“Since the King of the Beggars was married to the Queen of the Sluts at Lowzy-Hill near Beggars-Bush, being most splendidly attended by a ragged Regiment of Mumpers.”
The entry is characteristic of the Poor Robin almanacs, reporting the fictional event in splendid style. “Mumper” is a Cant word for beggar. At this time “slut” did not necessarily imply sexual licence, but encompassed slovenly, untidy or disorderly women generally: in this context all are implied I see no reason to assume that this is a reference to a real event. The King of the Beggars was a common character, not just from the Beggars Bush play by Fletcher & Massinger. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: April 9th, 2011 | Filed under: Writers | Tags: Dublin, Francis Kirkman, John Taylor, Literary, Poor Robin, The Play, William Winstanley | No Comments »
In England’s Improvement by Sea and Land to outdo the Dutch without fighting Andrew Yarranton wrote “We are almost as Beggars-bush, and we cannot tell how to help our selves”. The work was one of the first promoting inland navigation on rivers & canals, amongst other modern economic ideas (including the establishment of a national land registry). It was influential because it gave the economic arguments for such projects rather than the technical aspects of their construction.
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Posted: March 30th, 2011 | Filed under: Writers | Tags: Andrew Yarranton, Dublin, Literary | 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 »
Presently the name of an unoccupied farm and State Forest Nature Reserve in the Albany Division of Cape Province, South Africa. The situation is very similar to the earlier “frontier” sites at Philipstown, County Offally and Charles River, Virginia.
Albany is the area south and east of the Great Fish River. The first Europeans to settle the area were trekboers in the 1770s. It was known as the Zuurveld (sour grassland) from the characteristic of the grass to lose nutritional value after about 4 months grazing.
The area became the scene of conflict in the 1780s between Dutch East India Company and the Xhosa, and then between the British and Xhosa & Khoikoi, in the British Army’s first introduction to “bush warfare”. Between 1779 and 1878 there were Nine Frontier Wars. From 1811 the British adopted a policy of driving the Xhosa across the Fish River, and a series of frontier forts was erected. The name Albany was imposed in 1813, probably after the birthplace in New York of Jacob Cuyler, the landrost (governor). The motto on the coat of arms of the Division is “Take Root or Die” taken from a phrase in an autobiography of an early settler describing his necessary attitude on arrival. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: March 13th, 2011 | Filed under: Places | Tags: Charles River, County Offaly, Dublin, John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, Virginia, barracks | 6 Comments »
