LEINSTER. 417 



The county of Wexford forms the south-easternmost corner of Ireland. 

 The coast is for the most part low. The interior consists of an upland, upon 

 which rise isolated hills. The river Slaney traverses the centre of the county, 

 whilst the Barrow bounds it on the west. Wexford, at the mouth of the Slanej^ 

 is seated on a magnificent bay, and carries on a considerable trade, notwithstanding 

 that its harbour is closed by a bar admitting no vessel over 200 tons burden. 

 It was here that the English first secured a footing upon Irish soil, and concluded 

 their first treaty, in 1169, The square keep of Carrick Castle, built about that 

 time, still remains. Enniscorth!/, at the head of the navigation of the Slaney, is 

 built on the side of a steep hill. A little cloth is manufactured, besides which 

 there are breweries, distilleries, and flour-mills. Higher up in the valley are the 

 mineral springs of Nocfoicn Barry. In the north-eastern part of the county are 

 Corfoicn, a fishing village, and Gorei/, an inland market town, Bannow Bay, 

 on the south coast, is said to mark the site of a flourishing town, which was 

 swallowed up by the sea. There are ruins of ecclesiastical buildings at its head ; 

 whilst Fcthard, a poor fishing village near its mouth, boasts the ruins of a Tintern 

 Abbey, founded in 1200, and named after the famous abbey in Wales, from which 

 it was peopled. The principal town on the Barrow is New Moss, which vessels of 

 800 tons burden can reach with the tide. There are distilleries and flour-mills. 

 It was near this place that, during the rebellion of 1798, an undisciplined crowd 

 of 20,000 Irishmen was routed by a handful of English troops. The atrocities 

 committed during this rebellion by the peasantry in the county of Wexford defy 

 description. Duncannon, a fishing village on the eastern side of Waterford 

 Harbour, is defended by a fort. 



The county of Carlow is for the most part a fertile plain, shut in between 

 the hills of Wicklow and Kilkenny, and drained by the rivers Barrow and Slaney. 

 Carlow, on the former of these rivers, is a handsome town, with a Catholic 

 cathedral and college. Bagnahtown is lower down on the same river. LeujhUn- 

 hrUlge, with the ruins of Blackrock Castle, and Old LeighUn, with a cathe- 

 dral of the twelfth century, are in its neighbourhood. Tullow is the princi- 

 pal town on the Upper Slaney, which lower down flows past Enniscorthy and 

 Wexford. 



The county of Kilkenny lies to the west of the Barrow. The jN^ore traverses 

 its centre, and the Suir bounds it in the south. The surface is mostly hilly, 

 but there occur also extensive plains, in the midst of one of which, on the 

 banks of the Nore, stands the county town of Ki/keiini/. On a rock in its centre 

 rises a castle built in the twelfth century, and now the residence of the Marquis 

 of Ormonde, Coarse woollen stuffs are manufactured, but the Kilkenny of to-day 

 is only a shadow of its former self, as is attested by its numerous ruins, Thomns- 

 toitn, also on the Nore, is the birthplace of Father Mathew. Near it are the ruins 

 of Jerpoint Abbey. Coal is worked in the northern part of the county, near 

 Castlecomer. In the valley of the King's River lie Kclls, fovmded by a follower 

 of Strongbow, but now a wretched village, and ddlan. Johnstown and TJrling- 

 ford lie to the north-west. 

 187 



