Arklow

In 1571 the Manor of Arklow and the 'burgesses of the Earl's town of Arcloe' were required to, 'have paid the yearly rent of 3s. 4d., and some of them paid but 6d. by the year, with bearing Irish exactions as 'conyve,' livery, horsemen, horseboys, gallowglasse, kerne and kernitye with divers other impositions for every of their tenements, gardens and commodities of the accustomed commons time out of mind which to said burgesses and dwellers of said town belongeth/the said Earl, pitying the miserable estate and decay of said town and dwellers, and they complaining the same to grow of the said 'conye' and other Irish exactions, agreed that in consideration that the burgesses shall be free of the aforesaid exactions and all other impositions and all old accustomed rents, they shall pay for every of their tenements to said Earl and his heirs yearly 13s. 4d. current money of Ireland and one 'wetche' hen, and the tenants that be not burgesses shall pay a like sum and two 'wetche' hens. Every burgess shall pay to said Earl and his heirs the ancient customs heretofore paid out of timber, wood, boards, bark and fishing, and bring such wood as shall be provided for the Earl and his heirs at the waterside in their small lighters, and put the same aboard the vessel or vessels wherein it shall be transported to Dublin for the provision of the Earl and his heirs frank and free from paying anything for the lighters or men labouring in them, as heretofore they were accustomed. Every burgess and tenant shall give yearly four labourers for four days to help the reparations and building of the castle (WI040-029002-) and walls thereof, and at their own charges make strong gates, ditches and pales for the better defence of said town against rebels and evil-disposed people, and likewise workmen for the mending of the haven [WI040-029011-] of said town, and watch and ward the town orderly by day and night, and answer to the ordinary courts that shall be kept there by said Earl's seneschal or other officer appointed. Also to have a market-day once a week as the town in old time had, and the Earl to be a means to get a fair to be held there, provided the Earl shall have the custom' (Curtis 1941, No. 192, 211-2). The Urban Survey of Co. Wicklow described the historic town of Arklow known in Irish as An tInbhear Mór as follows; 'Arklow is a port town situated on the south bank of the Avoca river. It is about forty miles south of Dublin on the Wexford road. The medieval town was situated at the foot of a hill along the south bank of the river Avoca. Arklow is one of the small handful of Irish places whose name is genuinely of Scandinavian origin. The precise meaning of the name is a matter of debate. There is no doubt about the suffix "-lo", a meadow, but the prefix Ark- has not been fully explained. One suggestion is Arkell-lo "Arkell’s meadow", another is Ar-lo "river meadow". The presence of the placename, however, together with the well-known ninth century Viking burial (WI031-040----) indicates that there was a Scandinavian settlement in the vicinity. The nature of this settlement is unclear. The absence of documentary references almost certainly indicates that it was not a town but it is possible that it was some form of hamlet or fishing village, or perhaps simply a way-station on the Dublin-Bristol routes. Arklow’s beginnings as a town appear to commence with the coming of the Normans. Theobald FitzWalter was granted the manor of Arklow by Prince John in 1185 and he probably commenced to settle the area soon afterwards (Orpen 1911-20, i, 371). The property was to remain in the hands of Theobald’s descendants, the Butlers, throughout the middle ages and consequently incidental references are to be found to the town in the Ormond deeds. One of Theobald’s first actions was the foundation of a Cistercian abbey (WI040-029004-) on the "island of Arklow" (Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 126: sub Abington). The presence of this monastery suggests that there no Scandinavian settlement of any size here at the time because the Cistercians preferred isolated rural locations to urban settings. In 1205 the monks were moved by Theobald to Abington (LI014-014002-), Co. Limerick, a move which probably indicates the beginnings of an Anglo-Norman urban settlement at Arklow. References are few during the middle ages, however, and it is not until 1571 that there is the first clear evidence that the settlement was actually incorporated (Curtis 1932-43, v, 211). In the fourteenth century Arklow began to come under pressure from the native Irish. The castle was captured in 1331 (Power 1981, 30) but it seems that the town survived the Gaelic resurrgence as a bastion outpost of the Pale. The sixteenth century witnessed the Butler family reasserting its interests in the manor and an important document of 1571, an agreement between the earl of Ormond and the townsmen, sheds some interesting light on the appearance of the town at that time (Curtis 1932-43, v, 211-2). It is clear that the town was in a state of dilapidation and the castle (WI040-029002-), harbour and defences are specifically mentioned as being in poor condition. The town remained loyal to the crown during the Nine Years War and it was a supporter of the Confederate cause in 1641-9. The town surrendered to Cromwell in September 1649 as his army passed through en route to Wexford. In 1700 the Butlers sold out their interest in the town and manor of Arklow to John Allen of Stillorgan an event which effectively closes the history of the medieval town' (Power 1981, 55). There may have been a harbour; a 'haven' is mentioned in a 1571 covenant, as are town defenses in the form of 'gates, ditches, and pales' (Curtis 1933-43, V, 212). Kerrigan (1995, 38) stated that in 1576, what must have been earthwork ramparts were constructed around Wicklow and Arklow. Of the medieval town only the street pattern and a portion of the castle (WI040-029002-) survive. The street plan is linear based on Main Street which runs east-west following the line of the river and has an extension at the east end towards the south. The burgage plot pattern is clearly visible on the O.S. map where narrow properties run back to the river on the north side and have what is virtually a common boundary along the south. The bridge, and Bridge Street, connecting the town with Ferrybank clearly cuts across this pattern and it is evidently a later insertion. The very name "Ferrybank" indicates that contact between the north and south banks of the Avoca was originally by ferry rather than by bridge. Narrow lanes still survive between many of the properties but it is not possible to say if any of the houses have a pre-1700 core. MARKET PLACE This is likely to have been located in Main Street. HARBOUR The presence of a harbour can be inferred from Viking times when the location at a river estuary would have been its most attractive feature. The repair of the "haven" is among the features mentioned in the 1571 covenant between the earl of Ormond and the townsmen (Curtis 1932-43, v, 212). The harbour was probably located on the east side of the town where there are still quays today. Lewis (1837, i, 60) states that, in the early nineteenth century, the harbour was accessible only to small boats because the passage was sinuous and subject to shifting sands. TOWN DEFENCES The 1571 covenant between the earl of Ormond and the burgesses of Arklow mention that the burgesses shall "at their own charges make strong gates, ditches and pales for the better defence of said town" (Curtis 1932-43, v, 211). There is no positive evidence that these defences were built and there are no surviving remains. The alignment, however, and length of the long boundary which delimits the burgage plots on the south side of Main Street suggests that some form of defence probably existed, possibly an earthen rampart and fosse' (Bradley and King 1989, 1-5)'.