Landmarks Prehistoric era , c. 4,000 BC Carlow is nicknamed the "Dolmen County", reflecting the abundance of dolmens found within its borders. Dolmens or "
portal tombs" are above-grove burial chambers which were used by
Neolithic farming communities. The
Brownshill Dolmen, situated on the
Hacketstown Road (
R726), has a capstone which weighs an estimated 100 metric tons, and is reputed to be the heaviest in Europe. The tomb is listed as a
national monument. There are at least 10
megalithic tombs within the county, of which 7 are dolmens. Carlow and Kilkenny have 14 dolmens between them, many of which are among the most impressive in Ireland. This is unusual for such a small area. In contrast,
County Galway, over twice the size of Carlow and Kilkenny combined, has 7 dolmens, and
Cork – Ireland's largest county – has just 2. This suggests that the fertile plains of the Barrow and its tributaries were well inhabited during the prehistoric era. A wealth of Neolithic,
Mesolithic and
Bronze Age artefacts were discovered during excavations for the
M9 Carlow Bypass in 2006. A total of 57 archaeological sites were identified along the proposed route and yielded a variety of relics, including flint
arrowheads and bone scrapers,
pottery, hammers and axeheads made of
granite and an
Iron Age glass bead. These artefacts are now housed in the
Carlow County Museum. Their discovery a significant distance from any water sources revealed that the extent of early settlement in the area was more widespread than previously thought. Numerous surviving
Ogham stones dot the landscape of the county. The stones use
Ogham inscription to record personal names, and were most likely commemorative monuments to the deceased individual. Many of the stones are inscribed with
Old Irish, but some have been distinctly "Christianised" through the influence of local monastic settlements, such as the Rathglass Ogham Stone which reads
"Donaidonas Maqi Mariani" – Donaidonas son of. Marianus. The stones are typically cut from weather-resistant granite, although they are not immune to decay. The Patrickswell Ogham Stone, believed to have been associated with the Waterstown ecclesiastical site, is now illegible.
Religious Structures Early Christian settlements were founded throughout Carlow from the 5th to 7th century. An extensive monastic site is located at
St Mullin's in the southern tip of the county. The village is named after
Saint Moling, who founded a monastery there in the early 7th century. The monastery was said to have been built with the help of "
Gobán Saor", the legendary Irish builder. An 8th-century manuscript,
The Book of Mulling, contains a plan of the monastery – the earliest known plan of an Irish monastery – which shows four crosses inside and eight crosses outside the circular monastic wall.
Old Leighlin was the site of one of the largest monastic settlements in Ireland, founded by
St Goban in the 6th century. In 630 AD a church synod was held at Old Leighlin which determined the date of Easter. The main abbey of Old Leighlin was destroyed by fire in 1060 and replaced in the 12th century with
St Laserian's Cathedral. The cathedral remains in use to this day and was modified over centuries, with each change adding unique elements to the building. Among the most recent additions are the
stained glass windows created by
Catherine Amelia O'Brien in 1934. Once the cathedral church of the former
Diocese of Leighlin, it is now one of the six cathedrals in the
Diocese of Cashel and Ossory of the
Church of Ireland. The remote abbey of
Clonmore was founded in the 6th century by
Máedóc of Ferns. It flourished until the 11th century and taught Saint
Finian Lobhar as well as Saint
Oncho, who is buried at the site. While the monastery's buildings have long since been demolished, a substantial cemetery remains which includes
high crosses, ogham stones,
ballaun stones and numerous inscribed grave slabs from
Early Christian Ireland. Another monastery was established by
Saint Comhgall in 634 and is located in present-day Carlow town. The Normans built a stone wall around the town in the 13th century. The monastery, which was by that stage in ruins, lay just outside of it. The burial grounds survive today at Castle Hill and a new church was built at the site in 1727, known as St. Mary's Church. A spire was added in 1834, which remains the tallest building in the county. The
Cathedral of the Assumption in Carlow town was built in a
Gothic Revival style in the early 1800s and is the cathedral church of the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin. It once boasted a -tall ornately carved wooden pulpit, which is now on display in the
Carlow County Museum and was featured in
A History of Ireland in 100 Objects, a national project which identified one hundred archaeological or cultural objects that are important to
Irish history.
