TIPPERARY, an inland county in the province of Munster, in Ireland, is bounded on the north by Galway and King’s counties; on the east by King’s, Queen's, and Kilkenny; on the south by Waterford and Cork; and on the west by Cork, Limerick, and Clare. It extends from 52° 11’ to 53° 10' north latitude, and from 7° 23’ to 8° 25’ west longitude; being about seventy miles in its greatest length, on a meridional line, from the confluence of the Lesser Brosna and Shannon, north, to the Knockmeledown Mountains, south, and forty miles from O’Brien’s Bridge, on the Shannon, west, to Urlingford, east, and comprehending an area of 1583 square miles, or 1,013,173 acres, of which 819,618 are cultivated, 182.147 mountain and bog, and 11,328 under water. It ranks as the sixth county in Ireland as to its total extent, and the fourth as to its extent of cultivated land.

According to the statement of Ptolemy, this district was inhabited in the second century by the tribes of the Darini and Coriundi, but Whitaker attributes it to the Scoti. It was afterwards possessed by various native septs, the principal of which were those of O’Kennedy, O’Mulrian, O’Fogarty, O’Heffernan, O’Hickey, M‘Egan, Everard, [7:21:313]Mathew, and Woulfe. Subsequently to the year 1172, it was granted by Henry 1I., who obtained possession of it after several sanguinary contests, to Theobald Fitz-Walter, surnamed Butler, from the office which he held in the king’s household. It was reduced to the form of an English county by King John in 1210, and in 1328 Edward III. erected it into a county palatine, in favour of the first earl of Ormond; and though that king shortly after re-assumed the regal prerogatives, they were regranted in 1337, and in 1372 confirmed, to James the son of Theobald, and his heirs male for ever. This grant affected only the lay lands of the county, those belonging to the church being a separate jurisdiction, with its own courts and officers, under the name of the county of the Cross of Tipperary. The county continued to be thus divided both in fact and name until after the restoration, when the grant of the regalities was not only confirmed to the duke of Ormond by Charles II., but extended over the whole of the county. The jurisdiction continued in the family till the attainder of the last duke of Ormond, in consequence of which the whole of the ducal property reverted to the crown, the palatinal rights were abolished, and the records belonging to it deposited in the king’s courts of chancery and common pleas, where they still remain. The county suffered greatly during the civil wars of 1641, in the course of which the town of Clonmell, after a gallant resistance, obtained honourable terms from Cromwell, who conducted the siege in person.

The surface is much varied. To the south it. rises into the range of the Knockmeledown Mountains, the highest summit of which is 2698 feet above sea level. North of these are the Galtees, the highest of which, Galtymore, rises to an elevation of 3008 feet. Proceeding still farther north, are the Slievenamanagh Mountains, 2582 feet high: the Keeper, 2265; Arragh, 1558; and a portion of the Devil’s Bit, 1572; the remainder of which last-named range extends north-easterly, forming the line of demarcation between King’s and Queen’s counties. The rest of the county presents an undulating surface, seldom perfectly level, and in some parts rising into hills of some elevation, the most considerable of which are the Slieveardagh Hills, bordering Kilkenny county, and Slievenamuck, near the base of which the town of Tipperary is situate. The only large river that passes through the county is the Suir, which has its source in the last-named range of mountains, near Roscrea, and after flowing in a southern direction, by Templemore, Thurles. and Cahir, to Ardfinnan, takes a western course by Clonmell, and, passing through Carrick-on-Snir, enters the county of Waterford, and discharges itself into the Atlantic through the estuary of Waterford harbour. The Shannon forms part of the western boundary of the county, from its most northern point, at the junction of this river with the Lesser Brosna, through its expansion called Lough Derg, and thence to O’Brien’s Bridge. The Lesser Brosna is the northern boundary from Parsonstown to the Shannon, and the Nore traverses a small portion of the north-east of the county. There are no lakes of any extent; three of small size, worthy of notice chiefly from their shape and romantic position, he in the glens of the Galtees.

