an inland county of Ireland, in the province of Leinster; situated between 52° 26'—52° 54' N. Lat., and 6° 30.—7° 12' W. Long.; comprising, according to the Ordnance Survey, an area of 346 square miles, or 221,342 acres, of which 184,059 are arable, 31,249 uncultivated; 4927 in plantations; 620 in towns, and 505 under water. Carlow is bounded north by Kildare and Wicklow, east by Wicklow and Wexford, south by Wexford, and west by Queen's County and Kilkenny. Excepting Louth it is the smallest county in Ireland.
Previous to the arrival of Strongbow, and for some time afterwards, what is now the county of Carlow was divided into the districts of Hy Cabanagh and Hy Drone, forming the northern portion of the principality of Hy Kinselagh. Its most ancient Irish families were the Kavanaghs (descended from the celebrated Macmurrough, king of Leinster, who, in the reign of Henry II., for his own preservation, solicited the assistance of the English), the O'Ryans, the O'Nolans, and the O'Mores. After the English settlement, the families of St Aubin, De la Frayne, Bermingham, Carew, De la Landes, Grace and Butler, held extensive possessions here. In the time of Queen Elizabeth appear the families of Bagnal, Eustace, Burton, O'Brien, Ponsonby, Hamilton, Coke, Bernard, Vigors, Burdett, Bunbury, Beresford, Bruen, Bagot, and Browne.
Under the name of Catherlogh, the present county was made shire-ground in the reign of King John, and is now divided into seven baronies: Carlow, Forth, Idrome East and West, Kathvilly and St Mullins Lower and Upper; containing forty-four parishes and parts of parishes. It is within the diocese of Leighlin, of which it forms the greater part. In military arrangement, it is in the Kilkenny district, and contains barracks for cavalry and infantry at Carlow, where the staff of the county militia is also stationed. The headquarters of the constabulary force, consisting of 159 men and officers, are at Carlow; those of the four districts, comprising twenty stations, at Carlow, Bagnalstown, Tullow, and Borris. The assizes are held at Carlow, where the county prison, the county infirmary, and district lunatic asylum are situated. Quarter sessions are held at Carlow, Tullow, and Bagnalstown. There are loan funds at Leighlin Bridge and Tullow, but no savings-bank exists in the county. The only union workhouse is that of Carlow, but portions of the county are within the unions of Shillelagh, Enniscorthy, and New Ross. The amount of property valued under the Act 6th & 7th Will. IV., cap. 84 (Griffith's valuation) is L164,795, and the net annual value of property rated to the poor is L166,638. The principal towns are Carlow, pop. in 1851, 9121; Tullow, 2963; and Bagnalstown, 2292. The county returns three members to the imperial parliament, two for the county at large; constituency under 13th & 14th Vict., cap. 69, in 1851, 2090; and one for Carlow borough, constituency 237. Previous to the union with Great Britain, Carlow returned six members to the Irish parliament; two for the county, two for the borough of Carlow, and two for Leighlin borough. According to Ptolemy, the district was inhabited by the Brigantes and Caces; Whitaker, however, considers it as forming the possessions of the Coriundi. In common with most other parts of Ireland, Carlow was occasionally devastated by the Danes, but not to the same extent as the maritime counties. The relics of antiquity in the county consist of large cromlechs at Browne's Hill near Carlow, and at Tobinstown. A rath near Leighlin Bridge, in which were found several urns of baked earth, contained only small quantities of dust. Some relics of ecclesiastical and monastic buildings exist, and also the remains of several castles built after the English settlement. The ruins of a round tower existed at the commencement of the present century near the church of Kelystown, but are not now visible.
The surface of the county is in general level or gently undulating, and of pleasing appearance, excepting the elevated tract of land known as the ridge of Old Leighlin, forming the commencement of the coal district of Leinster, and the south-eastern portion of the county bordering on Wexford, where the wild and barren granitic range of Mount Leinster and the Blackstairs mountain present a bolder aspect.
There are no lakes or canals in the county, neither does it contain the source of any important river; but on its western side it is intersected from north to south by the "goodly Barrow," which is navigable throughout the whole extent of the county, and affords means of communication with the port of Waterford; and on the eastern border by the Slaney, which passes out of Carlow into Wexford at Newtownbarry, but is not navigable in any part of its course through the county of Carlow. A branch of the Great Southern and Western railway connects the town of Carlow with Dublin, and the Irish South-Eastern line, commencing at Carlow, passes by Bagnalstown to Kilkenny, whence the Kilkenny and Waterford railway completes the means of communication by railway with Waterford.
The soil of the county rests mainly upon the lowest of the three formations of limestone observed in Ireland; but the granite formation of the county of Wicklow is exhibited in the south-eastern border of the county in the Mount Leinster range and the Blackstairs mountain. The great coal district of Leinster commences in the western edge of the county. The sandstone of this formation is frequently of such a nature as to split easily into layers, known in commerce as Carlow flags. Porcelain clay exists in the neighbourhood of Tullow; but no attempt has yet been made to turn this production to use. No metalliferous indications worth mentioning have been observed in any part of the county, and the few chalybeate springs which exist are of no medicinal importance.
