Irland

Ireland was settled by early farmers who left remarkable monuments such as the passage tomb of Newgrange, which is older than the pyramids of Giza. Over the first millennium BC a Celtic language and culture took hold, a…

County Tipperary was established in the early 13th century, shortly after the Norman invasion of Ireland, and takes its name from the town of Tipperary. It is the country's largest inland county and shares a border with…

Rock of Cashel is the county standout, a crag with several religious ruins. Cahir has the Castle, Swiss Cottage, and Mitchelstown Caves. Terryglass at the north end of Lough Derg is an attractive village. Glen of Aherl…

County Tipperary (Irish: Contae Thiobraid Árann) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary, and was established in the early 13th c…

Limerick was founded by Scandinavian settlers in 812 on an island in the Shannon, today's King's Island, known in Viking sources as Hlymrekr. Even earlier, the island was called Inis Sibhtonn, and Ptolemy's map of Irela…

Waterford is Ireland's oldest city. Its name comes from the Old Norse Veðrafjǫrðr, while its Irish name, Port Láirge, means Lárag's port. Vikings first settled nearby in 853, and after being driven out around 902 they r…

County Tipperary was established in the early 13th century, shortly after the Norman invasion of Ireland, and takes its name from the town of Tipperary. Its fertile lands made it one of the richest farming regions in th…

County Roscommon is home to Rathcroghan near Tulsk, a complex of archaeological sites linked to the legendary Queen Medb (Maeve). It was the seat of the Kings of Connacht and later of High Kings of Ireland, and the star…

County Longford is based on the historic Gaelic territory of Annaly. Between the 5th and 12th centuries the area was known as the kingdom of Tethbae, or Teffia, ruled by several local groups. In 1070 it was conquered by…

County Westmeath was part of the historic Kingdom of Meath, or Mide, the 'middle' kingdom at the geographical centre of Ireland. After the Norman invasion, King Henry II granted the Lordship of Meath to Hugh de Lacy in …

County Offaly is home to Clonmacnoise, the great monastic complex founded on the banks of the River Shannon near Shannonbridge after the coming of Christianity, which remains one of Ireland's most significant heritage s…

South Dublin grew out of the electoral area once called Dublin–Belgard, a name recalling Belgard, one of the border fortresses of the Pale that stood in this area during the Middle Ages. In 1991 the area was renamed Sou…

County Laois takes its name from Loígis, a medieval kingdom, though from 1556 to 1922 it was officially known as Queen's County. Its human story goes back around 8,500 years, when hunter-gatherers moved through the fore…

County Carlow is nicknamed the Dolmen County, and for good reason: it may have the highest concentration of megalithic monuments per square kilometre in Ireland. Standing stones, bullauns and cairns dot the landscape, a…

County Kildare takes its name from the town of Kildare, in Irish Cill Dara, the 'church of the oak'. The town is closely linked to Saint Brigid, one of Ireland's patron saints, who founded an important monastery there; …

Fingal takes its name from the medieval territory of Fine Gall, the 'tribe of the foreigners', which referred to the Viking settlers north of Dublin. The Vikings themselves called Dublin's hinterland Dyflinarskiri, and …

County Meath is known as the Royal County because it was the seat of the High King of Ireland at Tara. It grew out of the eastern part of the old Kingdom of Mide, the 'middle' kingdom, whose lands once reached into many…

County Sligo was officially formed in 1585 by Lord Deputy Sir Henry Sidney, but only came into effect in 1603, after the Nine Years' War. Its boundaries reflect the Ó Conchobhair Sligigh confederation of Lower Connacht,…

County Mayo takes its name from Maigh Eo, the 'plain of the yew trees', and its history reaches deep into prehistory. At Belderrig on the north Mayo coast there is evidence of Mesolithic communities around 4500 BC, and …

Galway's history as a town began in 1124, when Tairrdelbach Ua Conchobair, King of Connacht and High King of Ireland, completed Dún Gaillimhe, the fort at the mouth of the Gaillimh. It served as a naval base for his fle…