Carlow Ceatharlach (Irish) | |
|---|---|
Town | |
 Tullow Street | |
 Coat of arms | |
  Carlow Location in Ireland Show map of Ireland Carlow Carlow (Europe) Show map of Europe | |
| Coordinates:52°49′50″N6°55′54″W / 52.8306°N 6.9317°W /52.8306; -6.9317 | |
| Country | Ireland |
| Province | Leinster |
| County | County Carlow |
| Government | |
| • Type | Carlow Municipal District |
| • Mayor | Fintan Phelan |
| • Dáil constituency | Carlow–Kilkenny |
| Area | |
• Total | 11.8 km2 (4.6 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 57 m (187 ft) |
| Population | |
• Total | 27,351 |
| • Rank | 12th |
| • Density | 2,320/km2 (6,000/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC±0 (WET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+1 (IST) |
| Eircode routing key | R93 |
| Telephone area code | +353(0)59 |
| Irish Grid Reference | S724771 |
| Website | www |
Carlow (/ˈkɑːrloʊ/KAR-loh;Irish:Ceatharlach[ˈcahəɾˠl̪ˠəx]) is thecounty town ofCounty Carlow, in the south-east ofIreland, 84 km (52 mi) fromDublin. At the2022 census, it had a population of 27,351, thetwelfth-largest urban center in Ireland.[3]
TheRiver Barrow flows through the town and forms the historic boundary between countiesLaois and Carlow. However, theLocal Government (Ireland) Act 1898 included the town entirely in County Carlow. The settlement of Carlow is thousands of years old and pre-dates written Irish history. The town has played a major role in Irish history, serving as the capital of the country in the 14th century. The town is in atownland andcivil parish of the same name.[4]
The name is ananglicisation of theIrishCeatharlach. Historically, it was anglicised asCaherlagh,[5]Caterlagh[6] andCatherlagh,[7] which are closer to the Irish spelling. According tologainm.ie, the first part of the name derives from theOld Irish wordcethrae ("animals, cattle, herds, flocks"),[8] which is related toceathar ("four") and therefore signified "four-legged".[4] The second part of the name is the ending-lach, that makes abstract collective nouns.
Some believe that the name should beCeatharloch (meaning "quadruple lake"),[9] sinceceathar means "four" andloch means "lake". It is directly translated as "Four lakes", although, there is seemingly no evidence to suggest that these lakes ever existed in this area.
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|---|---|
| 1813 | 6,146 | — |
| 1821 | 8,035 | +30.7% |
| 1831 | 9,114 | +13.4% |
| 1841 | 10,409 | +14.2% |
| 1851 | 8,690 | −16.5% |
| 1861 | 8,344 | −4.0% |
| 1871 | 7,842 | −6.0% |
| 1881 | 7,185 | −8.4% |
| 1891 | 6,619 | −7.9% |
| 1901 | 6,513 | −1.6% |
| 1911 | 6,619 | +1.6% |
| 1926 | 7,163 | +8.2% |
| 1936 | 7,649 | +6.8% |
| 1946 | 7,466 | −2.4% |
| 1951 | 7,667 | +2.7% |
| 1956 | 8,445 | +10.1% |
| 1961 | 8,920 | +5.6% |
| 1966 | 9,765 | +9.5% |
| 1971 | 10,399 | +6.5% |
| 1981 | 13,164 | +26.6% |
| 1986 | 13,816 | +5.0% |
| 1991 | 14,027 | +1.5% |
| 1996 | 14,979 | +6.8% |
| 2002 | 18,487 | +23.4% |
| 2006 | 20,724 | +12.1% |
| 2011 | 23,030 | +11.1% |
| 2016 | 24,272 | +5.4% |
| 2022 | 27,351 | +12.7% |
Evidence shows that human occupation in the Carlow county area extends back thousands of years. The most notable and dramatic prehistoric site is theBrowneshill Dolmen – a megalithic portal tomb just outside Carlow town.
Now part of thediocese of Kildare and Leighlin, several Early Christian settlements are still in evidence today around the county.St Mullin'smonastery is believed to have been established around the 7th century, the ruins of which are still in evidence today.Old Leighlin was the site of one of the largest monastic settlements in Ireland and the location for a church synod in 630 AD which determined the date of Easter.St Comhgall built a monastery in the Carlow area in the 6th century, an old church building and burial ground survive today at Castle Hill known as Mary's Abbey. Carlow was an Irish stronghold for agriculture in the early 1800s which earned the county the nickname of the scallion eaters. Famine later wiped out half of the population.