The mountains are mostly composed of clay-slate, surrounded by sandstone; those of Knockmeledown are also capped with horizontal strata of this latter mineral. The part of the Devil’s Bit range which projects into the county is wholly sandstone, as are also the groups of the Galtees and Slievenamuck. The beds of the latter range horizontally, so as to furnish large quantities of excellent flags from the quarries there. Slates of good quality are raised in the district adjoining the southern extremity of Lough Derg, and carried in large quantities to various distant places by the Shannon navigation. There is also a very extensive and valuable slate-quarry near Clonmell, which enjoys equal facilities of transport by the Suir. In the east of the county, from Killenaub eastward, is a coal-field, generally considered to be an offset or continuation of that in Kilkenny and Queen’s counties. The seams, which lie between strata of sandstone and shale, are in some cases single, in others double, and even treble. The thickness of those in the Coal-brook mines, which have been long worked, is from one to two feet. The produce of these works consists of one fourth coal and three fourths culm. The former is in considerable demand for manufacturing purposes, being highly esteemed on account of the large portion of pure carbon contained in it; the latter is equally so for making lime, and is also used for culinary purposes when wrought up into balls with clay. Ironstone, though found in large quantities in the Coalbrook works, is not applied to any profitable account. The village of Silvermines, on the northern side of the Keeper Mountains, derives its name from the mines of silver in its neighbourhood, which at a former period had been largely worked, as were copper-mines in the same neighbourhood; but both have been relinquished. Copper was also raised at Lacka-more, near Newport, but with a similar result. Zinc, manganese, malachite, galena, and white lead, have been found in various places. The natural caves discovered in 1833 in a low limestone hill, near the southern base of the Galtee Mountains, and about midway between Cahir and Mitchels-town, present a peculiar feature in the geology of the county. They are entered by a passage sloping downwards, about 200 feet in length, which opens into a subterraneous chamber nearly eighty feet long and upwards of thirty at its greatest height; whence proceed other passages communicating with a number of interior caves of various sises, that have obtained names chiefly from their discoverers, or from some peculiar resemblance, whether real or fanciful, to objects of general notoriety. Their roofs, sides, and floors are adorned with a great variety of stalactites of singular appearance, and in some parts there are small reservoirs of the purest water. The number of these apartments has not yet been accurately ascertained; nor has a detailed geological account of the interior yet appeared. They are generally known by the name of the Mitchelstown caves from their vicinity to that town, and are objects of much care to Lord Kingsborough, on whose estate they were discovered. The level part of the county is chiefly limestone, constituting one extremity of the great field of that formation, which spreads over all the central portion of Ireland. Its most striking peculiarity is the rock of Cashel, consisting of a mass of limestone arranged in concentric strata, rising precipitously from the surrounding plain.

The soil in the plain country, and in the extended valleys, is a rich calcareous loam, capable of producing the finest crops with little aid from human industry. The town of Tipperary forms the centre of a tract of flat country lying between the Galtee and Slievenamanagh ranges, and extending from the county of Limerick westward to Golden and the Slieveardagh Hills in the opposite direction, which, from its extraordinary fertility, has been called the Golden Vale. Another tract of similar character, but not so extensive, lies in the northern baronies of Ormond. The soil on the hills and mountain sides is light and poor, partaking much of the character of the substrata of clay-slate and sandstone on which it rests. The southern extremity of the great Bog of Allen spreads itself into this county in its north-eastern quarter, from Roscrea to Holycross, not however in one continuous sheet, but in detached portions. It appears to have owed its origin to the obstructions in the channel of the Nore, a small portion of which skirts the county here. The whole of these detached portions of be; contains 35,000 acres, the most elevated part of their surface being about 400 feet above the sea, and therefore perfectly capable of drainage. The timber found here is chiefly fir. yew, and oak, the latter perfectly black, from the action of [7:21:314] the iron in the bog-water, or the gallic acid in the tree. The substratum is universally limestone or gravel. In one of these bogs three growths of timber have been found lying under one another; the upper about five feet from the surface, the middle about two feet lower, and the third, which is always in a more or less decomposed state, near the gravelly bottom. The land in the neighbourhood of the bog tract is generally swampy, producing little but reeds and other aquatic vegetables. The sides of the valleys, watered by the streams that pass through the bog and marshes, throw up a good herbage without any artificial aid, except that of setting fire to the surface in the heat of summer. The heath and moss are thus destroyed, and scope is given to a spontaneous growth of grass, on which cattle feed eagerly in all seasons, bat chiefly in summer, the cool and moist sward being peculiarly grateful to their feet. Several tracts near the margin of the bog have been reclaimed, and the process is extending, although slowly, owing to the obstructions arising from individual interests, to a general and effective system of drainage. There is little, if any, native timber; but plantations, sometimes very extensive, are to be seen around all the gentlemen’s seats and the residences of the wealthier farmers. The growth of timber thus raised is as yet by no means sufficient to remove the appearance of bareness which the landscape, otherwise abounding in natural beauties, exhibits.

