CARLOW. 



CARLOW. 



of an uly Anglo-Norman fortre** called the Black CartV, Imilt to 

 dslsail the ford before the erection of the bridge, occupy a cooai- 

 dstahl* rr on the left. OW IriyUi* it * poor Tillage, an.) the 

 cathedral. buildingof the 12th century, restored in the 10th, has 

 been und ince the union uf the we with that of Fern*, in A.D. 1000, 

 a* the pariah church. iH.I Lrighlin wa* mt u early period a parlia- 

 mentary borough, and a place of come consequence, but suffered from 

 fire, and the raTagr* of war. The borough returned two memben to 

 th Iruh Parliament, but wai diafnneUasd by the Act of Union. 

 Kaiknlly. population 466, situated on the left bank of the rirer 

 ftkaay. at the intcraeetion of eereral road*; eight fair* are held during 

 the year. Besides the pariah church there are a Roman Catholic 

 ffrw* 1 and two National school*. 7'iimnAinrA, ou\he left bank of the 

 river Barrow, ha* increaeed in population from 221 in 1841 to 401 in 

 1861. It form* a mburb of the town of Oraiguenamanagfa on the 

 opposite bank of the rhrer, in Kilkenny county. Near the Tillage are 

 the rain* of Tinnehinch Cattle, and of St Michael'* church, burying- 

 ground, and wall Fair* are held in May, September, and December. 



In the year 680 a aynod wa* held at Old Leighlin to adjuit the 

 dicpute between the Irish ecclesiastics and the See of Rome regarding 

 the fit time of celebrating Ea*ter. When the English invaders came 

 thie part of the country wa* known a* comprehending the territories of 

 Hy-drone and Hy-CaTanagh, being the northern portion of the terri- 

 tory of Hy-Kinsellagh, the patrimony of Dermot Hoc Murrogh, king 

 of Leiu*ter, the inviter of Strongbow. Isabel, daughter of Strongbow 

 by Era, daughter of Dermot, married (1189) William Earl Marshal, 

 one of the inTading noble*, who in her right succeeded to the princi- 

 llity of Leinster. This William, who was Lord Justice of Ireland, 

 granted the first charter to the inhabitants of Catberlagh, as the 

 present county town wa* then called, about 1203 ; and Kins John 

 coming to Ireland in 1216 made the county shire ground. \Villi.im 

 Karl M.r^h.l and Pembroke dying in 1219 left fire sous and five 

 daughters, and on failure of the male line the Carlow division of hi* 

 immmnm* estate* fell to hi* daughter Maud, who married Roger Bigod, 

 earl of Norfolk. From Roger, earl of Norfolk, the lordship of Carlow 

 passed to the crown, and from Maud hi* wife the barony of Idrone 

 pawed by grant in fee to the family of Carew. The lonlship of the 

 county wa* next granted by Edward I. to Thomas de Rrotherton, and 

 from him descended through the family of Howard, earls of Norfolk 

 and lords of Carlow, till forfeited by the statute of absentees in the 

 reign of Henry VIII. These lords palatine exercised a kind of sove- 

 reign away in their territories, but the circumstance of their residing 

 at a distance gradually slackened the exercise of their privileges, and 

 the descendants of the dispossessed Irish taking advantage of the lax 

 administration of their deputies, and headed by one of the Kavanaghs, 

 a descendant of Dermot Mac Murrogh, began forcibly to repossess 

 themselves of their ancient patrimony, in which attempt they were 

 ultimately so successful that in the 37th Edward III. an order issued 

 pro barrio amorendo a Catkerlogh tuque ad DiMin for withdrawing 

 the boundary of the pale from Carlow to Dublin the country south 

 of Naas having fallen completely into the hands of the Irish. 