Carlow Castle was constructed byWilliam Marshal, Earl of Striguil and Lord of Leinster,c. 1207 – c. 1213, to guard the vital river crossing. It was also to serve as the capital of theLordship of Ireland from 1361 until 1374. This imposing structure survived largely intact until 1814 when it was mostly destroyed in an attempt to turn the building into a lunatic asylum. The present remains now are the West Wall with two of its cylindrical towers.
Carlow was incorporated as a borough in 1296 byEdward I. Theparliamentary borough returned two MPs to theIrish House of Commons until 1801 andits successor constituency returned one MP to theUnited Kingdom House of Commons from 1801 to 1885.[10]
The bridge over theRiver Barrow,Graiguecullen Bridge, is agreed to date to 1569. The original structure was largely replaced and widened in 1815 when it was namedWellington Bridge in celebration of the defeat ofNapoleon's army by theDuke of Wellington at theBattle of Waterloo in June of that year. The bridge was built across a small island in the river and a 19th-century house was constructed on the bridge – this was for a time occupied by thePoor Clares, an enclosed religious order who still have a convent inGraiguecullen.
Another convent belonging to the Presentation Order of nuns now houses the County Library and theCarlow County Museum. The cathedral, designed byThomas Cobden, was the first Catholic cathedral to be built in Ireland afterCatholic emancipation in 1829. Its construction cost £9,000 and was completed in 1833.
Saint Patrick's College, located beside the cathedral, dates from 1793. The college was established in 1782 to teach the humanities to both lay students and those studying for the priesthood. The Carlow Courthouse was constructed in the 19th century. There are still many old estates and houses in the surrounding areas, among themDucketts Grove and Dunleckney Manor.[11]St Mullin's today houses a heritage centre.
In 1703, theIrish House of Commons appointed a committee to bring in a bill to make the River Barrow navigable; by 1800 the River Barrow Track was completed betweenSt. Mullin's andAthy, establishing a link to theGrand Canal which runs between Dublin and the Shannon.
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By 1845 88,000 tons of goods were being transported on the River Barrow Navigation. Carlow was also one of the earliest towns to be connected by train.
TheGreat Southern and Western Railway had opened its mainline as far as Carlow in 1846, and this was extended further to Cork in 1849. The chief engineer,William Dargan, originally hailed fromKilleshin, just outside Carlow. At the peak of rail transport in Ireland, Carlow county was also served by a line toTullow.
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Public supply of electricity in Carlow was first provided fromMilford Mills, approximately 8 km south of Carlow, in 1891. Milford Mills still generates electricity feeding into the national grid. Following independence in the early 1920s, the new government of the Irish Free State decided to establish a sugar-processing plant inLeinster. Carlow was chosen as the location due to its transport links and large agricultural hinterland, favourable for growingsugar beet.
The town is recalled in the famous Irishfolk song,Follow Me Up to Carlow, written in the 19th century about theBattle of Glenmalure, part of theDesmond Rebellions of the late 16th century. In 1650, during theCromwellian conquest of Ireland, Carlow was besieged and taken byEnglish Parliamentarian forces, hastening the end of theSiege of Waterford and the capitulation of that city.
During the1798 rebellion Carlow was the scene of a massacre of 600 rebels and civilians following an unsuccessful attack on the town by theUnited Irishmen, known as theBattle of Carlow. The Liberty Tree sculpture in Carlow, designed byJohn Behan, commemorates the events of 1798. The rebels slain in Carlow town are buried in the'Croppies Grave', in '98 Street,Graiguecullen.[12]
On June 1, 2025, A man named Evan Fitzgerald fired shots in theTesco at Fairgreen Shopping Centre in the town, which resulted in his death and the injury to a young girl while fleeing the shots. The sounds of shots were captured on a nearbybarbers CCTV. Armed local police responded as well as bomb disposal units. This event is notable as it is one of the first knownactive shooter style events in Ireland[13]
Until the early-19th century,Irish was spoken in all twelve counties of the province ofLeinster, of whichCounty Carlow forms part. According to Celtic scholar Nicholas Williams, the Irish spoken in County Carlow seems to have belonged to a central dialect stretching from west Connacht eastwards to theLiffey estuary. It had characteristics which survive today only inConnacht Irish.[14]
It preserved the stress pattern ofOld Irish in which the first syllable of a word receives strong stress. Evidence from place names suggests that Old Irishcn- had become "cr-" in parts of Carlow, like all Gaelic speech outside of Munster and Ossory. An example from Carlow is "Crukeen" (Cnoicín).[14] West Carlow seems to have pronounced "slender R" as "slender Z" (like the "s" in "treasure" or "pleasure") which is also a well-attested feature of the (now extinct) traditional dialects of Kilkenny and South Laois.
