![]() One tradition at a fair was for a man to drag his coat on the ground behind him and throw down the challenge, “Who’ll tread on the tail of my coat?”, or to ask a crowd, “Who’ll say black is the white of my eye?” Often these were friendly, if somewhat rough contests. ![]() Ssome were sporting events, while others were provoked just for fun. Tipperary in 1887.įights with the ‘bata’ were not always of the faction variety. The last recorded one was held at a fair in Co. After the 1840’s the faction fights became fewer and farther between. The stick held in the off hand was used as a shield. This was called the Troid de bata or two-stick fight. Some fighters specialized in the use of two sticks. They didn’t use a ‘bata’, but they could make a good account of themselves by wielding a stocking filled with stones. Sometimes the fights would consist of hundreds of men – and yes, the womenfolk joined in too. ![]() Most often the factions were members of certain families or of political groups. Various groups or factions were always present at most social gatherings and faction fighting was very common until the famines of the 1840s. While the stick was carried by Irishmen just about everywhere they went, it was at the fair, wake or pattern (Saint’s feast day), that it was most needed. Conan-Doyle made his famous character Sherlock Holmes a master of ‘single-stick’ fighting. ![]() Russ points out that the use of a ‘walking stick’ as a weapon carried into the twentieth century. And, while a young man would have been taught by his father, the finer points of its use would have been learned from the Maighistir Prionnsa or fencing master. Many young Irishmen practiced with the stick regularly because constant sparring was needed to improve their skills. When they were very young, Irish boys were exposed to the traditions of the ‘bata’, and when they came of age, to carry a stick was viewed as a passage into manhood. To keep the wood from splitting during the drying process, sticks were often buried in a manure pile, or smeared with butter and placed in the chimney to cure.įolklorist Padraic Colum says the shillelagh should not be considered a symbol of Ireland but a badge of honour for those who carried it. The bark is left on for added toughness and often a metal ferrule is secured at the end opposite of the knob. Because of this, it would not have been necessary to ‘load’ it as it could pack a significant whack! However, in sticks made of blackthorn, the knob was actually the root. Sometimes, the knob on the end was hollowed out and filled with molten lead. Eventually, it became synonymous for any Irish walking stick. In his book on Irish folklore, Padraic Colum quotes John Banim in this description of a mansion from his novel ‘The Croppy’: “solidly wainscoted with Shillelagh oak against which the venomous spider of England durst not affix his web.”Ĭuriously, it was from the pen of an English writer who, on seeing an oak cane and knowing where it came from, coined the term Shillelagh. Sadly, most of them were cut down and exported and, when you see how few trees remain in Ireland, there’s little comfort in knowing that many famous buildings in Western Europe were built with Irish imported oak. The forest was once famous for its massive stands of fine oaks. Known by many names, including ‘bata’ in Gaelic – which means a fighting stick – the original cane gets its name from the Shillelagh Forest in County Wicklow. Their weapon of choice would have been a cane made from oak, blackthorn, ash or holly. Very handy to have – but not something the Irish would have used at that time, or earlier. What has mistakenly been called a shillelagh all these years was once a very popular weapon in 19th-century London. In his very informative book, ‘ Things Irish’, Anthony Bluett writes that according to a leading folklore authority, the short, stubby blackthorn cudgel sold to tourists as the ‘ancient Irish shillelagh’ has no tradition in Ireland at all. The word ‘Shillelagh’ has been used and abused so much over the generations that it has become a generic term for any kind of one piece walking stick from Ireland – mostly one with a large knob type handle. So, I include here some relative reading. I am regularly asked about an Irish Shillelagh so I feel many would be interested in a little further background to the origins of the word. ![]()
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