Orchard County, Lillywhites etc: origins?

Rebelheart

Anybody know when and who gave the counties of Ireland nicknames for the GAA?

I can understand the Royal County, although I note Parnell's exclamation abour "republican Meath" - but where, for instance, did Armagh get Orchard County from? The Lillywhites?

Thanks.

Daysha

County Waterford is known locally as "The Déise" (An Déise). Some time between the 4th and 8th centuries, a tribe of native Gaelic people called the Déisi were driven from the southern parts of the country, conquering and settling here. The ancient principality of the Déise is today roughly coterminous with the current Roman Catholic Diocese of Waterford and Lismore. The Deise has a rich history from megalithic tombs and ogham stones, to Vikings, to remnants of English occupancy, including the Gaulstown dolmen, Reginalds Tower and the Ballysaggartmore Towers respectively. The people that live in the Déise today are known to thrive on Irish traditions such as hurling and gaelic football and Irish traditional music. The westernmost of the baronies of county Waterford are "Decies within Drum" and "Decies without Drum", separated by the Drum-Fineen hills.

Source wiki

mrgaa1

orchard county - plenty of apple trees and apples harvested throughout the county.

JamieK

Ah Daysha, that ancient tribe of your former countymen came as far as "Barry's Bridge" which is the border between Tipp and KK by the village called Faugheen and were driven back to where they came from...no Déisemen were coming into OUR village!!

Back on topic...the "Premier" county speaks for itself

Daysha

JamieK wrote: »

Back on topic...the "Premier" county speaks for itself

Yeah, a severe sense of delusion

kwalshe

Scallion (or Onion) Eaters for Carlow comes from the amount of farmers that used to produce these crops from the County

Gingy

As has been mentioned there are a lot of Orchards around Armagh, and Kildare are the Lilywhites because of their all white jersies. There's actually a good wiki page on this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Irish_county_nicknames Alot of them just come from natural features, historical context or traditional names for the areas. The Roscommon Sheepstealers is probably my favourite.

patmac

Westmeath: The Lake County.
Source patmacapedia:
'Cos there's lakes in the County

DublinDes

I once heard on radio back in the old days that some Kildare women made the jerseys out of flour sacks from a local flour mill and hence the all white jerseys. Serious. Since I'm on the topic of jerseys Glen Rovers in Cork decided to added a black band to the jersey to honour the 1916 leaders and worn it ever since.

DublinDes

According to wiki Jackeen means a drunken, dissolute fellow and not just a Dub:rolleyes: Although I do admit that Dublin has a fair few drunken, dissolute fellows :P

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackeen

Pride Fighter

DublinDes wrote: »

According to wiki Jackeen means a drunken, dissolute fellow and not just a Dub:rolleyes: Although I do admit that Dublin has a fair few drunken, dissolute fellows :P

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackeen

Jackeen is a term that came about during a royal visit to Dun Laoighre. The people of that town had Union Jacks draped out of their windows. It is an implication that Dubs are British.