The Cunningham Settlement.

Part 4 Page 2

The second page of the 1944 document.

 


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The Cunningham Acre was indeed one of the main units of land measurement in bygone days before Parliament enacted standard statute measurements. Its use was widespread across Ulster in Plantation times and for a long time thereafter. According to J H Andrews' history of Irish land surveys:-

"In all measures there were 40 square perches to the rood and four roods to the acre. The distinction between the several measures relates to the length of the perch: Irish Perch=7 yards; Cunningham Perch=6.24 yards; Woodland perch=6 yards; Statute perch=5.5 yards. This gives the Irish acre 7840 Sq yds, the Cunningham acre 6250 sq yds, the Woodland acre 5760 sq yds, and the Statute acre 4840 sq yds."

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I very much doubt the accuracy of the authors references to the Lenox-Conynghams and Springhill. The first Cunninghams that I can find reference to arrived in Ireland around 1610 or 1611. According to the information that I have seen elsewhere the Springhill estate was aquired by the family in 1630 and the present house built about 1690. It also seems that the Cunningham branch concerned were previously settled in the Armagh area and not directly connected with the main Donegal settlements. The Wikipedia page that I have linked seems to be largely borne out by the other sources that I have found.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springhill,_Northern_Ireland

 

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