxen on their
estates, the former 18, the latter 15, although
it is not specifically stated that they were used
for ploughing. A little later in the century we
find oxen and horses in use for ploughing on
the estates of the Priory of the Holy Trinity in
the immediate neighbourhood of Dublin city,
the impression conveyed by the references being
that the former were the commoner. On the
Priory’s manor of Grangegorman, an ox for the
plough pro caruca and two horses for ploughs
and carts pro carucis et carectis were pur-
chased in 1338 (Mills 1891, 22, 23). In 1343, a
carpenter was employed to make ’ox yokes and
other requisites to fit up a fourth plough’ (Mills
1891, 28) and in 1344 an ox was bought ’for the
plough’ at the Priory’s manor of Clonkeen
(Mills 1891, 62). Thus by the middle of the
fourteenth century, we find the horse in use for
ploughing in various localities in Leinster and
Munster, which are the areas to which the bulk
of the extant documents refer. Although there
is only one reference to its use in Connacht,
there is no reason to believe that the situation
in that province or in Ulster differed from that
obtaining in the rest of the country.
Although the sources do not allow us to trace
in any detail the gradual replacement of ox-
ploughing by horse-ploughing during the course
of the fourteenth century, enough data are avail-
able to establish that by the fifteenth century
the ox had been virtually completely super-
seded by the horse. As early as 1400, the horse