Carlow

Names prominent in this county include: Bolger, Cahill, Carew, Collier, Fortune, Gahan, Hayden, Kinsella, Nolan, O’Cavanagh, O’Doyle, Ryan

A town as well as a county, Carlow is a landlocked county in the South East of Ireland. Once part of the historical Kingdom of Leinster, Carlow has --in various forms-- been an independent region since the early 14th century. Like many of Ireland’s landlocked counties, Carlow’s history has always been tied to the water. The beautiful Barrow and Slaney rivers shaped the pattern of human settlement well into the 20th century. Early farmers settled along the rich river valley created by the Barrow. Nevertheless, Carlow was hard hit by the Famine & roughly fifty percent of Carlow’s sons and daughters emigrated --mainly to the United States-- in the second half of the 19th century. - notes by Sarah Nagle

One of a series of Irish District tartans designed (and copyrighted) by Polly Wittering of the House of Edgar in 1995. This is not an 'officially sanctioned' District tartan but has proven popular.