In 1845 in Ireland, most land was owned by absentee English landlords who lived abroad and divided their huge estates, renting land to wealthy farmers known as large farmers. Large farmers then rented or subdivided their land, renting small plots to tenant farmers and cottiers. Cottiers, making up over a million people, lived in crude one-room huts and paid rent by working for landlords instead of with money due to their extreme poverty.

1. The Land.
In 1845, there were different levels of landholding. The
English families owned most of the land. Most of the people
did not own the land they worked on and could be evicted at
any time.

2. The Landlord.
The owners of land in Ireland often lived abroad. They
were called absentee landlords. They usually divided
their often huge estates into large plots. These plots
were rented to wealthy farmers, or they hired agents
who managed their estates.

3. The Large Farmer.
The large farmer rented land from the landlord. These
wealthy farmers broke up some of their land into
smaller plots that were rented to tenant farmers and
cottiers. Often, the large farmers were hated for the
huge profits they made from the poor.

4. The Tenant Farmer.
A third of the Irish population were tenant farmers who
rented small plots of land from the wealthy farmers. They
lived in one-roomed cabins with stonewalls, a clay floor and
a thatched roof. Their animals stayed in the cabin at night
with them for extra warmth. There were no windows, often
a small hole in the roof allowed the smoke from the open
hearth to escape.

5. The Cottier.
There were 1.5million cottiers or labourers in Ireland
living in one-roomed huts made of stone or turf. The
cottier paid the rent by working for the landlord
rather than with money or goods.