County Carlow
County Carlow is a county located in the Southern Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. Carlow is the second smallest and the third least populous of Ireland's 32 traditional counties. Carlow County Council is the governing local authority.
The county is named after the town of Carlow, which lies on the River Barrow and is both the county town and largest settlement, with over 40% of the county's population. Much of the remainder of the population also reside within the Barrow valley, in towns such as Leighlinbridge, Bagenalstown, Tinnahinch, Borris and St Mullins. Carlow shares a border with Kildare and Laois to the north, Kilkenny to the west, Wicklow to the east and Wexford to the southeast.
Carlow is known as "The Dolmen County", a nickname based on the Brownshill Dolmen, a 6,000-year-old megalithic portal tomb which is reputed to have the heaviest capstone in Europe, weighing over 100 metric tonnes. The town of Carlow was founded by the Normans in 1207 and the county was shired shortly thereafter, making it one of the oldest counties in Ireland. During the 14th century, the county was the seat of power of the Kingdom of Leinster, as well as the capital of the Lordship of Ireland from 1361 to 1374.
Etymology
The county was named after the town of Carlow, which is an anglicisation of the Irish Ceatharlach. Historically, it was anglicised as Caherlagh, Caterlagh and Catherlagh, which are closer to the Irish spelling. In the 19th century, John O'Donovan, a scholar working with Ordnance Survey Ireland, hypothesised that the origin of the name was Ceatharloch, since ceathar means "four" and loch means "lake". It is therefore directly translated as "Four lakes". This was accepted by the foremost etymologist of the time, PW Joyce, as the definitive origin of the name; although Joyce noted there was no evidence to suggest that these lakes ever existed in the area.It is today believed that the first part of the name derives from the Old Irish word cethrae, which is related to ceathar and therefore signified "four-legged". The second part of the name is the ending -lach, meaning that "Ceatharlach" referred to a "place of cattle or herds". As the local dialect of Irish evolved, the "th" phoneme became obsolete. Consequently, by the 13th century the pronunciation of the name would have been much closer to its modern anglicised form. Surviving texts from the 15th and 16th centuries which spell the name as "Carelagh" and "Kerlac" seem to reflect this change in pronunciation.
Geography and subdivisions
Carlow is the second-smallest of Ireland's 32 counties by area, and the third-smallest in terms of population. It is the second-smallest of Leinster's 12 counties in both size and population. Carlow is landlocked and bordered by five counties – Kilkenny to the west, Wicklow to the east, Wexford to the southeast, and Laois and Kildare to the north. Carlow town is both the county town and largest settlement, and is situated on the River Barrow in the north of the county approximately from Waterford and from Dublin.Physical geography
Carlow's southern, western and eastern boundaries are demarcated by the county's three principal geographic features – the River Barrow, the River Slaney and the Blackstairs Mountains – which are all European Union designated Special Areas of Conservation. The county is divided into six physiographic regions – the Barrow Valley, Castlecomer Plateau, Nurney Ridge and Blackstairs Mountains, as well as the Tullow Lowlands and Southern Wedge, which are grouped together as an "Intermediate Region". The county is generally rural in nature and has a population density of 63 people per km2, with the majority of the population living within the Barrow Valley.The River Barrow, at in length, is Ireland's second longest river. The river cuts out a low-lying valley as it traverse through the county, and much of the county is drained by the Barrow and its tributaries. The most prominent tributary of the Barrow in the area is the Burren River, which rises at Mount Leinster and flows through the county for before joining the Barrow at Carlow town. The east and northeast of the county are drained by the River Slaney and its tributaries – the River Derreen, which flows through Hacketstown and Tullow, and the River Derry, which rises at Eagle Hill south of Hacketstown and forms the border between Carlow and Wexford before joining the Slaney at Bunclody.
