1796 The Flax Growers of County Louth
1796 Flax Growers Lists
The list that follows was taken from:
COUNTY OF LOUTH
and
County of the Town of Drogheda
A List of Persons to whom Premiums for sowing Flax-seed in the Year 1796 have been adjudged by the Trustees of the Linen Manufacture.
Pursuant to the Scheme offered by them for encouraging the Growth of Flax throughout the Kingdom, viz., "To the Person who should sow between the 10th Day of March and the 1st Day of June 1796, with a sufficient Quantity of good sound Flax, any Quantity of Land, well prepared and fit for the purpose, not less than 1 acre - 4 Spinning Wheels, - 3 Roods 3 Ditto, - 2 Roods - 2 Ditto, - 1 Rood - 1 Ditto. And to the Person who should sow in like Manner any quantity of like Land, not less than 5 Acres over and above the first five a like Premium"
The names are transcribed from the original document in the National Library of Ireland.
This list, also referred to as the 'Spinning Wheel Premium List', contains the following information:
Name
Parish
Number of Spinning Wheels (or Looms)
Under a government scheme to encourage the growing of flax, which received Royal assent on 15 April 1796, the following number of spinning wheels were allocated according to the amount of ground put aside for the cultivation of flax:
One acre - four spinning wheels
Three roods - three spinning wheels
Two roods - two spinning wheels
One rood - one spinning wheel
Five acres or more - a loom, reels or hatchels to the value of fifty shillings
Every five acres over the first five acres - a loom, reels or hatchels to the value of fifty shillings.
The names in the original document are shown within civil parish, and parishes within counties (County Louth and the County of the Town of Drogheda). The spelling of parish names, as shown in the document, has been retained, but the entire list is presented here in alphabetical name order. There are 3189 names in the list.
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