Hi Nancy, Thanks for the history. I needed that. My knowledge of Irish history is very lacking and your input has provided me a valuable overview of land ownership. I see that my question can not be answered without understanding the issues in play, but now I have a 'clue'. Thanks for the help, Charlie King gg grandson of James Hughes and Bridget Kelagher of Killoe, Longford Nancy wrote: The technically correct answer to your question as to when Catholics could (again) own land is that some of the strictures that had been in place during the Penal Laws were removed during the last quarter of the 18th century and that all legal constraints disappeared finally in 1829 when Catholic Emancipation legislation was enacted by the Westminster Parliament. However, it was not quite as simple as that. It had been the settled policy of the English/British government to create and maintain a landowning class in Ireland that owed its position to the monarchy and that would therefore ............. _____________________________________________________________ Click here for great custom garage plans! http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2111/fc/Ioyw6iiewzC8Q57thnI2uwTf1wWONGQVVv8we3FHvAomRaqPWNkeyI/