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CAR
the plough, was anciently remarkable as the residence
of Donell Spaniagh, and perhaps not less so, at a more
modern period, for possessing as an inmate Ellen Ka-
vanagh, immortalised by Carolan in his affecting melody
of Aileen a Roon, and recently made the subject of an
interesting poem by Mr. R. Garrett, of Janeville, in
this county. The habitations of the peasantry are of a
better description than in many other parts of the
country, the general appearance and habits of both
sexes much improved, and the interior of their dwell-
ings neat and comfortable. At Garrowhill, or Knock-
drimagh, near the bottom of Mount Leinster, is a
chalybeate spring; but its efficacy is little known except
in its immediate vicinity.
CARLOW, an incorpo-
rated borough, market, and
post-town, and a parish, in
the barony and county of
CARLOW, and province of
LEINSTER, 18¼ miles (N. E.)
from Kilkenny, and 39¼ (S.
W. by S.) from Dublin; con-
taining 9597 inhabitants, of
which number, 9114 are in
the borough. This town,
called, till within a compara-
tively recent period, Catherlough, or Catherlagh, is sup-
posed to have derived that name, signifying in the
Irish language “the city on the lake,” from its proxi-
mity to a large sheet of water which formerly existed
here. The erection of the castle has been variously at-
tributed to Eva, daughter of Dermot Mac Murrough;
to Isabel, daughter of Strongbow, and to King John;
but with more probability to Hugh de Lacy, about the
year 1180. In the reign of Edw. II., the castle belonged
to the crown, and was made the head-quarters of the
seneschalship of the counties of Carlow and Kildare,
instituted on account of the disturbed state of those
districts. About the year 1361, Lionel, Duke of Cla-
rence, established the exchequer of the kingdom at this
place, and expended £500 in fortifying the town with
walls, of which at present there is not a vestige. James
Fitzgerald, brother of the Earl of Kildare, seized the
castle in 1494) but it was soon afterwards invested
by the lord-deputy, Sir Edward Poynings, to whom,
after a siege of ten days, it was surrendered. In 1534
it was taken by Lord Thomas Fitzgerald, during his
insurrection; and in 1577 the town was assaulted by
Rory Oge O’More. Jas. I. granted the manor to
Donogh, Earl of Thomond, whom he also made con-
stable of the castle. In 1641, the whole county was
overrun by the insurgents, and the castle of Carlow
was invested by a strong party and reduced to great
extremity; a number of Protestants had taken refuge
within its walls, and the garrison was about to sur-
render, when it was relieved by a detachment of the
Earl of Ormonde’s forces under the command of Sir
Patrick Wemys. On his approach the insurgents raised
the siege, and, after burning the town, took flight, but
50 of them were killed in the pursuit. This place was
constantly exposed to the assaults of the insurgents;
and the castle, after sustaining a siege for nearly a
month, ultimately surrendered in May, 1647. It was,
in 1650, closely invested by Ireton and the republican
army; and after a severe cannonade which greatly
261
CAR
injured the castle, the garrison surrendered on condi-
tions to Sir Hardress Waller, whom Ireton had left to
conduct the siege. After the battle of the Boyne, in
1690, Wm. III. led his army southward through this
town; and during the disturbances of 1798, it was
assaulted by the insurgents on the morning of the 25th
of May. The garrison, consisting partly of regular
troops and partly of yeomanry, amounting in the whole
to 450, repulsed the assailants, though 2000 in number,
with the loss of 600 of their men, on which occasion
they were obliged to burn several of the houses, in order
to compel the insurgents to abandon them.
The town is pleasantly and advantageously situated
on the eastern bank of the river Barrow, over which is
a bridge of four arches connecting it with the extensive
suburban village of Graigue, in Queen’s county: it is
surrounded by a rich agricultural district, and sheltered
by some ranges of hills well cultivated to their sum-
mits. It is of considerable extent, and contains more
than fourteen good streets, of which the two principal,
intersecting each other at right angles and continued
through its whole length and breadth, divide the town
into four nearly equal portions, which are again divided
and subdivided by smaller streets into 42 portions; it
is rapidly increasing in all directions, and a new street,
chiefly for private residence, is now in progress, which,
when completed, will be one of its greatest ornaments.
Though a place of such high antiquity, it has an air of
modern neatness: the streets are paved and kept in
repair by county presentments, the two principal by the
county at large, and the others by the barony in which
the town is situated; and the inhabitants are supplied
with water from public pumps. On the south side of
the town is a stream called the Burren, which flows
into the Barrow; and on a rising ground above its
influx are the stately remains of the ancient castle,
towering to the height of 60 feet above the roofs of the
houses. There are two subscription reading-rooms;
and to the south-east of the town are cavalry barracks
for 8 officers and 112 non-commissioned officers and
privates, with stabling for 90 horses, and an hospital for
20 patients. From its advantageous situation on the
Barrow, affording a facility of communication with the
ports of Ross, Waterford, and Dublin, the town has
become the principal mart for the agricultural produce
of the well-cultivated districts around it, and carries on
an extensive trade in corn and butter; the latter is
of a very superior quality, and meets with a ready sale
in the London market. The trade down the river has,
within the last 14 years, greatly increased, while that
upwards has diminished, in consequence of the heavy
tolls demanded on the canal conveyance to the metro-
polis. The quantity of corn and flour sent hence to
Waterford and other ports for exportation has, within
that period, advanced from 2000 to 15,000 quarters;
and the quantity of butter weighed in the market and
in private stores is at present not less than 35,000
firkins. The river Barrow is navigable from Athy, where
the Grand Canal from Dublin joins it, and thence to its
confluence with the river Suir below Waterford; boats
consequently pass from this place to Dublin, Ross, and
Waterford; there is a lock on the river, and good quays
have been constructed for the accommodation of vessels
employed in the trade. This is the head-quarters of
the southern district of the revenue police, and there