 Richard IL, A.II. 1894, and again in 1399, undertook expeditions for 

 the recovery of the revolted counties, but although he forced some of 

 the Irish chieftains to a temporary show of obedience, he was finally 

 obliged to return to England without accomplishing his object In 

 1494 the Fitzgerald* seized the castle, which they held till after the 

 unsuccessful rebellion of Lord Thomas Fitzgerald in 1537. In this 

 year the resumption of the lordship of Carlow, alluded to above, took 

 place ; by which mean* the crown was afterwards enabled to grant 

 large estate* to the family of Butler in this county. In 1567 Sir 

 Peter Carew, descendant of the last proprietor of Idrone, into which 

 the Kavanaghs had forcibly intruded in the reign of Edward III., 

 exhibited his claim to this barony, and having established it to the 

 satisfaction of the council, entered on possession, and " dealt in such 

 good order with the Kavanaghs, and so honourably used himself, that 

 they all voluntarily yielded up their lands, and submitted themselvo* 

 to hi* devotion." (Hooker.) Sir Peter Carew died in 1570, and his 

 on Sir Peter Carew was killed at Olendalough in a battle with the 

 O' Byrnes of Wicklow in 1580, after which the Kavanaghs once more 

 made head in Carlow, and with the 0' Byrne*, commenced a predatory 

 warfare, which lasted from 1690 till 1601, when Sir Oliver Lambart 

 at length reduced both to submission. 



During the reign of Elizabeth Urge tracts of the county of Carlow 

 had been granted to the Butler* and Fitzgerald*, and in the succeed- 

 tag reign their estates were confirmed, as well as considerable pos- 

 sessiotu-to the Karl of Thomond, to the submitted Kavanaghs ; and 

 among other grants was that of the entire barony of lilroue, to the 

 family of Bagnall. In the rebellion of 1798 Carlow was the scene of 

 several engagement*. On the 25th of May the rebels attacked the town 

 of Carlow, and were repulaed with the loa* of 600 men ; on the same 

 day a battle was fought at HackeUtown, in which the insurgent*, (aid 

 t<> have been 13,000 strong, were defeated with considerable loss ; and 

 <ni the night preceding, Borris House, the residence of Mr. Cavanagh, 

 wa* attacked by 6000 of the peasantry, who were repulaed both on 

 this occasion and on the 24th of June when thejr aaaailed the town of 

 Ron-is. Lrighlin Bridge and Bagenalatown were also attacked with a 

 like result 



The chief antiquities of the county are military ; cromlech*, near 



the town* of Carlow and Hacketatown, and the cathedral church at 

 Old Lcigtilin, being the only pagan and ecclesiastical monument* of 

 interest. Of the cromlech*, that near Carlow i* the most remarkable ; 

 the covering-stone weigh* nearly 90 ton*. Of the cutles thoae at 

 Carlow, Tullow, and Leighlin Bridge are the most ancient : the build- 

 ing of all is attributed to De Laoey. At ('Irnmiullin, in the Wmiy !' 

 Forth, are some trace* of the castle of Donnell Spaniagh Kavauagh ; 

 Clogngreoan, a castle of the Butler* on the right bank of the Barrow, 

 U still (landing; Clonmore, another stronghold of the same family, 

 situated near Hacketatown, remains in a state of good preservation ; it 

 u a noble pile of 170 feet square, flanked with square tower* at the 



i . ML 



Carlow county U divided into seven baronies : Rathvilly and Carlow 

 on the north ; Forth, Idrone East, aad Idrone West in the centre ; 

 and St Mullin's (Upper and Lower) on the south. The county court- 

 house and prison, county infirmary, and district lunatic asylum are 

 at Carlow town. Quarter sessions are held at Carlow, Tullow, and 

 Bagenalstown. Fever hospital* are at Bagenalstown, Borris, Carlow, 

 and Tullow. In December 1851 there were in the county 59 National 

 school*, attended by 3133 male and 3815 female scholars. Carlow 

 returns three members to the Imperial Parliament, two for the county 

 and one for the borough of Carlow. The assizes are held at Carlow. 

 The county is within the military district of Kilkenny ; a barrack- 

 station for cavalry and infantry is at Carlow. The county constabu- 

 lary, of which the head-quarters are at Carlow, consist of 159 men, 

 including officers ; they are divided into four districts, of which the 

 head-quarters are Carlow, Bagenalstown, Tullow, and Borris. There 

 was no savings bank in the county in 1851. 