Castles in Rathvilly The oldest known castles within the county date from the first few centuries AD. The two most common forms of early defensive structures were
ringforts and
Motte-and-bailey castles. This style of fortification remained prevalent for centuries, persisting even after the
Norman Invasion in the 12th century. The
Rathvilly Moat, constructed in the 400s, was home to
Crimthann mac Énnai, King of Leinster. The town of Rathvilly itself is named after an unknown historic ringfort, derived from the Irish (). The arrival of the Normans was followed by the widespread construction of stone castles and
tower houses throughout Ireland. These structures did not entirely supplant the earlier forms of fortification, as evidenced by
Castlemore Moat, which is an example of a much later Motte-and-bailey. It was built by
Raymond FitzGerald in the 12th century following his conquest of O'Nolan lands in the
Barony of Forth. , built in 1213, was the first
Norman-style four towered keep in Britain or Ireland Although stone castles were generally of far superior quality, wooden structures were still favoured by the more mobile
Irish kingdoms, as they could be easily constructed and abandoned when necessary. As late as the 1370s, the King of Leinster, Art McMurrough-Kavanagh, is recorded as residing in a large wooden fortress in the woods near Old Leighlin. For six centuries,
Carlow Castle was the oldest and most imposing stone castle in the county. Built from 1207 to 1213, the town of Carlow grew around it, and it once stood as the centrepiece of the walled medieval town, complete with four towers (of which two survive). The castle endured numerous sieges and conquests, and changed hands dozens of times throughout its history, remaining intact. In 1812 the castle was leased to Dr. Phillip Parry Price Middleton, who intended to convert it into a
psychiatric hospital. In an ill-fated attempt at remodelling, Middleton used
gunpowder to create
cut-and-cover tunnels beneath the castle. This undermined the castle's foundations and its entire eastern side collapsed into rubble. It lay abandoned until the
Office of Public Works renovated the site in the 1990s. Other notable castles and castle ruins which are listed as National Monuments include the 15th century
Leighlinbridge Castle, around which the town of
Leighlinbridge grew;
Ballymoon Castle, which was constructed in the 13th century near Muine Bheag; and
Ballyloughan Castle which belonged to the
Kavanagh dynasty until the 16th century.
Estates and Manor Houses is an early example of a
plantation home Carlow was at the epicentre of the estates period of the late-18th and 19th centuries, and the county had a greater number of country houses and demesnes per hectare than any other rural county in Ireland. These "
Big Houses" and their occupants dominated the economic and political landscape until the turn of the 20th century. Although the term was never applied at the time, historian Jimmy O'Toole refers to Carlow as
"the most gentrified county in Ireland" due to the concentration of aristocratic families and their grand estates within its borders. , a typical
Anglo-Irish big house A valuation survey undertaken in 1876 revealed that just 21 families owned – almost 40% of the entire county. Although not as prevalent as in other counties,
absenteeism by the landholding class in Carlow was still common. Towards the end of the 19th century, anger at high-rents and the widespread eviction of
tenant farmers in Ireland resulted in the
Land War (1879–1882) and the formation of the
Irish National Land League led by
Charles Stewart Parnell, which heralded the end of the estates period. While as many as 300 Big Houses across Ireland were
burned down during the revolutionary period, Carlow was left relatively untouched, losing just three Big Houses between 1919 and 1923, two of which were unoccupied.
Éamon de Valera was against such burnings and addressed supporters at the gates of Browne's Hill House in January 1923, stating that "nothing was to be achieved by the burning or damaging of homes, big or small... raid for arms, yes, but leave them as they found them". Some of the most prominent Big Houses are currently in public ownership, such as
Altamont House,
Oak Park and
Duckett's Grove. Several historically significant Big Houses such as
Borris House,
Huntington Castle and
Dunleckney Manor are privately owned but open to tours and visitors at certain times of year. The majority of the surviving Big Houses within the county are in use as either private residences or hotels, while a small number have been abandoned and are in a derelict state.
Natural Attractions Gardens and Trails The Carlow Garden Trail features 21 gardens and curated woodlands of former estate houses located within the county. Gardens include the Delta Sensory Gardens in Carlow town, the
Edinburgh Woollen Mills
Arboretum in Leighlinbridge, the Borris House gardens and woodlands, Lucy's Wood and the Newtownbarry House gardens near
Bunclody, the Kilgraney house gardens, the Hardymount house gardens and the Duckett's Grove gardens. The
Robinsonian-style gardens of
Altamont House are often referred to as "the jewel in Ireland's gardening crown". grove at
Clonegal, planted in the early 1600s There are several
long-distance trails which traverse the county. Ireland's flagship long-distance trail – the
Wicklow Way – ends in
Clonegal in northeastern Carlow, after crossing the
Wicklow Mountains for . The
Barrow Way follows the course of River Barrow for from
Robertstown, County Kildare to
St Mullin's. The
South Leinster Way begins at the foot of
Mount Leinster near
Kildavin, and runs for before joining the
River Suir at
Carrick-on-Suir in County Tipperary. The
Blackstairs Mountains are a designated
Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) and contain a diverse range of habitats which are protected under Irish and European law. These habitats range from dense forested areas to open heath and
blanket bog. Vegetation within the range is limited to those adapted to the strong winds and often freezing temperatures of the mountain-tops, and include Western gorse (
Ulex gallii), Ling heather (
Calluna vulgaris) and Bell Heather (
Erica cinerea). The last recorded
Irish wolf was shot and killed in
Fenagh after wandering down from
Mount Leinster in 1786. Populations of
Red deer and
Feral goats roam the range; however, human intervention is required to control their population as they now lack natural predators. Other natural features and wildlife habitats within Carlow which have been identified as proposed
Natural Heritage Areas include Baggot's Wood, John's Hill, Ardristan Fen, the Ballymoon Esker, the Slaney River Valley and Cloghristick Wood. ==Demographics==