17th Century sources

Northern Ireland is surprisingly rich in 17th century sources for the woodland historian. The surveys and maps available were created mainly as a consequence of the Plantation of Ulster and therefore tend to cover the western counties. Some of the most useful sources are the Bodley maps of 1609, Raven’s maps of the Clandeboye Estate from 1625, Petty’s maps from the 1650s, and the Civil Survey of 1654.

All records require careful interpretation, and 17th century maps are no exception. Due to the scarcity of paper at that time, maps were sometimes drawn so as to fit onto the page, so that the orientation of the map may be unclear, and there may be differences in accuracy between the central and peripheral parts of the map. In these cases, more permanent features such as rivers and coasts were compared to modern maps in order to locate other features.

Early maps are often pictorial, and care had to be taken in interpreting symbols. Areas with four tree symbols do not necessarily have greater tree coverage than areas with two tree symbols. An absence of symbols may not signify absence of woodland, but may mean there were more important features to record nearby, such as a fort or settlement. When tracing the history of woods, it is important to remember that absence of evidence is not the same thing as evidence of absence!

It was also important to understand and consider the reasons different maps were created. Military maps concentrate on fortifications and strategic features, and may omit woodland if it is was not considered important. Other maps were drawn for new landlords who wished to know the extent of their lands, for example Thomas Raven’s 1625 maps of the Clandeboye estate for Sir James Hamilton. Therefore the emphasis may have been more on the financial aspects of the estate, such as profitable and unprofitable land.