The progressive increase of the number of inhabitants appears from the following table of the population as taken at different periods.

Year. Authority. No,

1760 De Burgo 101,370

1792 Beaufort 169,000

1812 Parliamentary census...290,531

1821 Ditto 346,896

1831 Ditto 402,538

According to the latest of these returns, the population is to the entire surface as 1 to 2∙517, and to that of the number of cultivated acres as 1 to 2∙036. There is therefore a family of six individuals to every fifteen acres of the total surface, and to every twelve acres of cultivated land. According to the census taken by the commissioners of public instruction in 1834, which being calculated by dioceses, allows only an approximation to accuracy as compared with those calculated by counties, the total population amounted, in round numbers, to 413,000, of which 16,840 were of the established church, 660 Protestant dissenters, and the remaining 395,500 were Roman Catholics, who were then to the total Protestant population as twenty-three to one. The number of children receiving instruction in the public schools, according to returns made under the population act in 1821, the commission of education in 1824·6, and the latest return of the commission of national education, was,

Year. Males. Females. Sex not ascertained. Total.

1821 14,160 6,586 20,746

1824·6 29,941 12,188 547 33,676

1837 3,694 2,588 6,282

The return of 1824·6 is the only one in which the religious persuasion of the pupils is noticed. According to it the numbers were, members of the established church 2871, Protestant dissenters eighty-four, Roman Catholics 30,407, religion not ascertained 314, which gives an average of thirty Roman Catholics to one Protestant. In the same return the total number of schools is stated to be 657, of which forty-three, affording instruction to 2747 pupils, were maintained wholly by grants of public money; seventy-one, with 5256 pupils, by voluntary subscriptions; and the remaining 543, with 25,673 pupils, wholly by the fees of the pupils.

The county is divided into the eleven baronies of Clan william, Eliogarty, Iffa and Offa East, Iffa and Offa West, Ikerrin, Kilnemanagh, Middlethird, Lower Ormond, Upper Ormond, and Slieveardagh, which are subdivided into 189 parishes, of which ninety-six were in the diocese of Cashel, twenty in that of Emly, thirty-two in Lismore, and forty-one in Killaloe. The cathedrals of the dioceses of Cashel and Emly are both within the county, in places from which the sees have received their names. The former, which retains the rank of a city, is still a place of some note; the latter, though said to be the ancient Imlagh, noted by Ptolemy as one of the three principal cities in the island, is now an inconsiderable village, with a population of 701 souls. Under a late order of council, the county has been divided into two ridings. It returned eight members to the Irish parliament, two for the county, and two for each of the boroughs of Cashel, Clonmell, and Fethard. The number was reduced to four by the act of union, which disfranchised the last-named borough, and deprived each of the others of one of its members. The constituency of the county, at several periods since the disfranchisement of the forty-shilling freeholders in 1829, is as follows:

Year. L.50. L.20. L.10. Total.

1831 2015 411 475 2901

1832 2360

1834 2369

The local government is under the control of a lord lieutenant, twenty-eight deputy-lieutenants, and 118 other magistrates, besides eight stipendiaries specially appointed, and receiving salaries from the crown; under whom is a constabulary force, which in 1836 consisted of twelve chief constables and 686 constables and subconstables, and, since the division of the county, of one county inspector, six sub-inspectors, seven head constables, and 351 constables and subconstables for the north riding, and one county inspector, seven subinspectors, ten head constables, and 391 constables and subconstables for the south. The county prison, at Clonmell, is ill adapted for carrying into effect the improvements now generally introduced into the prisons of Ireland. A prison for the north riding is at present building in Nenagh. The number of committals in 1839 was 2110, of whom 1164 were acquitted or liberated for want of prosecution, and 946 were convicted. Of this latter class, 256 were fined or liberated on securities, 608 imprisoned, seventy-three transported, and nine sentenced to death, of whom four were executed. Besides the convictions above stated, 583 were convicted before the magistrates at petty sessions for trivial offences, and 3889 for intoxication. The total number of convictions is to the population as one to sixty-three, and of convictions for capital or transportable offences as 1 to 5037. The county infirmary, fever hospital, and lunatic asylum, are also in Clonmell. The last-named institution maintains ninety-nine patients, fifty-five male and forty-one female. Of the cases there are, idiots four, epileptic one, curable maniacs sixty, incurable thirty-one; besides which there are in the Clonmell house of industry nineteen cases of idiocy and seven of epilepsy. The sites of the work-houses under the new poor-law act have been fixed at Carrick-on-Suir, Cashel, Clogheen, Clonmell, Nenagh, Roscrea, Thurles, and Tipperary.

