by Joseph Byrne
furze. Furze was cultivated for cattle fodder and for firewood in locations where fuel was scarce. (Lucas, Furze.)
fustians. Blankets or clothes which went under and over the bedsheets.
G
gabbard. A barge.
Gaelic League. See Conradh na Gaeilge.
gaffer. An agent who organised a group of his relations and neighbours to travel to England to reap in the nineteenth century.
gale day. A gale was a periodic payment of rent which in the nineteenth century was payable twice yearly on 1 March and 1 September, the gale days. A ‘hanging gale’ was permission to be six months in arrears in the payment of rent, a concession granted to enable a tenant to establish himself.
gallicanism. Originally the policy and doctrine of a group within the French Catholic church which sought to limit papal authority in secular affairs, considered the pope to be subject to ecumenical councils, believed papal infallibility on doctrinal matters to be subject to the affirmation of the whole church and favoured the right of secular rulers to make episcopal appointments and receive the revenue of vacant sees. Gallicanism appeared in Ireland in the seventeenth century amongst Old English Catholics who expressed a willingness to repudiate the authority of the pope over temporal affairs as a bartering tool to lessen penal impositions on Catholics. In the remonstrances of 1661 and 1666 prominent Old English Catholics strove to demonstrate their loyalty (and secure themselves under the Restoration land settlement) by acknowledging that all subjects were bound by the supreme authority of the king in civil and temporal affairs and by repudiating the right of any foreign power to discharge them from their allegiance. The Catholic clergy, however, overwhelmingly opposed this view. Gallicanism re-appeared in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries when a minority of bishops and lay Catholics favoured a British government veto over the appointment of bishops to assuage Protestant fears and accelerate the granting of Catholic emancipation. Gallicanism was suspected of Maynooth College because the early teaching staff came from France and because the college was beholden to the administration for grants. See ultramontanism. (Bowen, Paul Cardinal Cullen, pp. 30–84.)
gallon. A Gaelic unit of spatial measurement employed in Co. Cavan, equivalent to 25 acres.
gaol delivery, commission of. A commission issuing from king’s bench to have those detained in jail delivered up to the justices of assize for the determination of their cases.
garderobe. A toilet, usually overhanging a castle wall.
Gardiner’s Relief Act. See relief acts.
garron. A small, hardy draught horse.
galleting. A decorative feature on house walls created by the insertion of contrasting stones into the mortar.
gallowglass. (Ir., gall óglach, foreign soldier) Gaelic mercenary foot-soldier of Scottish descent who fought with a distinctive long-handled battle-axe or sparre.
gauger. An excise official whose duty it was to gauge the capacity of casks or other vessels or containers and assess the customs duty on any dutiable imported goods. The duty of gauger was usually united with that of searcher. For the collection of inland duties on beer, ale and spirits the revenue districts of Ireland were divided into ‘walks’ and a gauger was appointed for each walk. Twice weekly the gauger traversed his walk to examine the accounts of brewers and distillers and record the quantity of liquor brewed. A surveyor examined and attested the gauger’s returns and submitted them to the district head (the collector) who charged and collected the duty. (Ní Mhurchadha, The customs.)
gauntlet. A leather glove fortified with metal which protected the hands in combat.
gavelkind. Partible inheritance, a system of joint and equal inheritance among males. Typically, under Brehon law, the lord divided the land owned by a deceased member of the sept equally between his sons, subject to periodic re-distribution. The ‘gavelkind act’ (2 Anne, c. 6, 1704) required the estate of a deceased Catholic to be gavelled or partibly divided among his sons. If the eldest son conformed to the Church of Ireland, however, the entire estate devolved to him. This act was not repealed until 1778. See penal laws, relief acts.
gavellor, gaviller. (OE, gafol, rent, tax or tribute) In medieval Ireland, a tenant-at-will. He was a freeman, largely of English origin, who paid rent and owed suit of court and labour services to the manor. The tenancy-at-will appears to have been nominal in that gavellors holdings were heritable.
Genealogical Office. See Ulster king of arms
genealogies. Collections of pedigrees of native Irish overlords which are now considered spurious, certainly for the pre-Patrician era, and propagandist in the sense that they were compiled to validate the accession to lordship of the contemporary lord.
General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. The annual meeting of Presbyterian ministers, officers and representative elders from the presbyteries. It exercises overall control in matters of faith, education, property, discipline and the missionary work in the church. It elects its own officers and committees and appoints a moderator whose term of office is of one year’s duration. It is the supreme court of appeal for cases taken from the session, presbytery or synod. The General Assembly was formed in 1840 with the merger of the Synod of Ulster and the Seceders. In 1854 it was joined by the southern congregations, formerly known as the Southern Association or Synod of Munster.
General Convention. A convention of bishops, clergy and lay representatives that met in February 1870 to guide the Church of Ireland through the vicissitudes of disestablishment and to devise plans for the future administration of the church. It agreed on a constitution and structure for the newly independent body. The General Synod, an assembly of the bishops, clergy and lay representatives, became the supreme governing council of the church (with diocesan synods to supervise local affairs). Bishops were to be elected by an electoral college drawn from all the dioceses within the province in which the vacant see lay. See Representative Church Body. (Acheson, A history, pp. 200–205.)
general lesson. In accordance with the requirement that schools connected with the national system be conducted on a non-denominational basis, the commissioners of education in Ireland directed that a general lesson on religious tolerance be taught in all schools and that a printed version be displayed in every school. The theme of the lesson was tolerance as Christ exemplified it in his life. Pupils were exhorted to live peaceably with all men, to love and pray for their enemies, to treat kindly those who held erroneous doctrines and to turn the cheek when confronted with unkindly behaviour, violence, quarrelling and abuse. See Education, National System of. (Fiftieth report of the commissioners of education in Ireland (1883), p. 31.)
german. A relationship in the fullest sense. Fully akin.
gibbet. An upright post with a projecting arm from which an executed felon was suspended.
gleave, glieve. A lance.
glebe land. Land belonging to a parish and forming part of a clergyman’s benefice. This freehold land was usually granted to a parish at the time of its foundation (from the eighteenth century) or was purchased by the Board of First Fruits to supplement the living. Glebes varied considerably in extent from parish to parish. They were leased out or farmed by the minister. The glebe was a feature of Anglo-Norman Ireland, the Gaelic equivalent being termon land (church endowments that were farmed for rent and refection by hereditary tenants known as coarbs or erenaghs). See terrier.
glib. Gaelic hairstyle characterised by a long fringe overhanging the forehead and sometimes drawn over the eyes.
Glorious Revolution. The phrase used to describe the events between 1688 and 1689 from the deposing of James II and the accession of William of Orange and James’ daughter, Mary, to the acceptance by the new monarchs of constitutional arrangements which severely curbed the prerogative powers of the crown. See Rights, Declaration of.
gnieve, gneeve. Gaelic spatial unit, equivalent to ten acres. Two gnieves were equal to one sessiagh.
gorget. 1: Neck and throat armour constru
cted of plate metal 2: A crescent-shaped, beaten-gold neck collar with attached discs at either end. Dating from the Bronze Age and unique to Ireland, almost all gorget discoveries (including that found at Gleninsheen, Co. Clare) have been made in the environs of the Shannon estuary.
gort. (L., hortus, a small field) 1: A small parcel of land or close of five or six acres given over to some particular use 2: A small enclosed garden attached to a clachan house.
gossipred (compaternity). A relationship cemented through baptismal sponsorship. Like fosterage and inter-marriage, gossipred was used in Gaelic Ireland to foster kinship ties between the lord and his extended family and clients. As there was a finite number of children who could be fostered and married off, gossipred facilitated the development of additional affinities by enabling a child to be fostered by one family and sponsored by another. What gossipred actually entailed, however, remains unclear. When a man sponsored a child at baptism he became the child’s godfather and ‘gossip’ to the parents. The relationship was then firmed up in any one of a number of ways. At the baptismal font the parties might publicly bind themselves to mutual assistance. There might be a symbolic breaking of bread and a pledge of service or a specific arrangement agreed by voluntary oath-taking. The most solemn arrangement involved all parties receiving the eucharist together and pledging adherence to each other. The whole affair was usually accompanied by gifts. (Fitzsimons, ‘Fosterage’, pp. 138–49.)
Gothic. There were three identifiable evolutions in Gothic construction during the middle ages: the Early English or pointed style, the decorated style and the perpendicular style. These styles were not rigidly adhered to and there was considerable overlap. The perpendicular style did not occur in Ireland in the middle ages but when gothicism was revived during the nineteenth century many churches were constructed in that style.
Gothick. A loosely-Gothic architectural style, heavily romanticised and incorporating mock antique features such as towers, turrets, machicolations and follies. It was fashionable in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Gothick novels echoed such improbabilities in their settings (ruined abbeys and houses) and plots.
