Ireland Travel Search: Ireland: Leinster, County Carlow - Visitor Information Tourism Directory


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Ireland > Leinster > County Carlow

County Carlow is the second smallest county in Ireland, lying between the counties of Wicklow, Wexford and Kilkenny. Mainly flat with rolling plains of rich farmlands, its borders to the southeast and west back onto the start of the uplands of the mountain areas. The rich river valley of the Barrow River has many remains of early Anglo-Norman castles, tower houses and early Christian monastic ruins. The region also offers superb salmon and trout fishing, cruising on the river Barrow, great walking tracks, and superb scenery. It is also far enough away from Dublin that it has not been overrun by commuters, and the sleepy picturesque farming countryside is mainly untouched by modern development.

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Browns Hill Dolmen off Rathvilly Road in County Carlow is a huge megalithic structure consisting of standing stones, the largest such monument in Europe. It dates back to about 2000 BC and is thought to be the tomb of a local chieftain. The biggest stone weighs 100 tonnes and the site is surrounded by superstition.

Altamont Gardens at Tullow is a formal and informal garden dating from the 17th century. A sense of tranquillity and timelessness pervades and the scents are delightful.

Carlow Castle is in private hands, but permission is usually given if asked. (Check with the owners who reside in the house near the castle, in the centre of Carlow town near the east bank of the Barrow River.) The original castle was 3 storeys high and was square in shape with three-quarters round towers at the corners, but only the eastern half still stands, with its two corner towers and the connecting wall. The entrance was through a door in the first floor of the north side. The topmost storey of the northwestern tower is of 15th-16th century date. Although the castle is only first mentioned in 1231, it was probably built by William the Marshall or by his son not long after he gave a charter to the town in 1208. William's grandnephew handed it over to the Crown on his death in 1306. In 1312 it was granted to Thomas Plantagenet, surnamed 'de Brotherton', who became Earl of Norfolk, and it remained in possession of the same family until it was confiscated by the Crown in 1537. It was already in bad repair by 1307. It was captured in 1535 by Silken Thomas, but was retaken after a short siege. It was bought by Donough, Earl of Thomond, in 1616. During the 1640s it changed hands many times before being taken by Cromwell in 1650, but it was later returned to the Earl of Thomond. Having later passed into the hands of the Hamilton family, it was granted to a Dr Middleton who, in order to create more room for the building of a lunatic asylum in 1814, blew up parts of the castle. As a result, most of the castle had to be demolished as a safety precaution, leaving only the two towers and adjoining wall of what was once one of the finest Norman castles in Leinster.

Muine Bheag, formally Bagenalstown, was destined by Walter Bagenal to become an Irish Versailles - a plan that never got off the ground - literally!

Two miles away from Muine Bheag is the impressive ruin of Ballymoon Castle, built in the early 14th century and one of the earliest Anglo-Norman strongholds built in Ireland. Legend says that it has never been conquered and probably no wonder, with granite walls over 8 feet thick.

Lisnavagh House was built in 1848 and redesigned 100 years later. It is surrounded with beautiful and extensive parklands and gardens, which were laid out by Daniel Robertson during the 1850's.

Clonmore Castle is typical of a late 13th century castle as it is nearly square in plan, with rectangular towers at the two southern corners, and smaller turrets at the other two corners. Remains of the main interior buildings can be seen on the eastern side of the courtyard. While the castle is not mentioned in existing records until the 14th century, the shape of the trefoil window in the south wall shows that it was built probably towards the end of the 13th century. Clonmore was captured by the Earl of Kildare in 1516 and by the Earl of Ormond in 1598. It changed hands several times in the Confederate War, and was finally taken by Cromwell's forces under Colonel Hewson in 1650. In the village graveyard, 300 yards to the east, there is one plain High Cross in the churchyard on the north side of the road, and considerable fragments of another, along with many slabs bearing a cross in relief, in the graveyard on the south side of the road. The road, in fact, cuts through the site of an old monastery founded by St. Mogue probably in the 6th century.





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