The population of the county at the several periods when taken by the census was as follows:
| Year | No. of souls | Increase | Decrease | |------|-------------|----------|---------| | 1813 | 69,566 | | | | 1821 | 78,952 | 9386 | | | 1831 | 81,888 | 3036 | | | 1841 | 86,229 | 4240 | | | 1851 | 68,075 | 18,153 | |
The soil of the county is of great natural richness, and generally of a calcareous nature; but although agriculture is the chief occupation of the inhabitants, and the system of tillage not behind what is usually practised in Ireland, much remains to be done in the way of improvement before the capabilities of the soil be fully developed. The extent of land under crops in 1847 was 85,246 acres, and in 1853, 84,428 acres, viz.:—wheat, 6687; oats, 27,707; barley, bere, rye, pease, and beans, 6712; potatoes, 10,608; turnips, 6306; other green crops, 1502; flax, 43; meadow and clover, 24,837. The cultivation of wheat is decreasing, while that of oats, potatoes, and green crops is on the increase. The number of farms in 1847 was 7762, which had declined in 1851 to 5250. The pasture land is of excellent quality, and generally occupied as dairy farms; the butter made in this county maintaining a high reputation in the Dublin market. The farms are frequently large; and great attention is paid to the breeding of cattle. In 1852 the stock of the county consisted of 7291 horses, 2532 mules and asses, 34,581 cattle, 42,825 sheep, 22,618 pigs, 3501 goats, and 106,654 poultry, of the total value of L366,490.
The staple trade of the county, which has no manufactures, is in corn, flour, meal, butter, and provisions, which are exported in large quantities.
The manners and appearance of the peasantry differ little from those of the agricultural parts of the southern portion of Ireland. The people are, generally speaking, peaceable and industrious, exhibiting few indications of a tendency to agitation or turbulence. They dwell chiefly in detached cottages, or in small villages, there being but three towns, Carlow, Tullow, and Bagnalstown, of which the population exceeds 2000 souls.
In December 1851, there were 59 national schools in operation, attended by 6948 children, 3133 males and 3815 females; and at the same time the following was ascertained to be the state of elementary instruction among the population:
| Rural Districts | Civic Districts | Total | Per cent. | Per cent. | |-----------------|----------------|-------|-----------|-----------| | Could read and write | 7451 | 2700 | 10,151 | 36 | 27 | | Could read only | 7400 | 3084 | 9,484 | 30 | 22 | | Could neither read nor write | 9493 | 2775 | 12,268 | 38 | 41 |
The Roman Catholic is the prevailing religion, but what proportion its adherents bear to those of the Established Church is not ascertained. The number of Presbyterians and other Protestant Dissenters is very small.
parliamentary borough, and the capital of the county of Carlow, situated in the heart of the beautiful and well-cultivated vale formed by the river Barrow, which is navigable for small craft to its junction with the Grand Canal at Athy, and affords great facilities for the exportation of grain, butter, &c., to Dublin and Waterford. The population of Carlow in 1841 was 10,400, and in 1851, 9121, inhabiting 1375 houses. It is a neat and in some parts a well-built town, of modern aspect. The principal buildings are—the Roman Catholic College of St Patrick, a plain but spacious building, which, under the superintendence of the late Dr Doyle, rivalled Maynooth as a preparatory seminary for the Roman Catholic priesthood; the parish church, an old building, with a handsome steeple of modern erection; the Roman Catholic chapel or cathedral, a large and elegant structure; the old court-house, and the new court-house where the assizes are held, an octagonal stone building with a handsome Ionic portico; the lunatic asylum for this and the adjoining counties; the county gaol; the union workhouse; the Wellington bridge over the river Barrow; and a barrack for cavalry and infantry.
This town was formerly of considerable importance. In the reign of Edward III., the king's exchequer was removed hither, and £500, a large sum at that period, applied towards surrounding the town with a strong wall. The castle (supposed to have been founded by Hugh de Lacy, but sometimes attributed to King John), situated on an eminence overlooking the river Barrow, is still a chief feature of attraction in the general view of the town, but has lost much of its original grandeur in consequence of the blasting operations performed by a physician, who in 1814 attempted unsuccessfully to adapt it for the purposes of a lunatic asylum. It consisted of a hollow quadrangle, with a massive round tower at each angle. In the early part of the reign of Queen Elizabeth it was taken, and the town burned by the Irish chieftain Rory Oge O'More. When summoned to surrender by Cromwell, during the disastrous war of 1641, Carlow submitted without resistance. In the insurrection of 1798, the castle was attacked by an undisciplined body of insurgents, many of whom were intoxicated. They were speedily repulsed, and suffered severe loss, no quarter being given; and, in the confusion of their flight, many of the insurgents took refuge in houses, which the king's troops immediately set on fire. After the slaughter, about 420 bodies were collected and buried.
Carlow obtained a charter of incorporation at an early period, and was re-incorporated, with enlarged privileges, by James I. The corporation, which was styled "The Sovereign, Free Burgesses and Commonalty of the Borough of Catherlough," and was authorized to return two members to the Irish parliament, was extinguished by the Municipal Reform act. The borough now sends one member to the imperial parliament; constituency in 1853 numbering 208.
Carlow is 49 miles S.W. of Dublin, with which it is connected by a branch of the Great Southern and Western railway.