The county capital, Carlow was once an outpost that had to provide its own defence as it was isolated from the Pale around Dublin, which the Anglo-Normans ruled and defended. Carlow developed around a massive Norman keep, built in 1207-13 to guard a strategic crossing...
Overlooking the basin of the River Barrow and with fine views of the plain that stretches to Dublin are the vestiges of a monastery founded in the 5th century by St Patrick, the patron Saint of Ireland, credited with bringing Christianity to the Island. Like...
The stubby, crenelated tower of the 13th century St Lazerian Protestant Cathedral stands at Old Leighlin. And nearby is the site of a 7th century monastery and Lazerian’s Well – a place of pilgrimage that after 13 centuries still attracts offerings of medals, crucifixes and...
The name Wicklow is the modern version of Wykinglo – Viking Meadow – the name of the 9th century Viking settlement here. After the Vikings came the early Christians , whose traces remain in the fragments of a 13th century Franciscan friary at the West...
A tree-bordered green is the focal point of this busy county town. It has been a town of stature since the 16th century , receiving a royal charter from James I in 1613. A variety of wars , however , has meant that little of...