"1798 Irish pikes" Topic

The pikeheads so commonly associated with the United Irish rising in 1798 have that pronounced hook on one side, like a boat hook. Anyone know the origins of this design? It seems uncommon. I've seen ones with that hook, but with a blade on the other- and I saw one like that in a museum in Waterford from 1848- but the hook type pike seems not typical.

"Later a hook was added to the side of the pike head to enable the insurgent to cut the reins of horses in order to dismount the rider."
link

As a boy growing up in Tralee, Co Kerry, our dog used to dig holes in our back yard. One day I saw a piece of metal sticking out of one of these holes and I pulled it out: a rusted pike head just like you see them in the illustrations: Axe, Spearpoint and Hook.

What did you do with it?

As a boy growing up in Tralee, Co Kerry…

My father came from Ballylongford.

The source from the link, the 1798 center, seems to imply that the hook was added by the rebels themselves in order to cut reins and unseat horsemen, but this seems unconvincing to me. At what point were they adding these? Do early battles use mostly straight pike heads and only later in the war do we see the hook? Was it more regional- say Wexford? Was it originally a boat hook? Certainly some old copy of the Irish Sword must examine this.

NY Irish,

the Polearm you mention was more commonly know as the Guisarme, a medieval weapon used to unhorse riders. It was in use from around 1000AD

I have seen five originals in a private collection all from the vinegar hill battle.

the two Guisarmes had short 5 inch hooks with a pronounced claive edge, two were Glaives and the last just a spear like point.

cheers
Matt

the Polearm you mention was more commonly know as the Guisarme, a medieval weapon used to unhorse riders. It was in use from around 1000AD

No, the "pikes with a hook" (see the image on the 1798 rebellion wewb site linked above) are not the same as a medieval guisarme. A guisarme usually had a broad blade at the side.

Could the Irish pike be a local variant on the guisarme? I found in "Remembering the Year of the French" by Guy Beiner a reference to an eyewitness account from Mayo that local blacksmith began manufacturing pikes as soon as the French landed "as fast as the smiths could forge them" so that might suggest a local Irish design, if a true design could be said to exist. The great Irish military historian Hayes-McCoy wrote an article on the Irish pike in 1943; I just found it. As soon as I read it I shall report back. I looked at the period painting "Battle of Ballynahinch" in Pakenham's "Year of Liberty" but the rebels are in the background and their pikes are not clearly articulated, but I couldn't find a hook amongst them.

I think the pikes with hooks are artistic lisence. Much the same is said of Lochaber Axes in the '45, but it seems fanciful to me.

I think the pikes with hooks are artistic lisence.

Apparently they did actually exist:

They did indeed- I have one from the 1860s, hence my questions about its origin. So the Hayes McCoy article from the 1943 edition of the Journal of Galway Archaeology was very useful (found it on JSTOR), and some of that was also repeated in his Irish Battles book. His article examines the entire history of pikes in Ireland, but I will move right to the '98 hook part. Hayes McCoy stresses that these pikes were produced by local smiths "as materials and ability permitted…the designers were largely theorists, each suggesting a pattern of his own" pg 123 but he argues that the concept of the hook type and the more halberd type had origins in the past when Irish often fought with farm implements as weapons. He gave example of Irish with "scithes (sic) upon poles" in 1641 and "scythe fixed longitudinally to the end of a pole" at Carrickfergus in 1760 -along with, in fact, the "Loughaber axe". Pikes were being turned out at a rapid rate in the 1792-'98 period, it seems. 70,000 siezed by the government in 1797 sweep and a blacksmith arrested for making pikes in broad daylight in the open (cheeky!). Hayes McCoy provides some illustrated examples of each type from different years but describes the hook type as "usually, but not always, provided with an edged blade on the concave side" pg 124 He defines these as not a true pike but having the "components of a bill" and uses an illustration of a guisearme as a possible inspiration. Apparently the Dublin night watch carried the hook pike, so I guess that is the immediate origin.

They did indeed- I have one from the 1860s, hence my questions about its origin. So the Hayes McCoy article was very useful, and some of that was also repeated in his Irish Battles book. His article examines the entire history of pikes in Ireland, but I will move right to the '98 hook part. Hayes McCoy stresses that these pikes were produced by local smiths "as materials and ability permitted…the designers were largely theorists, each suggesting a pattern of his own" pg 123 but he argues that the concept of the hook type and the more halberd type had origins in the past when Irish often fought with farm implements as weapons. He gave example of Irish with "scithes (sic) upon poles" in 1641 and "scythe fixed longitudinally to the end of a pole" at Carrickfergus in 1760 -along with, in fact, the "Loughaber axe". Pikes were being turned out at a rapid rate in the 1792-'98 period, it seems. 70,000 siezed by the government in 1797 sweep and a blacksmith arrested for making pikes in broad daylight in the open (cheeky!). Hayes McCoy provides some illustrated examples of each type from different years but describes the hook type as "usually, but not always, provided with an edged blade on the concave side" pg 124 He defines these as not a true pike but having the "components of a bill" and uses an illustration of a guisearme as a possible inspiration. Apparently the Dublin night watch carried the hook pike, so I guess that is the immediate origin.