Every farm in ireland protestant and catholic would have had access to miles of the stuff as all the hedges have to be trimmed and re laid every year or so. It is not as if you can go meandering about the Irish countryside hacking down blackthorn shrubs.īlackthorn is the main tree used for hedging in the British Isles.
I am sure that it is scarce when comparing to times when shillelaghs where first made, as just about anything is. Ok so the Blackthorn might not be scarce, but that does not mean that it is very available. Posted: Sat 20 Mar, 2010 5:14 am Post subject: It is a fact that it was used before this (staves and canes are mentionned in the late 16th century), but not to the same extent. Many reports are made about the poor state of armament in Ireland, and many emancipation supporters also called on the defenseless situation of the Catholic Irish.Īnd so like many other people around the world, the Irish simply took up a familiar weapon which could double as an everyday item, such as a walking stick.
While it is obvious that many of them would have hidden weapons where they could, and that they sometimes received equipment from the enemies of England weapons predating the penal laws can be counted on one's fingers, and most are found in archaeological digs. They could not be part of the army, own any weapons, posses lands or have a horse woth more than a certain amount, among other things. Basically in the late 17th century,the english crown passed the Penal Laws, which were laws intended to disarm the catholics. It is not an accepted hypothesis by everyone, but personally I find the facts too obvious to dismiss it. Posted: Fri 19 Mar, 2010 8:05 am Post subject: Last edited by Jean Thibodeau on Wed 17 Mar, 2010 3:59 pm edited 1 time in total I also think that there where a lot of Irish orphans adopted by French Canadian parents after their parents died in transit from Ireland ( plague or other diseases on board ships or as orphaned survivors of famine ). century a lot of Irish immigrated to Quebec as they where more welcome in Catholic Quebec than in most places in North America at the time. ( technically, later tonight walking to the gym as I haven't gone out yet today ).īy the way Montreal had it's St Patrick's day this Sunday and it's one of the biggest parades in the World: Although Québec is French at 75 % of Population about 40% of us have Irish ancestors mixed in. So I guess I can say that " Yes, I did use a Shillelagh today. I do also have the Cold Steel polypropylene version of a Shillelagh. One of my sticks I made from a Hard Maple branch and would qualify as very Shillelagh - like: Nice polished and oiled wood grain. Since I have a backpack with my fencing mask in it anyway it sort of doesn't bring too many funny looks. I also use a 4' 5" walking staff occasionally and a 5 foot quarter staff ( Mostly when I walk to my pollarm classes: have to bring it anyway, so might as well use it to walk the 1.5 miles to our training room. I sort of collect and at times have made my own walking sticks and I usually use one most days although I don't really need one for walking I do find that for the long 5 mile walks I enjoy that a stick gives you a little extra push forward. Posted: Wed 17 Mar, 2010 3:57 pm Post subject: Location: Montreal,Quebec,Canada Joined:
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