Person:Patrick Walsh (9)

 ~ ~ Walsh Families of Co. Kilkenny ~ ~ 

as recorded by Rev. William Carrigan http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~walsh/history/carrigan-history.html#extent http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~walsh/ _____________________________________________________________________________________________ The Name Walsh: The Walsh family, of Welsh origin, were established in Kilkenny, among many other places in Ireland by the 13th century. Walsh is one of the most common Irish names. Unlike most Irish names, it is found in every county in Ireland. It is a corruption of the word "Welsh." The people first given the name were part in the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland in the early 1100s. The Normans had just conquered England and were trying to conquer Ireland. Since they came through Wales the native Irish called them Welsh. In fact, they were from Normandy in northern France. Most people named Welsh are part of the same group and in parts of Ireland today Walsh is pronounced Welsh. The Normans established a number of coastal cities and had areas of influence into the surrounding areas. Soon they became "more Irish than the Irish themselves," abandoning their French language for Irish and most of their French ways for Irish customs. They also were very independent of Normans elsewhere and often fought later British attempts to conquer Ireland. By 1640 when Oliver Cromwell finally conquered all of Ireland, they had been completely absorbed into the Irish population.

This website (it was a valid website as of 1/01/2008) has some wonderful history on the surname Walsh & the Walsh's place in the County of Kilkenny. http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~walsh/confisc2.html