Gothic revival. Heavily influenced by trends in contemporary English architecture, the Gothic revival or neo-Gothic style became the most important architectural movement in Ireland in the nineteenth century. The Church of Ireland set the pace. Funded by the Board of First Fruits, it began to erect small churches in Gothic perpendicular style in the early nineteenth century. Typically these were simple, rectangular structures, often battlemented. A square tower at the western end was topped with a spire and flanking pinnacles. Pointed windows contained simple intersecting tracery. This deliberate invocation of a pre-Reformation style was intended to emphasise the historical continuity of the church. Until the 1820s the Catholic church favoured neo-classicism (as did the Presbyterian and Unitarian churches), a style which was awe-inspiring and evoked an established order. St Mary’s pro-cathedral in Dublin (1815, enlarged with a Greek Doric portico in 1840) is a notable example. Gradually, however, Gothic came to predominate, initially in perpendicular (Carlow, 1820) or Tudor Gothic style (St Malachy’s, Belfast, 1844). The greatest and most influential exponent of Gothic revivalism in Ireland was the English architect, A. W. Pugin (Killarney, 1842, Enniscorthy, 1843). Pugin, who considered classical architecture paganistic and lionised Gothic as truly Christian, encouraged architects to look at earlier Gothic styles such as Early English or the decorated style. He despised ornament other than that which enhanced the structure of the church and designed churches that were sympathetic to the ceremonies they were intended to accommodate. There was a clear distinction between nave and chancel, aisles were laid out to facilitate processions and a proper baptistery was provided. His designs incorporated the rich symbolism of earlier Gothic churches with their cruciform plan and triply-divided windows echoing the Trinity. As was the case with all medieval churches, Pugin’s internal arrangement was immediately obvious when viewed from without. Both Patrick Byrne (St Patrick’s, Blackrock, 1842) and J. J. McCarthy (Dominic Street, Dublin, 1860) were heavily influenced by Pugin’s writing and work. Towards the close of the century ornate Gothic church styles yielded to the simpler Hiberno-Romanesque, an unpretentious form which incorporated round-headed windows and doorways that were modelled on earlier monastic churches. (Richardson, Gothic revival; Harbison, Potterton and Sheehy, Irish art.)
Goulborn’s Act (1825). Goulborn, the Irish chief secretary, introduced the repressive Unlawful Societies Act (6 Geo. IV, c. 4) in 1825 to curb the Catholic Association whose rapid growth had alarmed the English administration. The bill declared unlawful any body (including Orange lodges) that remained in existence for more than 14 days to seek a redress of grievances against church or state. The Catholic Association adroitly disbanded only to reform within days with a modified programme purged of overtly political goals. See Brunswick clubs.
Grace, Commission of (1684–8). A sequel to the Acts of Settlement and Explanation, the Commission of Grace was prompted by an unsettling scramble by discoverers to ferret out concealed land or land held under dubious title. To quieten the uncertainty, Charles II issued a commission to the lord lieutenant in 1684 to appoint commissioners to issue clean title to those troubled that their titles were defective. The commissioners were authorised to compound with the occupiers and grant new tenures direct from the crown for such rents and fines and under such tenures as they thought fit. Protestants suspected the commission to be a ‘snare’ to open their titles to minute inspection to the advantage of Catholics and a means of increasing royal revenue. Grants under the commission, of which there were approximately 500, were recorded in the Books of Survey and Distribution and have been printed in Third volume of reports to the commissioners on public records in Ireland, 1820–25 (Dublin, 1829). See defective titles. (Hatchell, Abstract.)
