Carlow a 130 years ago 1834

CARLOW
a hundred and thirty years ago

(From the Dublin Penny journal of July 26th, 1834)

Source: Carloviana No. 16. 1967. page 21-22.

This town is seated cm the east bank of the river Barrow, thirty-nine miles from Dublin; its ancient name was Catherlough, i.e. The City of the Lake, from its proximity to a large lake or pond which formerly existed here.

It is not my intention to trace this town from its origin, through its gradual. rise and progress, nor even those various epochs and wants which are entwined with and enliven its local history, but merely to present a slight notice or abstract of its present statistics.

The town of Carlow is the emporium of the trade and business of this and the adjoining counties, chieﬂy on account of its advantageous and rapid water communication with sea-port towns of Ross and Waterford, and also with Dublin, a passage which occupies but two or three days.

Carlow cannot be said to possess any particular staple trade or manufacture. The inhabitants are engaged in the ordinary routine of town business, in the various branches of industrious occupation; but the corn and butter trades are very extensively carried on - the county of Carlow being richly productive of' these articles, which always ﬁnd here a ready market.

But l wish particularly, to mention its butter trade, the quality of which is of the ﬁnest description superior to any in Ireland, and giving precedence to the Dutch butter alone in the London market. The average of the delivery is about thirty thousand casks annually.

The Barrow, to which this town is indebted for its origin and increase, was anciently called Berva-in Irish, Bearhha; though some suppose its present name derived from the word Barragh, or boundary river, it being far some centuries the boundary river between the English pale and the Irish septa.

This river, to which Denman wished that his style of writing would be assimilated, thus,

“Though deep, yet clear-though gentle, yet not dull; Strong without rage-without o’er flowing, full,

rises in the Slieve-Bloom mountains, in the Queens County, and, passing several small towns, arrives at Carlow, to which, as below-mentioned, it contributes life prosperity, and increasing commercial importance. It then pursues its winding and placid course, until it mingles its waters with its sister river, the Nora, near New Ross. It is navigable from Ross to Athy, when it meets the canal, which continues on to Dublin: reckoning from its source, it runs in its whole course a distance of about one hundred and twenty miles.

Carlow is rapidly progressing of late years-it is extending its limits on all sides-new streets being added, one in particular, now laying out for erection of private houses, will, if ﬁnished according to the plan at present intended, be one of its greatest ornaments.

The public buildings are in number suitable to the size of the town: amongst them the: new cathedral for Roman Catholic worship claims pre-eminence, for than beauty of its style and architecture; a new courthouse; a new jail; a lunatic: asylum, also a modern building, laid out on an extensive scale, for the reception of about one hundred and twenty patients, from the counties of Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford, and Kildare; the college, of which there is a view given in your 14th Number, a ﬁne Protestant Church, also one house of worship for Presbyterians; one for Methodists, and another for Quakers; a large horse-barrack, infirmary, dispensary, etc; three public free schools, and in Graigue (which might be said to be part of the town, although in a different county, being connected by Wellington Bridge) there is a handsome: Protestant Church, and a Roman Catholic chapel.

But in mentioning the modem buildings of Carlow, let us not pass unnoticed and neglected the dilapidated remains of “the days of ether years”. The old castle then, “nobly picturesque of former greatness", claims our attention, and deserves a place in your journal among the antiquities of Ireland.

But, indeed, with the exception of this castle, this town does not possess anything worthy the eye of the antiquary-no monastic ruin - no monument of bye-gone times.

There was a ﬁne abbey founded here in the seventh century, a trace of which on longer remains.

The population of Carlow at present is about eleven thousand persons, and contains thirty streets and lanes, and above twelve hundred houses; though in the recollection of a person, not long since deceased, the town was not more than one fourth its present extent. Carlow returned two members to the Irish parliament, and sends one now to the British legislature.

There were three charters granted to Carlaw - one by James the First, one by Charles the Second, and a third by James the Second.

A poem entitled Mount Leinster, etc. has the following lines relative to this town;

Where Carlow’s undulating ﬁelds extend,
Whase varied shades in sweet disorder blend;
Mid which the raptured eye delights to stray,
And dwells, though oft reviewed, ‘With fond delay,
On wood, on tillage, or on pasture green,
Or seeks the Barrow through the lengthened scene:
Fair strewn! whase placid waters glide,
In winding course, a gentle tide;
As through thy own green vales they stray,
And flow, untired, their ceaseless way:
Still, as the parent main they join,
Drawn from thy streams new rills combine;
Thence natures course unerring keep,
Thy source the clouds, my home the deep!

(The above was contributed to the Society by the late Mr. Bernard O’Neill, M.Sc.)

Source: This article was published in the Carloviana No.16. 1967 pages 21-22.

The information contained in these pages is provided solely for the purpose of sharing with others researching their ancestors in Ireland.

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