By the early medieval period Tullow had achieved considerable religious and secular importance.
Tullow’s position on a river crossing in the fertile valley of the Slaney, and on the ancient Slighe Chualann highway from the Hill of Tara to Waterford, as well as it being on a direct route to the sea at Arklow, made the area a prize worth owning.
After the Anglo-Normans invaded Ireland in 1169, the ownership of the Tullow area became a source of dispute among Norman Lords.
Until 1171 Tullow had been the capital of the kingdom of Ui Felmeda Tuaid. In that year its king, MacDalbaig, made submission to King Henry II.
The manor of “Tulach Ua Felmada” was eventually granted, between 1189 and 1192, to Theobald FitzWalter I by Prince John. (The land belonging to a nobleman is referred to as a ‘manor’).
The Tullow manor included the barony of Rathvilly and parts of the barony of Shillelagh. In the thirteenth century the boundaries of the FitzWalter lands went as far as Arklow.
Prince John, of Magna Carta fame, was the youngest son of King Henry II and a brother of King Richard III (The Lionhearted). He also held the title of Lord of Ireland.
These Tullow FitzWalters were later renamed and began to be known as the Butler dynasty of Ormond. They were the owners of vast quantities of land, stretching through the counties of Carlow, Kilkenny and Tipperary . This Anglo-Norman ownership led to the development of Tullow as a town. (Murphy, 2008, 237).
Tullow Castle
Tullow Castle was built c.1185 by Hugh de Lacy before FitzWalter took ownership of the manor. It was most likely of the motte and bailey type which was replaced by a stone-built complex. The first Anglo-Norman castle may have been at Tullowbeg or at the present Mount Wolseley golf course.
The castle complex contained a garden, an orchard and a dovecote. (Murphy 2008, 241)
Medieval Tullow develops
By 1285, Tullow had been granted borough status, meaning that it had a corporation and special privileges granted by royal charter. Such grants were often a way to attract settlers from England and Wales.
Tullow became a thriving small market town, with both English and Irish inhabitants. It comprised of a church, castle, numerous water mills, fishing weirs, the houses of burgesses, with their long burgage plots.
(A burgess was an inhabitant of a town or borough with full right of citizenship. Burgage was a system of English land tenure whereby townsmen leased their houses from the king or other lord for a certain yearly rent).
Tullow also contained the humbler dwellings of cottiers, surrounded by small gardens, and workshops for carpenters, masons, tailors, dyers and possibly a goldsmith.
In 1300 a number of Tullow property owners made grants to the Hospital of St John the Baptist in Dublin.
Mills were plentiful, and weirs provided a rich source of fish, important for the diet of monastic institutions in Tullow and elsewhere.
Tullow’s mills continued to function well into the twentieth century; and fishing on the Slaney, though much depleted, is still a popular pursuit.
Burgesses and other tenants had access to a common oven for the baking of bread. They paid a rent to the lord for the use of this facility.
Tolls were paid in 1303 to Geoffrey the innkeeper for the right to set up market stalls.
There is evidence that Tullow may have been fully or partially walled. Dr Margaret Murphy (2008, 243) gives details of murage (walling) grants awarded in the years 1303, 1344 and 1357.
Gaelic resurgence
The fourteenth century was a disturbed time in Ireland. There was a Gaelic resurgence, with Edward Bruce invading from Scotland. He was crowned king of Ireland in 1315, and was defeated and killed in 1318 at the Battle of Faughart.
Three years of famine began in 1315. In 1348 the Black Death made its first appearance in Ireland.
In 1316 David O’Toole took advantage of the instability caused by the Bruce invasion to launch an attack on Tullow. He was repelled, and the heads of 400 of his fighters were sent to Dublin. (Murphy, 2008, 249)
Tullow castle formed an important part of the Anglo-Irish attempts to subdue the Wicklow O’Byrnes and O’Tooles. John de Troye in 1359, James Butler, earl of Ormond in 1362, and Lionel of Clarence in 1365, all took part in campaigns in the Tullow area.
The latter recaptured lands in the Tullow area which had ‘long been wasted and destroyed by Irishmen of Leinster, our enemies’. (Murphy, 2008, 250).