As of 2017, there is a total of of forest cover in the county, representing 9.4% of total land area. This is below the national average of 11% forest cover and represents just 1.1% of the national forest total. The majority of the county's forests are located in upland areas, namely the Blackstairs Mountains in the east of the county, and the Castlecomer Plateau in the west of the county. Conifers are primarily grown in these areas and constitute 69.9% of all forest cover within the county. Due to the high quality of land in the lowlands and southern wedge, the area under forest is low, as most of the land is used for agricultural purposes. Some of the oldest deciduous trees in the county are found in the yew grove at the Huntington Gardens, which were planted by the Esmonde family over 500 years ago. Other notable woodland areas include the Oak Park Forest, which is a ca. 123 acre mixed forest of beech, oak, Scots pine, silver fir, larch and sycamore; the Altamont Gardens and the Barrow Way.
Climate
Carlow is in a maritime temperate oceanic region according to Köppen climate classification. It experiences cool winters, mild humid summers, and a lack of temperature extremes. Met Éireann records climate data for Carlow from their station at Oak Park, situated at above sea level. The coldest month is February, with an average daily minimum temperature of, and the hottest month is July, with an average daily maximum temperature of. The driest months are April and May, with and of rain respectively. The wettest month is November, with of rain on average. Humidity is high year round and rainfall is evenly distributed throughout the year. A number of synoptic stations which record rainfall are located throughout the county. The driest area of the county is at Tullow, which receives of rainfall per year, and the Blackstairs Mountains are the wettest area, receiving of rainfall per year.While Carlow is often marketed as being part of the Sunny Southeast alongside Wexford and Waterford, due to its inland location it does not typically benefit from the elevated sunshine hours observed in the coastal areas of those counties. However, it does experience significantly higher average temperatures and lighter winds during the summer months due to its sheltered location. This was exemplified during the 2018 summer heat wave, when Oak Park was both the hottest and driest location in Ireland.
Geology
The bedrock geology of Carlow consists primarily of granite, which underlies roughly 70% of the county. Following the closure of the Iapetus Ocean approximately 400 Mya, a mountain range formed in the area which was then intruded with magma. This cooled slowly beneath the surface, forming a large granite pluton. The mountains, which were mostly composed of Ordovician seafloor sediments, were eventually eroded away, exposing the granite at the surface. During the Carboniferous, ca. 300 Mya, limestone re-buried this granite, but has also since been eroded away. More resilient Carboniferous period shales and sandstones are preserved in the Castlecomer Plateau, along with significant quantities of coal.The oldest rocks in the county are the surviving remnants of these Ordovician seafloor sediments, and are found in a thin belt extending across the east of the county. These sediments were intensely metamorphosed by the heat of the granite into high-grade schists and hornfels. Minerals such as staurolite, andalusite and garnet are commonplace in these older formations.
The soils of the county are mostly derived from glacial till, rather than solid bedrock geology. These typically consist of a mix of clay, sand and gravel. Occasionally glacial melt-water would form a long ridge of sand and gravel known as an esker. One such example is preserved within the county and is a proposed natural heritage area, referred to as the Ballymoon Esker. The north of the county is generally flat, while central and southern Carlow are characterised by an undulating to rolling topography which becomes progressively hillier towards the south and east. The Blackstairs Mountains are the highest and most extensive upland area, with Mount Leinster rising to, making it the highest point in both Carlow and Wexford and the seventh highest county top in Ireland.
Baronies
There are seven historic baronies in the county. While baronies continue to be officially defined units, they are no longer used for administrative purposes. The last boundary change of a barony in Carlow was in 1841, when the barony of St. Mullin's was divided into St. Mullin's Lower and St. Mullin's Upper. Their official status is illustrated by Placenames Orders made since 2003, where official Irish names of baronies are listed under "Administrative units". The largest barony in Carlow is Idrone East, at 52,857 acres, and the smallest barony is St. Mullin's Upper, at 7,784 acres.- Carlow
- Forth
- Idrone East
- Idrone West
- Rathvilly
- St. Mullin's Lower
- St. Mullin's Upper
Civil parishes and townlands