IRL-CARLOW-L Archives

Archiver > IRL-CARLOW > 2006-12 > 1166363796


From: "Carlowman" <>
Subject: Re: [IRL-CARLOW] Normans in Ireland
Date: Sun, 17 Dec 2006 13:56:36 -0000
References: <mailman.11053.1166252373.29920.irl-carlow@rootsweb.com><002a01c7216e$0fbcd060$0202a8c0@oem78ed16b5479>


They came "by Hook or by Crook"

Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable cites a Mrs. S.C. Hall, who wrote
about Ireland in the 1830s and 1840s and believed that the phrase originated
in Ireland. She says that when the Norman earl of Pembroke, known as
"Strongbow," sailed into Waterford in 1170, he saw a tower on one side of
the harbour and a church on the other. He asked their names and was told
that it was the "Tower of Hook" and the "Church of Crook." And he said, "We
must take the town by Hook and by Crook." A variation on this has a ship's
captain using either of the two headlands at Waterford harbour as a guide in
bad weather.

PP

This thread: