County Carlow
Ireland's smallest inland county, Carlow is located in the south east of Ireland, approximately 80km from Dublin. The modern name Carlow is thought to have derived from the old Irish place name Ceatharloch, meaning 'four lakes'. With the Blackstairs Mountains to the east and the Killeshin Hills to the west, Carlow has its share of surrounding scenery. A frontier town for many centuries, Carlow is a busy market and industrial centre today and serves a large rural area. Many castles and monastic ruins attest to rich history of this fertile hinterland.
Often referred to as 'The Celtic Centre of Ireland', Carlow boasts a significant number of Celtic monuments and historical sites, with many of the county's abbeys and castles still surviving. Pre-Christian inhabitants of Carlow left their mark in the form of tomb monuments or dolmens. These were used as communal burial grounds during the earlier Neolithic period and also for religious rights.
The largest of these relics is Brown's Hill Dolmen. A field monument of huge proportions, the capstone here is believed to be the largest in Europe. The location, setting, and purpose of this megalithic structure have been the subject of conjecture for centuries. Most likely, it marks the burial place of a local king from long ago but has been invested with a rich overlay of myth and legend. Numerous other religious structures have been built including the Cathedral of St. Lazerian, the Adelaide Memorial Church, Carlow Cathedral, St Patrick's College and the religious settlement at St Mullins.
Once a stronghold of the Anglo-Normans, Carlow's strategic position has ensured it a significant role in the turbulent history of Ireland. During the 1798 Rising, over six hundred nationalist rebels were massacred here. Over four hundred of them are buried near Graiguecullen at the stone quarries. Two of Ireland's great rivers, the Barrow and the Slaney, also meander their way southward through the county making Carlow a great location for angling and river cruising.
