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Carlow County - Ireland Genealogical Projects (IGP TM) Carlow Castle & The Berks (Proud Irishmen). Graigue Source: Michael Purcell & Pat Purcell Papers |
From: Michael Purcell
<carlowmike@gmail.com> Carlow Castle & The Berks (Proud
Irishmen).
Graiguecullen people sometimes wonder
from whence came the nick-name the "Berks". The following article
published in the Graiguecullen annual journal 2014.
This article was originally submitted by
Pat Purcell for publication in the 1982 Carloviana Journal but the
journal was not published that year. The article remained unpublished
until recently.
We emailed a copy to Donal McCartney,
Professor Emeritus of Modern Irish History, University College Dublin
and a proud Graiguecullen man, he replied ---
"As a former pupil in Graigue Boys'
School in the 1930s I can confirm that I had often heard Sean O'Leary
refer to us and the people of Graigue as 'the Berks' not in any
offensive way but almost as an endearing term" ----.
From the PPP.
In 1920 the noted historian and authority
on the history of the Castle and Manor of Carlow, Lord Walter
FitzGerald of Kilkea Castle, wrote a letter to Carlow history
researcher Marlbourgh Clarke Douglas and in what must have been in
answer to a question, posed by Douglas to FitzGerald.
Fitzgerald replied:-
Circa 1475 Carlow Castle and the Manor
of Carlow were granted to the members of the Berkeley and Mowbray
families.
In 1484 Sir William Berkeley was Lord of
the Manor of Carlow and held the title Viscount of Catherlough.
In 1489 Maurice Berkeley owned portion of
the Carlow estates. The following year he had a disagreement over land
with his cousins the Mowbrays much to the displeasure of King Henry
V11.
As a result Maurice Berkeley was left
holding “the Bridge Castle with one tower on the west of the Barrow
opposite the Castle of Catherlough among the Irishry.”
In time the people living on this side of
the river Barrow and who supported Maurice Berkeley came to be called
"The Berks" a label they gladly embraced to indicate they were not
supporters of the Crown but proud Irishmen". One hundred years later during the reign of Queen Elizabeth the First it was stated:-
"They that dwelt west of the river Barrow
- dwelt west of the English law".
In 1925 FitzGerald's letter was passed to
a schoolmaster in Graigue (not yet known as Graiguecullen), the
legendary and much respected Sean O'Leary, he reintroduced the moniker
to his pupils.
He took great delight in referring to
several generations of Graiguecullen school-goers as the "Berks". In a lecture delivered to the Carlow Branch of An Taisce in May 1980, Padraig O'Snodaigh described Graiguecullen as Carlow's "Irishtown" maybe he was right? From: Michael Purcell March 2014 <carlowmike@gmail.com>
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