History
| Historical population | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
| 1821 | 6,226 | — |
| 1831 | 6,511 | +4.6% |
| 1841 | 6,237 | −4.2% |
| 1851 | 6,122 | −1.8% |
| 1861 | 6,257 | +2.2% |
| 1871 | 6,377 | +1.9% |
| 1881 | 5,213 | −18.3% |
| 1891 | 4,482 | −14.0% |
| 1901 | 4,944 | +10.3% |
| 1911 | 5,042 | +2.0% |
| 1926 | 4,535 | −10.1% |
| 1936 | 4,680 | +3.2% |
| 1946 | 4,915 | +5.0% |
| 1951 | 5,203 | +5.9% |
| 1956 | 5,292 | +1.7% |
| 1961 | 5,390 | +1.9% |
| 1966 | 6,083 | +12.9% |
| 1971 | 6,948 | +14.2% |
| 1979 | 8,451 | +21.6% |
| 1981 | 8,646 | +2.3% |
| 1986 | 8,388 | −3.0% |
| 1991 | 7,987 | −4.8% |
| 1996 | 8,557 | +7.1% |
| 2002 | 9,959 | +16.4% |
| 2006 | 11,712 | +17.6% |
| 2011 | 12,779 | +9.1% |
| Sources: CSO and Histpop | ||
The town's English name derives from Arnkell's Lág (Arnkell was a Viking leader; a "lág" (low) was an area of land). Its Irish name, Inbhear Mór or An tInbhear Mór, means the large estuary. It is also known in Irish as Inbhear Dé, from the River Avonmore's older name, Abhainn Dé. Historically it was a major seafaring town, with both the shipping and fishing industries using the port, with shipbuilding also being a major industry. The town has a long history of industry.
After the arrival of the Anglo-Normans, their leader Theobald Walter, ancestor of the Earls of Ormonde, was granted the town and castle of Arklow by King Henry II. In 1264 the Dominicans were granted a large tract of land, which is now known as Abbeylands, and they built an abbey, which became known as the Priory of the True Cross or Holy Cross.
Some time after 1416, the Manor of Arklow came into the control of the MacMurrough Kings of Leinster, possibly after the death of the 4th Earl of Ormonde in 1452. In 1525, Muiris Kavanagh (McMurrough, King of Leinster 1522-31) returned the manor and castle of Arklow and its lands to his nephew Piers Butler, the Earl of Ormonde.
During the Wars of the Three Kingdoms in September 1649, Oliver Cromwell arrived at Arklow on his way to Wexford and took the surrender of the town. In 1714 James, Duke of Ormonde, sold the Manor of Arklow to John Allen of Stillorgan, County Dublin. In 1750 Allen’s eldest granddaughter Elizabeth Allen married John Proby who was raised to the peerage in 1752 as Baron Carysfort of County Wicklow, and came into possession of the Arklow Estate.
On June 9, 1798, the town was the scene of one of the bloodiest battles of the 1798 rebellion when a large force of Wexford rebels attacked the town in an attempt to spread the rising to Dublin but were repulsed by the entrenched British forces with huge slaughter.
Read more about this topic: Arklow
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