The modes of agriculture are regulated by the character of the soil and the face of the country. Tillage prevails in the lowland districts, and is carried on with much spirit, and in general according to the most modern systems. The size of the farms is generally small, averaging at about fifty acres, and in many instances diminishing to eight or ten, in consequence of the subdivision of land among the under tenants. The rotation adopted on the rich lands in the Golden Vale, and in the almost equally fertile districts in the northern parts of the county, is, potatoes, wheat, and oats; in the lighter soils, as on the Slieveardagh Hills, and the mountain sides, on which the use of the plough is yearly [7:21:315]encroaching on the ancient pasturages, as far up as the nature of the soil favours the exertion of agricultural industry, the crops are potatoes, barley or bere, and oats. In too many instances the repetition of the oat crop is continued until the land is completely exhausted, when it is allowed to rest until the renovating powers of nature clothe it with a new sward. Artificial grasses are much encouraged; clover of both kinds, rye and other grass-seeds, are sown, as are rape, vetches, and turnips. Flax is seldom to be seen but in detached patches, or along the head-lands of the corn-fields. Lime, and limestone gravel, the latter taken from the escars in the eastern parts of the county, are the principal manures. The fences are stone-walls, or mounds of earth eight or ten feet broad at the base, and tapering upwards to a considerable height, with a topping of furze or whitethorn. The latter plant is also employed as a ground fence in the best-regulated estates. Owing to the undulating character of the surface, drainage is less necessary. Where it is adopted, and especially in the pasture lands, a covered drain is used, which is so narrow, and sunk so low, as not to be injured by the pressure of the feet of the cattle on the surface sod. Agricultural instruments of the most approved construction are in use among the better classes of farmers, and machines for the abridgement of human labour arc employed in many places. The rich low lands along the banks of the river are generally under meadow, and produce abundant crops of hay. The lands appropriated to pasture are used both as grazing and dairy farms. Butter, which is made to a great extent, finds a ready market at Clonmell, Waterford, and Limerick. The manufacture of cheese is almost unknown. The breed of Irish cows is still kept up, in consequence of the quantity of milk which they yield. They are sometimes reared without any mixture of other breeds, sometimes with a cross of the Holderness or Devon. The horses bred in the county are highly esteemed, and bring good prices. For agricultural purposes, asses and mules are much used by the small farmers, as being more hardy, and thriving on coarser food. The former of these are of larger size than those in other parts of the country. Swine are to be met with everywhere; they form an important part of the farming stock of the landholders, from the highest to the lowest, and are exported in great numbers to England. Sheep are less numerous, either because the quality of the soil is not well suited to them, or because the subdivision of the lands into small fields, and the want of substantial fences in the smaller farms, prevent their being much encouraged. Though a great deal has been latterly effected in the way of agricultural improvement in both its main branches of tillage and pasturage, much more is still required in order to draw forth all the capabilities with which the bountiful hand of nature has enriched this tract.

