Carlow, the capital town of the county, with a population of about 9,940, who return one member, and are employed in the grain and butter trade, is built of the east bank of the river Barrow. The remains of a fine ruin overhang the river, and the ruins of St. Keran’s abbey, a convent, and a Catholic college, founded in 1795, and a Roman Catholic cathedral with a monument to Bishop Doyle; a church with a spire of 195 feet high. In the vicinity, Oak Park, Colonel Bruen, and Browne Hill, W. Browne Esq., are the principal objects of interest The castle is supposed to have been built by King John, to secure the passage of the Barrow. It was taken by The Fitzgerald in 1495, 1534, and the rebels in 1641, and it continued a fortress for several centuries. Here black fetid rain fell in 1849, which the cattle refused to drink.
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County Kilkenny
This old capital of the “Pale.” or limit of English authority, was founded by Strongbow 1172, and is now the chief town of Kilkenny county, on the river Nore, which is crossed by two bridges uniting it to Irishtown on the east side.