Glossary
ERIN GO BRAGH: Ireland Forever (Variations: go Brah; go Brauch)
FREE-QUARTERS: The troops were forcibly billeted upon the populace
in an effort to quiet the country and recover arms. Flogging, house
burningand torture often accompanied free-quarters.
TRIANGLES: A triangular wooden scaffold to which the victim was
tied and flogged.
PITCH-CAPPING: Boiling pitch was placed on the victim's head,
gunpowder was added and set alight.
PICKETING: The victim left hanging while standing on sharp pointed
stakes.
PIKE: The weapon of the United Irishmen. Secretly forged by blacksmiths,
pike-heads were fixed to 9ft wooden handles. They cost on average 1
shilling each. Generally a spear-like weapon with a hook on one side
for cutting through the bridle and reins of the cavalry. The "Kildare
Pike" had an axe-like blade on the opposite side
YEOMANRY: Est. 1796 Initially a part-time, locally raised force
designed to assist with the policing of the country. Open to Catholics
and Protestants, the Yeomanry served in the locality in which it was
raised. Voluntary.
MILITIA: Est. 1793 Unlike the Yeomanry, the militia was compulsory,
and regiments were barred from serving in their home counties. Designed
to police local districts and for national defence in lieu of regular
troops needed abroad in the war against France.
FENCIBLES: Sent to Ireland between 1794-95 Scottish and English
regiments sent to Ireland as a kind of militia force, when regular troops
were withdrawn. Recruited within the British Isles only.
Published by Kildare
County Council Written by Mario Corrigan.