![]() 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, 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 I have mistakenly 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. Go maire sibh Poblacht na hÉireann agus go mbeannaí Dia na Naomh Pádraig agus Bridget! In the spirit of the upcoming holiday we are pleased to share with you this fun and informative article “Is Your Shillelagh a Sham?" In it, Bridget Haggerty separates facts from fiction with regards to these famed But is the knobby club a legitimate Irish weapon, or is it a load of blarney?
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