Page 74 - GAHS Journal Volume 9

WICKLOW'S INDUSTRIAL HISTORY

History

We know that Palladius, Ireland’s first bishop, landed at Hy-

Garchon, now Wicklow, in 431AD [1]. Local history records the

town of Wicklow being founded by the Vikings circa 795AD [2].
At the end of the Anglo-
Spanish war and the Tudor/
Elizabethan Conquest of Ireland,
County Wicklow was created as
a shire by Elizabeth I. Plans to
shire Wicklow had been in place
since 1578 but rebellious clans
stalled them.

Thadeus, chief of the
O’Byrne’s, agreed to sign a treaty
with the King in 1535 in which he
swore to be a loyal subject. He
requested that his territory be
shired and called County Figure 2: The Pale per the Statute
Wicklow. However, this move of 1488
was rejected by his clan and a
new chief was elected. During the mid-1500s there was a time
of relative peace and the authorities in Dublin were led to remark
on the good behaviour of the O’Byrne’s. [3]

By 1578 the authorities were preparing to shire Wicklow to
create a new county of Wicklow and Ferns. The army of the Lord
Deputy, Lord Grey, was sent to subdue the county but was
destroyed by Fiách MacHugh O’Byrne and his ally Lord
Baltinglass at the battle of Glenmalure in 1580. The plans for a
new county had to be scrapped in the face of open rebellion.

Hostilities continued through to the turn of the century and by

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