arge,
and care is given to the breeding of cattle. Sheep and poultry, however,
receive the greatest attention. The staple trade of the county is in
corn, flour, meal, butter and provisions, which are exported in large
quantities. There are no manufactures. The sandstone of the county is
frequently of such a nature as to split easily into layers, known in
commerce as Carlow flags.

Porcelain clay exists in the neighbourhood of Tullow; but no attempt is
made to turn this product to use.

The Great Southern & Western railway from Kildare to Wexford follows the
river Barrow through the county, with a branch from Bagenalstown to
Kilkenny, while another branch from the north terminates at Tullow.

As regards population (41,964 in 1891; 37,748 in 1901), the county shows
a decrease among the more serious of Irish counties, and correspondingly
heavy emigration returns. Of the total, about 89% are Roman Catholics,
and nearly the whole are rural. Carlow (pop. 6513), Bagenalstown (1882),
and Tullow (1725) are the only towns. The county is divided into seven
baronies, and contains forty-four civil parishes and parts of parishes.
It belongs to the Protestant diocese of Dublin and the Roman Catholic
diocese of Kildare and Leighlin. The assizes are held at Carlow, and
quarter sessions at that town and also at Bagenalstown and Tullow. One
member is returned to parliament.

Carlow, under the name of Catherlogh, is among the counties generally
considered to have been created in the reign of John. Leinster was
confirmed as a liberty to William Marshal, earl of Pembroke, by John,
and Carlow, among other counties in this area, had the privileges of a
palatinate on descending to one of the earl's heiresses. The relics of
antiquity in the county comprise large cromlechs at Browne's Hill near
Carlow and at Hacketstown, and a rath near Leighlin Bridge, in which
were found several urns of baked earth, containing only small quantities
of dust. Some relics of ecclesiastical and monastic buildings exist, and
also the remains of several castles built after the English settlement.
Old Leighlin, where the 12th century cathedral of St Lazerian is
situated, is merely a village, although until the Union it returned two
members to the Irish parliament.

CARLOW, the county town of Co. Carlow, Ireland, on the navigable river
Barrow. Pop. of urban district (1901) 6513. It is 56 m. S.W. of Dublin
by the Great Southern & Western railway. The castle (