Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary

16 Dec Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary

A market town on the River Suir, long associated with the Butler family, later Earls of Ormond. A priory was established at the end of the 12^th or beginning of the 13^th century for the canons regular of St Augustine. Later the lands formed part of the possessions of Theobald Butler; his grandson Edmund Butler built the first castle in 1309. Edmund Mac Richard Butler rebuilt the castle in the 15^th century and the first stone bridge (1447) across the Suir. In the middle of the 16^th century Thomas Duff Butler (Black Tom) built Ormond Manor House close by the earlier castle, and this is widely regarded as the finest Elizabethan manor-house in Ireland. Part of the surviving town wall can be seen at Sean Kelly Square (named after a local cycling hero). The Town Clock (1784) was a gift of the Galleway family. In 1670 the Butlers established a woollen industry in the town, which survived until the 19^th century. There were strong links with Newfoundland through extensive local emigration to the cod fishery in the 18^th and 19^th century.

Carrick-on-Suir is a real hidden gem and is worth a visit on your tours of Ireland.