The Down Survey Maps

Following the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland (1649-1653), the subsequent land settlement the forced redistribution of Irish Catholic land to English Protestants. Taken in the years 1656-1658, under the direction of Sir William Petty, the Down Survey of Ireland is the first ever detailed land survey on a national scale anywhere in the world. Copies of these maps and related material, including the Books of Survey and Distribution, have survived in dozens of libraries and archives throughout Ireland and Britain, as well as in the Bibliothèque nationale de France. This site has brought together, for the first time in over 300 years, all the surviving materials, and made them available as a public online resource.