How a village in south Wicklow gave the world a word
The stick and the name
The shillelagh - a knotted walking stick or cudgel made from blackthorn or oak - became associated with Ireland so thoroughly that the word entered English dictionaries worldwide. The connection to the village is etymological and material. The barony of Shillelagh in south Wicklow was once heavily forested with oak, and timber from the area was used to make the fighting sticks and walking aids that took on the local placename. The village's Irish name, Síol Éalaigh, means 'descendants of Éalach'; the Hiberno-English corruption of that became 'Shillelagh' and attached itself to the object. An alternate etymology links sail éille - meaning roughly 'thong-leash cudgel' - to the weapon's Irish name. Both origins point to the same place. The Olde Shillelagh Stick Makers, based in the village, still make traditional sticks from local blackthorn.
What is left of the forest that named the stick
Tomnafinnoge and the oak woods
In 1634, the oak woods of south Wicklow were estimated to cover 'more than many thousand acres'. Over the following two centuries they were cut for shipbuilding timber, for charcoal to feed the iron works, and for export through Arklow and Wicklow town. By the nineteenth century the great forest was effectively gone. Tomnafinnoge Woods, located between Shillelagh and Tinahely - almost equidistant from each village - is the last surviving coherent fragment. It is now a Special Area of Conservation. The trees are primarily sessile oak, with beech, Scots pine, hazel, and holly in the understorey. Four marked trails run through the woods: an Oak Walk of 3.2 km, a River Walk of 2 km (4 km both ways), a Beech Walk, and a shorter Hazel Walk of 1.3 km. Red squirrels and deer have been recorded in the woods. There is a car park off the Tinahely-Shillelagh road.
6,000 tenants, a decade of emigration, and the records that survived
The Fitzwilliam estate and the Famine clearances
Coolattin House, a few kilometres from Shillelagh village, was the main seat of the Wentworth-Fitzwilliam estate - one of the largest landholdings in Ireland, covering approximately 90,000 acres at its peak, or roughly a fifth of County Wicklow. The Fitzwilliams were regarded as relatively liberal landlords by the standards of the time: they paid higher wages and charged lower rents than many neighbours, and kept unusually detailed records of their tenants. During the Great Famine and the decade that followed, from 1847 to 1856, the Earl Fitzwilliam paid for over 6,000 of his tenants to emigrate to Canada - principally to Quebec and New Brunswick. Of the estimated 50,000 Irish people who received financial assistance from landlords during the Famine emigration, almost 6,000 were from this estate. Tenants were given free passage and a cash sum - typically ten shillings, though some negotiated more. The estate records have since been digitised and mapped by the Coolattin Lives project. Descendants of those who left can trace their ancestors through coolattinlives.ie.