The usual explanation of the place name Beggars Bush is that it was a haunt of highwaymen or beggars. However, the record of Beggars boush in 1573 undermines these later explanations at Dublin, Donnybrook. Many historical works on Dublin give this. I believe they are examples of the tendency to adopt restrospective romantic explanations. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: May 30th, 2011 | Filed under: Places, Speculations | Tags: Baggotrath, Donnybrook, Dublin, False Trails, Ireland, beggars, early sites, folly, naming story, prints, proverb | No Comments »
At the date of the earliest record in 1573 Baggotrath Castle would have been a prominent landmark in the countryside south east of the city. As However, as the record refers to both it appears to exclude the possibility that the place name Beggars Bush was an Anglicisation of Baggotrath. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: May 30th, 2011 | Filed under: Places, Speculations | Tags: Baggotrath, Donnybrook, Dublin, False Trails, Ireland, beggars, folly, prints | No Comments »
Current location and earliest record
The name is now used for the area around the redundant Beggars Bush barracks, in use from 1827 for training and as the final station before embarkation for troops going to the Crimea, Flanders and the Empire. In 1929 the barracks area was taken over for housing and the headquarters of the Geological Survey of Ireland, the National Print Museum and Labour Court. There is also modern pub called Ryan’s Beggars Bush, whose website has a history of the establishment.
The earliest record of the name in Dublin is 1573 “at the wood called Beggars boush by Bagotrath” in Fiant 2341 in the Calendar of Fiants of reign of Henry VIII 1510-47 through to Queen Elizabeth 1558-1603. The Irish form Tor an Bhacaigh would have followed the English/Anglicised form Beggars Bush.
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Posted: March 13th, 2011 | Filed under: Places | Tags: Albany, Andrew Yarranton, Baggotrath, Charles River, County Offaly, Donnybrook, Dublin, Ireland, Philipstown, South Africa, Virginia, beggars, early sites, folly, naming story, proverb | No Comments »
