Carlow Town and County of Old
by Jim Westman
The name Carlow, according to some, is derived from
Ceathair Loch, translated as Four Lakes or Fourfold lake,
and by others Cathair Loch as City or Fortress of the Lake.
I prefer the first mentioned derivation. At any rate, here
on an elevation near the junction of the River Burrin with
the Barrow and beside the latter river was built Carlow
Castle. Its erection was in the early years of the
thirteenth century;
the year 1207 is given as being fairly reliable. It was
built most probably by Hugh de Lacy and owing to its
commanding position, we can take it that it was a great
defensive bulwark on the out skirts of the Pale. Formerly it
must have been massive. It was apparently rectangular with
drum towers at each corner. Now only the west face of the
wall (105 ft. span) with the flanking towers nearly 70 feet
high remain.
Very often, where a castle
was erected, a village or town sprung up adjacent to or
nearby, and the origin of Carlow town probably stretches back
almost to the date of erection of its Castle. In 1317, King
Edward 11 made it the seat of the seneschalship for Carlow
and Kilkenny counties. In 1361 Lionel, Duke of Clarence,
third son of King Edward 111 removed the Exchequer from
Dublin
to Carlow and spent
£600 on enclosing the town with walls.
The medieval town would appear to embrace an area starting
at Shamrock Square down Barrack St., across by way of
Bridewell Lane to the junction of Kennedy St and then across
from Court Place to Shamrock Square.
As in any walled town
there were gates at various points - Dublin Gate at the
Junction of Dublin St with Court Place; Tullow Gate at
Shamrock Square and Castle Gate somewhere near or at the
present Junction of Kennedy St and Castle St. It
would seem that the Castle remained separated from
the town for some considerable time It was separated from
the town by a small low marsh known as the Moneen. In
ancient times this may well have been one of the four lakes,
which gave the town and county its name. Eventually in the
early years of the eighteenth century, this marsh was
reclaimed and buildings spread across towards the Castle and
Graiguecullen Bridge, present day Kennedy St.
Castle Hill,
Mill Lane, John St.
In 1659, the Census of
Ireland showed the population of the walled town of Carlow
as 560; 271 given as English, 289 as Irish. Carlow was now a
Borough, represented by one member in Parliament. The
principal Irish names being Browne. Bryan, Byrne, Murphy,
Nolan, Neale and Walsh. It remained a Borough town until
1885. In 1841 the population of the town was given as 10,957
so one will see the big upsurge in population in the space
of roughly 180 years from 1659 to 1841. Ten years later in
1851 unlike quite a lot of other towns throughout the
country the population had increased and stood at 12,048.
County Carlow was
comprised of the following Baronies
— Carlow,
Forth, Idrone East, Idrone West, Rathvilly, Upper St.
Mullins. Under the Local Government Act, 1898, baronies
ceased
to exist. Under the census of 1659 the baronies of Upper & Lr, St Mullins
and Idrone East, Idrone West, Rathvilly, together as Idrone
and St. Mullins. Looking over the 1659 census an interesting
name pattern emerges, Byrne tops the list with 138 families
of the name in the county. Nolan comes next with 95
families. O'Neill - 45, Walsh – 37, Ryan – 31, Kelly - 28. A
quick look through a present day telephone directory will
show that more or less they are the most plentiful names of
the county still.