(Ordnance Survey Geological Map ; Ryan, Jlittory and A ntiqvilin 

 of Carlow ; Stalutical Survey of Carlow ; Fraaer, Jlandbook for 

 Ireland ; Original Communication*.) 



CARLOW, county of Carlow, Ireland, in the barony and county of 

 the same name, with the suburb of Oraigue in the barony of Slieve- 

 marique, Queen's County, an assize, market, and post-town, a parlia- 

 mentary borough, and the seat of a Poor-Law Union, is situated in 

 52 47' N. hit, 6 66' W. long. ; distant from Dublin by the high road 

 49J miles, by the Carlow branch of the Great Southern and Western 

 railway 55} miles. The population of the borough in 1851 was 9121, 

 beside* 2461 inmates of the Union workhouse and other public in-t j. 

 tutions. The borough return? one member to the Imperial Parlia- 

 ment. Carlow Poor-Law Union comprises 45 electoral divisions, and 

 an area of 185,857 acres, with a population in 1851 of 63,598. 



Carlow is situated on the left bank of the Barrow where the Burrin, 

 a small river flowing westward from the barony of Forth, enters that 

 river. The town consists chiefly of two main streets, one running 

 nearly parallel with the Barrow, and crossing the Burrin by a neat 

 metal bridge ; the other leading to the suburb of Oraigue, in'Qi 

 County, by a handsome balustraded stone bridge over the Barrow. 

 On the north side of the latter street opposite the site of the ruined 

 castle stands the parish church, a respectable edifice ornamented with 

 a spire of very elegant proportions. The court-bouse is an octagonal 

 building of cut stone, with a handsome portico of Ionic columns, 

 approached by a fine flight of stops, and elevated on a massive balus- 

 bracled basement There are places of worship for Presbyterians, 

 Methodists, and Quakers. The Roman Catholic church and college 

 are both fine buildings ; the church, which serves as a cathedral for 

 the united dioceses of Leighliu and Kildaro, is a spacious and hand- 

 some cruciform edifice, with an octagonal tower surmounted by a 

 onthorn 150 feet high. The college, a plain edifice, was originally 

 founded in 1789 for the education of Roman Catholics. A new wing 

 was added in 1828, and the house is now calculated for 200 students. 

 There is a Roman Catholic convent here, founded in 1811, with a 

 school attached. There is also a nunnery. Carlow has a diocesan 

 school and several other schools connected with the Established 

 Church. The county jail is a well-regulated establishment ; employ- 

 nent is provided for prisoners of both sexes. The Union workhouse 

 s constructed for the accommodation of 3278 inmates. Adjoining i* 

 i barrack for two companies of infantry and a troop of horse. Coal is 

 wrought from the neighbouring coal district in the Queen's County, 

 and by the Barrow from Ross and Waterford ; but the principal fuel 

 used by the lower claase* is turf. The chief manufacture carried on 

 lere is that of flour and oatmeal, Urge grinding-mills being driven 

 Kith by the Burrin and the Barrow ; there are a brewery and a distil- 

 ery, several flour-mills and malt-houses. The butter trade is carried 

 on extensively. 



The town of Carlow grew up round the castle which was founded 

 lere by the early English conquerors about the end of the 12th cen- 

 tury. It was erected into a borough by William Earl Marshal, about 

 1208, and was surrounded with walls in 1302 by Lionel, dnke of Cla- 

 rence, who removed tbo kind's exchequer hither from Dublin. It is 

 said that the castle was seized in 1297 by Donnell Mac Art Kavanagh ; 

 and it appears to have been occasionally in the hands of the Irish till 

 about 1494, when it was seized by a brother of the Earl nf Kil.hu v. 

 ind after a siege of ten days was token from him by the lord deputy, 

 sir Kdward Poyniugs. The castle was occupied by the Royalists under 

 Captain Bcllew, and on the 24th of July, 1650, after a short siege was 

 Hiirrondered to Sir Hardress Waller, commanding a division of Ire- 

 ton's parliamentary forces. In July, 1C04, the manor of Carlow was 



