The Nationalist 20th November
2012 page 12.
By
Mairead Wilmot 2013
will mark the beginning ... and the end. Town councils as we know
them will enter their final year, following a recent announcement
that they are to be scrapped in favour of new municipal district
councils. Ironically, however, 2013 will mark another interesting
footnote in history for Carlow's local political scene. Four
hundred years ago - on 20 September 1613 - Carlow got its very first
town council.
"Everything still applies today as it did 400 years ago; the general
trend is still the same," said local historian Michael Purcell. The
council of 1613 met every Monday "in any available place", which
Michael said was usually a tavern or inn, or later in the Deighton
Hall. As it does now, the council of 1613 had responsibility to
"make, decree, ordain, and establish acts, ordinances, and bye-laws
for the good rule and sound government of Carlow and the inhabitants
thereof. It was
thanks to King James I that Carlow got its first town council and he
ordered that "12 good and honest men" be nominated to serve. Town
clerk Michael Brennan's 1613 counterpart was John Kerton, who was
described as "a gentleman". The rest
of the 1613 town council were the following: John Bare,
sergeant-at-law; Sir Robert Jacob, knight; Sir Adam Loftus; Anthony
St Ledger; Peter Wright; William Greatrake; Nicholas Harman; John
Bloomfield; John Ely; Robert Whiteacre; Robert Sutton; and Richard
Keating.
Generally speaking, said Mr Purcell, the men would have been
considered local gentry. "They
would have been well-placed and educated landowners and some of them
would have been attached to Carlow Castle, which was the centre of
administration until 1650."  Carlow
was by no means the first town council in Ireland, added Mr Purcell.
Dublin, Cork and Kilkenny all predate Carlow. However,
Mr Purcell noted "one big difference" between the councils of 1613
and 2013. "The one
big difference in 1613 was that all the elected councillors had to
take the Oath of Supremacy to the king and his heirs on land and at
sea." We
couldn't see our councillors agreeing to that now!
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