Efforts are now being made to increase the use of Irish in Carlow under the aegis of the organisationGlór Cheatharlach. Carlow has two schools which teach through Irish: aGaelscoil (primary) founded in 1982[15] and a Gaelcholáiste (secondary) founded in 1990.[16] Both schools are at full capacity and supplemented by an Irish-speaking pre-school orNaíonra. There is also an intensive Irish-language summer course for students from English-speaking schools. It has been claimed by Bride de Roiste of Glór Cheatharlach that there is more Irish spoken in Carlow than in certainGaeltacht districts.[17][18]
The Nationalist is a newspaper which was established in 1883.[19]The Carlow People is a free weekly newspaper[20]
Independent regional radio stationKCLR 96FM (FM 96.9 MHz) serves the town.
One of Carlow's most notable landmarks is theBrownshill Dolmen, situated on theHacketstown Road (R726) approximately 5 km from Carlow town centre. The capstone of this dolmen is reputed to be the largest in Europe.
Milford is a green area on theRiver Barrow approximately 5 miles outside of Carlow town. It is notable as its home to Milford Mill, which was the first inland hydro-electrical plant in Ireland. It began supplying Carlow town with power in 1891.[21]
The estate atOak Park is located 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) north of Carlow.
Carlow Town Hall was completed in March 1886.[22]
Carlow industry has come a long way since the early 20th century when the town became the centre of Ireland's slow process of industrialisation with the creation of theIrish Sugar Company. Then at the cutting edge of industry in Ireland, the sugar factory opened in 1926 as a private enterprise and was eventuallynationalised before reverting toprivate ownership. It closed on 11 March 2005 as the management of the parent companyGreencore decided that it was no longer economical to run the factory nor was it viable to upgrade the facility. The country's last remaining sugar plant atMallow, County Cork closed in 2006.
One of the traditional, principal employers in Carlow wasOralB Braun, which had a large factory producing mostly hairdryers and electric toothbrushes; however, this closed in 2010. Burnside is also a large employer in the area; it produceshydraulic cylinders. TheSouth East Technological University is also a significant employer in the town. Since opening its doors in October 2003 Fairgreen Shopping Centre has also played a large part in employment in the area; Tesco,Heatons,Next, New Look andRiver Island are the main tenants. Nonetheless, the town shares problems associated with other provincial towns in Ireland – the inability to attract significant new industry. Pharmaceutical giantMerck & Co. employs more than 500 people at its manufacturing campus in Carlow and is expanding with a new facility focused on oncology biologics.[23][24]
TheN9 road from Dublin toWaterford passed directly through the town until May 2008 when a bypass, part of theM9 motorway, was opened, greatly reducing traffic through the town. TheN80National secondary road skirts the edge of the town. The town is also connected to thenational rail network. These transport links have helped Carlow to become a successfulsatellite town ofDublin in recent years.
The establishment of theInstitute of Technology, Carlow, has also helped drive growth in the area and encouraged many school leavers to remain in the town.Carlow railway station opened on 4 August 1846 and was closed for goods traffic on 9 June 1976[25], it remains open for public travel.
Carlow has a town bus service operated byBus Éireann, consisting of two routes, the CW1 and CW2.[26]
Secondary schools serving the area include Gaelcholáiste Cheatharlach, Tyndall College (including the formerCarlow Vocational School), Tullow Community School, St. Mary's Academy CBS (Often regarded by locals as just CBS Carlow or The CBS),St Leo's College, andSt Mary's Knockbeg College.[27] There is also the post-leaving certificate Carlow Institute of Further Education.
Within the general vicinity of the town also lies Presentation College (often shortened to Pres) but is often considered by the local populace as not part of Carlow Town.
