1656 in Ireland

Incumbent

• Lord Protector: Oliver Cromwell

  Events

• Cromwellian soldier William Morris becomes a Quaker, founding a meeting at Belturbet, County Cavan, before returning to his home at Castle [Salem, Cork].
• William Petty completes the comprehensive mapping of Ireland known as the Down Survey.

  Births

• 17 April – William Molyneux, natural philosopher and writer, founder of the Dublin Philosophical Society.

  Deaths

• 21 March – James Ussher, Archbishop of Armagh (Church of Ireland) and Primate of All Ireland, published the Ussher chronology purporting to time and date creation
• Approximate date – Sir Dominick Browne, merchant and landowner