Graces (1625–1641). The ‘graces’ were a series of royal concessions on land and religious issues to be offered to Ireland in exchange for a number of annual subventions to the crown. The bargaining process was initiated by the Old English who wished to demonstrate that Catholicism and royalism were not mutually exclusive. They also sought to capitalise on the threat of a Spanish invasion and the inadequate defences of the country to leverage significant concessions from the crown. In 1628 the Old English Catholics were joined by the New English Protestants (who would have to share the burden of the subsidies) in a parliamentary delegation to England. Most of their 51 demands for reforms of a general nature useful to all sections of the community were readily conceded. These included the reduction of official fees, the easing of licensing controls on exports, the revoking of commercial and industrial monopolies and the introduction of regulations to reduce the depredations of the army on local communities. Many demands which touched on land and religious issues were also conceded such as amendments to the court of wards and liveries, the appointment of Old English commanders to new army companies, the right of heirs to succeed and lawyers to qualify by taking the oath of allegiance as opposed to the oath of supremacy, the curtailment of the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical courts over Catholics and crown recognition of all land titles of 60 or more years standing. The Old English, however, failed to secure the rights of Catholics to hold office and Catholics remained legally liable for recusancy fines. The New English secured confirmation of the titles of Ulster undertakers irrespective of whether they had observed the plantation conditions. In return for these concessions Ireland was to tender three annual subsidies of £40,000, payable quarterly. The money was paid over but the implementation of the graces proceeded slowly. The pledge regarding the appointment of Old English commanders was broken, land titles remained unconfirmed and only the threat of cutting off the subsidies advanced the reform of the court of wards. As the military position improved the government stalled and the most important graces were postponed. In 1632 the government felt secure enough to meet a deficit of £20,000 by more regular exacti
on of the recusancy fines. Under Wentworth’s lord lieutenancy the Old English renewed their demands for the graces but, although further subsidies were voted, their grievances were not met and the security of land titles remained a concern. After Wentworth’s execution, and faced with a hostile Westminster parliament, Charles attempted to gain support in Ireland by confirming the graces. Lords Justice Borlase and Parsons, puritans and pro-parliament, who were exercising power in place of the absentee Leicester, prorogued parliament in August 1641 before statutory effect could be given to the concessions. Within months the country was engulfed in war and the graces issue died. (Clarke, The graces, 1625–41.)
gracious declaration, the king’s. A declaration (14 & 15 Chas. II, c. 2, s. 26) by Charles II in November 1660 of his intentions regarding the settlement of Ireland. Conscious of the fact that his restoration was a result of Protestant endeavours, he confirmed the majority of soldiers and adventurers in their estates. Catholics who could prove that they were innocent of complicity in the Confederate rebellion were to be restored but immediate reprisals (compensation in land) were to be made to those dislodged to accommodate them. As the declaration was construed in Ireland to lack statutory authority, however, no serious attempt was made to execute its provisions. The key elements in the declaration were later enshrined in the Act of Settlement (1662). See court of claims, innocence.
graddon. (Ir., greadán) Meal.
graffane. (Ir., grifán) A type of hoe used to cut turf.
grand jury. The forerunner of the modern county council, the grand jury originally comprised 23 large landowners who were nominated by the county sheriff and summoned to the assizes (and in Dublin to the quarter-sessions for the county of the city) to determine whether a prima facie case existed for a prosecution to proceed. See justice of the peace. The grand jury later assumed responsibility for bridge-building, road maintenance and construction, the partial funding of dispensaries and the construction of fever hospitals and lunatic asylums, all of which were funded by presentments (or appropriations). Under an eighteenth-century act (30 Geo. III, c. 25) a person wishing to repair or construct a road was required to cause a survey to be conducted by two engineers and have the details sworn before a magistrate. At the following assizes the grand jury made a presentment to the court of an approved sum of money for the work which was afterwards allowed by the magistrate. The work itself was paid for by the individual promoting it but he recouped his outlay from the grand jury by swearing an affidavit that the project had been completed. The grand jury refunded the money from the county cess, the local revenue it was empowered to fix and which was payable by the occupier and not the owner of land. Grand juries were partially circumscribed in fixing the cess by the fact that the assize judges had to approve the presentments (usually a formality) and because the grand jurors themselves were assessed for whatever rate they set. Two full-time officers were employed by each grand jury. The treasurer received the county cess from the collectors and made payments under the direction of the jury foreman and a clerk of the crown kept the county records, drafted grand jury orders and received presentments. Part-time officials were also employed. High constables were appointed to collect the county cess, measurers conducted preliminary surveys and costed projects and overseers ensured that the work was carried out satisfactorily. After 1840 most of the functions of the grand jury were passed to the poor law unions and any remaining fiscal and administrative functions were transferred to the county councils after the passage of the Local Government Act in 1898. The grand jury continued to examine indictments until the enactment in 1924 of the Courts of Justice Act which provided for direct trial before a jury. The grand jury remained a bastion of Protestantism long after 1793 when Catholics were permitted to become grand jurors. Possessed of liberal powers of taxation, grand juries raised £18 million between 1800 and 1830 but the absence of a system of checks and accounting meant that this massive sum was not prudently applied and the work was often slipshod and unsatisfactory. Many public works were carried out not by qualified engineers but by farmers in the patronage of a grand juror. This phenomenon was not solely the hallmark of the grand juries for the Board of Inland Navigation and the Board of Works were equally profligate in their management of public works which often appeared to serve the purpose of political favour and patronage rather than utility. (Crossman, Local government, pp. 25–42.)