County Carlow, Ireland Genealogy

Ireland Counties of Ireland

County Carlow is one of twelve inland counties of Ireland in the southeast and is part of the province of Leinster. The County is named after the town of Carlow. Its greatest length is about 29 miles from north to south and its breadth from east to west is about 20.5 miles with an area of about 346 square miles (896.1 sq km).

Prior to the twelfth century, the County was part of the Ui Cinsealaigh territory, consisting of Carlow and parts of Wicklow and Wexford. The Normans invaded Carlow in the twelfth century and the land came into the possession of Strongbow, the Norman leader. The town of Carlow was an important Norman stronghold and was walled in 1361 to protect it from the neighboring Gaelic chieftains, who eventually captured the town in 1405. The County joined the Catholic Confederacy in 1641, which was defeated by Cromwell’s forces in 1650.

The Great Famine of 1845-1847 badly affected the County. The population fell from about 86,228 in 1841 to 68,078 in 1851. Ten thousand people died of starvation or other impacts of the Great Famine. The population continued to decrease reaching 34,476 in 1921. The population was 50,349 in 2006. Carlow is predominately Roman Catholic. In 1891, the percentage of Roman Catholic, Church of Ireland, Presbyterian and Methodist was 88.3%, 10.9%, 0.3% and 0.4%. Overtime, the Roman Catholics increased to 88.8% in 2006, while the Church of Ireland, Presbyterians and Methodists decreased to 4.3%, 0.2% and 0.2%, respectively, with other or no religions increasing to about 5%.

General Information about this county
Information provided by the 1847 edition of Samuel Lewis' "Topographical Dictionary of Ireland."
 * The county of Carlow is an inland county of the province of Leinster and is bounded by Wicklow, Wexford, Kilkenny, Laois, and Kildare.
 * The county is completely within the diocese of Leighlin. The county contains the burough, market, and assize town of Carlow; the market and post-town of Tullow, Bagnalstown, and Leighlin-Bridge; the market-town of Hacketstown, and the post-twon of Clonegal. The county courthouse and gaol are in Carlow.
 * Carlow is almost exclusively an agricultural district.

Civil Jurisdictions and Parish Research Information

 * List of County Carlow Civil Parishes
 * List of County Carlow Catholic Parishes

Archives and Libraries
Carlow Central Library Tullow Street, Carlow Telephone: 353-059-9136299 Fax: 353-059-9140548 E-mail: library@carlowcoco.ie Website: www.carlowlibraries.ie

Carlow Genealogy Old School, College Street, Co. Carlow Telephone: 353-503-30850 E-mail: carlowgenealogy@iolfree.ie Website: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~irlcar2/

Tullow Library Link Road, Tullow, Co. Carlow Telephone: 353-059-9136299 Fax: 353-059-9140548

Societies
Carlow Historical and Archaeological Society P. O. Box 162, Carlow, Ireland

Websites

 * GENUKI County Carlow
 * County Carlow Website, Ireland Genealogical Projcts
 * RootsChat Carlow Resources and Help.
 * County Carlow Ireland GenWeb
 * Genealogy of the UK, County Carlow
 * Genealogy Links Carlow
 * Irish Pen Pals Carlow County
 * IrishRoots Carlow County