Lease of Raheen Townland, Bantry, West Cork, 1787 ’12 Statute Hogsheads of Good and Well Saved Black Turf’ and £49 per annum and payment of Rent on Bere Island by Butter

Bogs and turf feature frequently in leases of land in West Cork and turn up on Estate Records, Rent Books or on the schedules of property prepared for sale.

A country side tht up to say 1730 was heavily forested was denuded by exploitation for smelting and the oak forests for the Royal Navy and later in the century by the population explosion.  Turf as  a fuel was of extreme importance.

On a letter of protest written to Clinton who purchased part of the Bantry Estate in Bere Island there are references to rapacious behaviour on the tenants adn apparently for many tenants the rent was paid partly or entirely in butter.

Letter to the Earl of Bantry 1854, (criticising his conduct towards his tenants) or, A warning to English purchasers of the perils of the Irish Incumbered estates court; exemplified in the purchase by lord Charles Pelham Clinton, M.P., of two estates in the barony of Bere, county of Cork.