KILKENNY is an inland county in the Province of Leinster, in Ireland, bounded on the north by Queen's County and Carlow, on the east by Wexford, on the south by Waterford, and on the west by Tipperary. The Barrow flows along the eastern boundary, and the Suir on the southern, forming the lines of separation between Kilkenny and the counties of Wexford and Waterford. Kilkenny, the county town, is in north latitude 52° 35', west longitude 9° 50'. According to the agricultural survey, its area is about 510,000 English acres, which is divided into nine baronies, besides the liberties of the towns of Kilkenny and Callen, and one hundred and forty-seven parishes. Extent. The general appearance of this county is mountainous, yet there are some rich and beautiful tracts on the banks of the Barrow and the Suir, and also on the Nore, which flows through its centre; and several romantic wooded glens, watered by mountain streams. It is ornamented by a great many gentlemen's seats; and its flat districts, where the tillage farms are more extensive than in most parts of Ireland, present a prospect very different from Surface, &c. Kilkenny. to Mr Wakefield, though Irish butter, when fresh, is preferable to any in Europe, yet it "is in the lowest estimation in the London market, as it is almost always heavily salted, and very frequently tastes smoky, fishy, and tallowy." The cattle of this county are a mixed race from the native breed and the English long-horned, and their sheep have been in some parts improved by the introduction of the Leicesters. The Merinos have been introduced within these few years by Messrs Nowlan, the proprietors of a woollen factory, who have now 600 of the pure race, and they find that both the quality and the weight of the fleece have improved since the sheep were imported. The same corn crops are raised here as in other parts of Ireland, but clover and other green crops not in a suitable proportion. It is the custom to work oxen intermixed with horses, in teams of six, or three pair deep, the oxen placed foremost. Yet the fallows are better managed here than in any other part of Ireland. Irrigation has been practised for many years, but not extensively. Salmon Fishery. The rivers of this county, the Suir, the Barrow, and the Nore, have been long celebrated for their salmon, but the quantity, particularly in the Nore, has decreased very much within the last 50 years. They are now sent to Dublin packed in boxes with ice, as is done in Scotland, for the London market, a practice said to have been borrowed from the Chinese. The salmon pail, a fish resembling the salmon, but not so large, is also found in the Nore. Manufactures, &c. The most important manufacturing establishment in Kilkenny, and perhaps in Ireland, is the woollen factory of Messrs Nowlan and Shaw. These gentlemen not only produce superfine cloths, of acknowledged excellence, but the arrangements which they have adopted in carrying on the various processes are so peculiar, and have been so successful, as to render their works, like those of Mr Owen at New Lanark in Scotland, an object of very general curiosity and interest to strangers. Mr Radcliff, the secretary to the Farming Society of Ireland, has recently described these in a Report to that Society, which has been reprinted in the Farmer's Magazine for August 1820. In the town of Kilkenny there is a manufactory of blankets; and a few years ago there was a school there for teaching lace-making. The Suir, on the south boundary, is navigable for small vessels to Clonmel, and the Barrow, on the east, to Carlow, where it meets a cut from the grand canal to Dublin. These rivers afford great facilities both to the internal and export trade of the district. The Nore is also navigable from the Barrow, into which it flows, to the town of Thomastown, within a few miles of the town of Kilkenny. Towns. Kilkenny, the county town, contains a population of 15,000. (See KILKENNY in the Encyclopædia.) The other towns are Gowran, Thomastown, Callen, Knocktopher, and Inistioge. The population of the county, in 1800, was 100,191, of which only 731 families, or 4386 individuals, were Protestants. Five Catholics are called on the grand jury. Kilkenny is the only town that returns a member to Parliament, and two are sent from the county. See Tighe's Agricultural Survey of Kilkenny, and the general works referred to under the Irish counties.