Third-level institutions include theSouth East Technological University, formerly theInstitute of Technology, Carlow, andCarlow College.[28][29]
Carlow Cathedral, dedicated to Our Lady of Assumption, was started in 1828 and completed in 1833, inGothic style. A sculpture byJohn Hogan is a memorial to the bishop and was finished in 1839.[30]
An unidentified baby was left here on 22 January 2010.[31][32]
On 2 July 1903, theGordon Bennett Cup ran through Carlow. It was the first international motor race to be held in Great Britain or Ireland. TheAutomobile Club of Great Britain and Ireland wanted the race to be hosted in the British Isles, Ireland was suggested as the venue because racing was illegal on British public roads. After some lobbying and changes to local laws, Kildare was chosen, partly because the straightness of its roads would be a safety benefit. As a compliment to Ireland, the British team chose to race inShamrock green[Note 1] which thus became known asBritish racing green.[33][34][35][36] The route consisted of several laps of a circuit passed-throughKilcullen,Kildare,Monasterevin,Stradbally,Athy,Castledermot and Carlow. The 328 miles (528 km) race was won by the Belgian racerCamille Jenatzy, driving a Mercedes.[37][34]
The Carlow Racquetball club was set up in 1978. The club is one of only seven in the southeastern region and is the largest of these.[citation needed]
GAA clubs in the area include Asca,Carlow Town,Éire Óg,Graiguecullen,O'Hanrahans & Setanta. Historicallygaelic football has been stronger thanhurling in the town. TheCarlow Senior Football Championship has been won by clubs from the county town 62 times with Éire Óg winning half of them with 31 while O'Hanrahans and Graiguecullen have won 18 and 13 respectively. In 1926 Graiguecullen were expelled fromCarlow GAA championships following an incident in that year's Carlow SFC final. The year after in 1927 they were invited to play inLaois GAA championships, Graiguecullen accepted the invitation and later that year they won the first of their 13Laois Senior Football Championships. Carlow Town have won 10Carlow Senior Hurling Championships.
County Carlow Football Club is the localrugby union club, whileF.C. Carlow is a localassociation football club.
Carlow also has boxing clubs, an athletics club (St Laurence O'Toole Athletics Club), a karate club, a golf club, a rowing club, a tennis club, a hockey club and the Carlow Jaguar Scooter Club. Founded in 1979, the latter is one of the longest-running scooter clubs in Ireland or England.[citation needed]
Carlow is in a maritimetemperateoceanic region according toKöppen 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 atOak Park, situated at 61 m (200 ft) above sea level. The coldest month is February, with an average minimum temperature of 2.1 °C (36 °F), and the hottest month is July, with an average maximum temperature of 21.3 °C (70 °F). The driest months are April and May, with 45 mm (2 in) and 50 mm (2 in) of rain respectively. The wettest month is November, with 98 mm (4 in) of rain on average.[38] Humidity is high year-round and rainfall is evenly distributed throughout the year.
| Climate data forOak Park (3km north of Carlow), elevation: 61 m or 200 ft, 2004-2020 normals | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 8.3 (46.9) | 8.6 (47.5) | 10.5 (50.9) | 13.3 (55.9) | 16.1 (61.0) | 19.0 (66.2) | 21.3 (70.3) | 20.7 (69.3) | 18.0 (64.4) | 14.3 (57.7) | 10.4 (50.7) | 8.5 (47.3) | 14.1 (57.3) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 2.3 (36.1) | 2.1 (35.8) | 2.6 (36.7) | 4.4 (39.9) | 6.9 (44.4) | 9.6 (49.3) | 11.5 (52.7) | 11.2 (52.2) | 9.3 (48.7) | 7.0 (44.6) | 4.0 (39.2) | 2.5 (36.5) | 6.1 (43.0) |
| Averageprecipitation mm (inches) | 78.8 (3.10) | 64.8 (2.55) | 63.1 (2.48) | 45.4 (1.79) | 49.6 (1.95) | 63.3 (2.49) | 69.6 (2.74) | 79.2 (3.12) | 66.2 (2.61) | 89.9 (3.54) | 98.1 (3.86) | 95.4 (3.76) | 863.4 (33.99) |
| Average precipitation days(≥ 1 mm) | 13 | 12 | 11 | 9 | 11 | 9 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 12 | 12 | 13 | 132 |
| Source:Met Éireann[39] | |||||||||||||
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Carlow istwinned with the following places:
Davenport, Iowa, United StatesTempe, Arizona, United States
Dole, Jura, France
Northwich,Cheshire,England[...] Bride de Roiste of Glór Cheatharlach said [...] ' [...] we've a greater number of people speaking the Irish language throughout the day here in Carlow town than in many Gaeltacht regions.'
Places inCounty Carlow | ||
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