In 1377 Matthew Bermingham was sent to the town with a force of 120 mounted hobelers to ‘resist Art Kavanagh, O’Bryn, O’Nolan and the other Irish’.
John de Wode was compensated also in 1377 for losses incured when Tullow was burned by the O’Nolans. (Murphy, 2008, 250).
Tullow castle appears to have held out against the Irish until 1435 when it fell to the O’Byrnes.
Pierce Butler, earl of Ormond, in 1532 claimed to have ‘with force, danger to my life and great charge’ regained possession of these manors from the Irishmen who, he stated, had held them for 200 years.
Parish church and friary
An early medieval monastic settlement was established in Tullow by St Fortchern in the late 5th century. St Fortchern is regarded as the patron of Tullow.
The following link gives more information on this important saint:
St. Fortchern – Patron of Tullow
The site of his monastery may have been at St Columba’s church which contains the base of a Celtic cross. This monastic site was linked with the important monastery at Aghowle founded by Fortchern’s pupil, St Finnian of later Clonard fame.
St Torannan, a Scot and Tullow’s second patron, had links with St Columba of Iona. This may explain the dedication of what became the Anglo-Norman parish church to the latter saint. (Murphy, 2008, 244).
In 1314 the Augustinian friary was founded across the Slaney in Tullow by Simon Lumbard and Hugh Talun.
This foundation is treated more fully in this writer’s post:
The Tullow friary was dissolved by Henry VIII in 1541 and was granted to James Butler, earl of Ormond.
The stones from the friary , like those of Tullow castle are said to have been used to build the army barracks in Barrack Street, the site of Tullow’s former courthouse. This may have occurred in the eighteenth century.
Tullow in post-medieval times
In the sixteenth century Tullow castle came under attack several times as a result of the Silken Thomas rebellion against Henry VIII and due to various disputes between branches of the Butler family.
In 1609 Lord Butler was granted a licence to hold fairs on the feasts of St Peter (29 June) and St Luke (18 October).
1616 saw James Knowles and his wife Rose being granted a licence to sell wine and spirits in Tullow town and for two miles surrounding it. In 1680 Dineley reported that the town boasted several good inns. The Rose and Crown and the Royal Oak merited special mention.
In the 1640s and 1650s the castle became embroiled in the military upheavals of the time.
In 1642 the Catholic landowners, both Old English and Gaelic, formed an alliance and a quasi-parliamentary assembly known as The Confederation of Kilkenny.
Tullow castle was first taken by Confederate forces and then captured by Cromwellian military under Colonel Hewson.
A census taken c.1659 revealed that the township of Tullowphelim had a population of 211, of whom 71 were English and 140 were Irish.
The chief landowners were listed as: Richard Burcell, Richard Motley, Richard Fisher, gentleman, James Segnock esq., Thristram Thorneton, James Segnock junior and Laudwick Price, gentlemen.
Dineley, writing in 1680, described Tullow as ‘a fair town in the county of Catherlough with a good castle’. He reported that the castle was occupied by William Cruchley, a justice of the peace, who had greatly beautified the building.
Conclusion
Dr Margaret Murphy summing up her article, Tullow – from Medieval Manor to Market Town has the following to say:
Tullow has a long history stretching back to at least the sixth century; however its origins as a town lie squarely in the Anglo-Norman period. No doubt, it was at this time, like countless other Irish towns, a tool in the hands of colonisers, and means of pacifying territory and opening the land up to economic exploitation. The documents reveal, however, that Tullow and its region have always been characterised by ethnic, cultural and religious diversity. The people who came to settle in Tullow in the 13th century and the indigenous population were incorporated into the manner and borrow shared many traits, not the least of which was resilience.
Bibliography
Comerford, M. (1886) Collections relating to the Dioceses of Kildare and Leighlin. Vol. III. Dublin: James Duffy and Sons
Hadden, V., (1994), Come Capture Castles in County Carlow. Carlow: Avril Hogan
Killeen, R., (2003), A Timeline of Irish History. Dublin: Gill & Mscmillan
McGrath, T., Editor (2008), Carlow History and Society. Dublin: Geography Publications
Murphy, M., Tullow – from Medieval Manor to Market in McGrath, T., Editor (2008), Carlow History and Society. Dublin: Geography Publications
Tullow Historian 