The manufacture of woollen cloth was formerly carried on to a great extent, particularly in the neighbourhood of Clonmell and Carrick, which were the two principal marts of the trade; but in consequence of the legislative arrangements made after the revolution, for the suppression of that branch of national industry in Ireland, it has declined so as now to be nearly extinct; a small trade in blankets, flannels, and a mixed light cloth called ratteens, being the only vestige of its existence. Many efforts have been made to introduce the linen manufacture as a substitute. Grants of implements and premiums were offered by the Irish linen board appointed to encourage and foster the manufacture. Much of the funds sent into the country from England during periods of famine were employed to turn the course of industry, particularly among the females, into this channel, but to no purpose. The culture of flax, as already stated, is but little attended to, the plant being raised in small quantities, and manufactured merely for domestic use, in which it is also more and more superseded every year by the increasing demand for cotton fabrics. There is a cotton factory at Clonmell. The staple manufacture of the county is that of flour, for which there are numerous mills. The abundant supply of the raw material from the rich valleys and champaign lands, and the numerous sites, with a great command of water-power on the many branch-streams that feed the main rivers, afford facilities of which due advantage has been taken; and the export of flour is consequently the main stimulus to industry, and a great source of internal wealth. Many plans have been devised to increase this wealth by increasing the facilities for transmitting agricultural produce throughout the country, and to the great marts. The generally level yet undulating surface of the land affords adequate scope for carrying on lines of inland navigation, and extending railway communications. Both have been subjects of consideration. A canal was projected to form a continuation of that already existing from Dublin to Monastereven. It was to proceed by Roscrea and Cashel to Carrick, whence there is a river-navigation to Waterford. Others of minor extent were projected to pass through the northern and western parts of the Shannon, which is navigable all along the verge of the county; but none has yet been undertaken. Several lines of railroad have also been latterly proposed. Besides others laid down by private engineers at the suggestion of individuals or intended joint-stock companies, the commissioners for inquiring into the expediency of introducing the system of railroads into Ireland, have suggested a line in continuation of that proposed to be carried from Dublin to Kilkenny, which, after passing Maryborough in Queen’s county, is to enter Tipperary near Templemore, and to pass by Thurles. to Holycross, whence one branch is to tend southwards by Cashel, Goldenbridge, Cahir, and Mitchelstown, to Cork, and the other along the southern base of the Slieve-Phelim Mountains, by Pallasgreine, to Limerick. These lines are laid down in the map lately published by the conductors of the trigonometrical survey of Ireland, but no steps have as yet been taken for their accomplishment. Several new lines of road have however been executed, some of which, being cut through the mountainous districts on the north-west of the country, have produced the double effect of facilitating the transmission of goods, and, what is of much greater importance, the improvement and welfare of the country, by throwing open a tract hitherto impassable for carriages, and consequently the almost inaccessible place of refuge for desperate characters of every description, who here set at defiance the laws, and made the place a centre from which to make inroads, on favourable opportunities, into the open country. One of the great lines of mail-coach roads to Cork passes through the county; and the intercourse for travellers unencumbered with much luggage hns been increased in a great degree by the establishment of one-horse travelling cars, which ply between all the principal market-towns and places of resort. For this great improvement the county is indebted to the exertions of an intelligent foreigner, M. Bianconi, who devised and has carried on the system as a private speculation on his own account. In the county there are thirteen banking establishments, of which three are in Clonmell, two each in Nenagh, Roscrea, Thurles, and Tipperary, and one each in Carrick-on-Suir and Cashel.

The remains of antiquity are numerous, but, with few exceptions, not of a very remarkable character. There are two round towers, one at Cashel, the other at Roscrea, both in good preservation. Among the remains of ancient monastic buildings, many of which are still in existence, the most worthy of notice are those on the Rock of Cashel, consisting of the ancient cathedral, a fine Gothic structure, exhibiting a combination of the military with the ecclesiastical style of architecture; and Cormac’s Chapel, a venerable building, with a fine groined roof, and having in the interior [7:21:316]some very ancient paintings in fresco, and a number of statues supposed to represent the apostles. The remains of ancient castles are also numerous, as might be expected in a part of the country so often the seat of intestine wars. Several old fortresses are still kept in repair, and improved so as to form the residences of the proprietors of the surrounding lands. There is also a number of elegant mansions and villas belonging to the resident noblemen and gentry. The dwellings of the peasantry differ little from those in other agricultural districts, nor are there any very marked variations in their manners, dress, or mode of living. The lower classes have long been notorious for their spirit of lawless turbulence, which has been attributed, among other causes affecting the country in general, to the neglect of absentee landlords, and to the almost total want of communication through the mountainous districts. The latter of these has been considerably diminished within the last few years; and the projected commercial facilities designed by the railroads, if carried into execution, will tend to complete this desirable change.

The county town is Clonmell, on the Suir; a large and populous place, partly in this county and partly in Waterford, with a population of 17,838 souls. It is a parliamentary borough, returning one member, and one of the great marts for the agricultural produce of the county. It was also the seat of the woollen manufacture until its failure throughout Ireland, after which that of cotton has been introduced, but with partial success. Its chief channel of export is by the Suir to Waterford, by means of boats of fifty tons and under. One of its principal articles of export is butter, for the sale of which a large building has been erected. Brewing and distillation are extensively carried on here or in the vicinity. The public buildings are those usual in county towns; the parish church, a large old building; two Roman Catholic chapels, and other places of worship; a court-house, prison, public school-house, infirmaries, and the county lunatic asylum. Some vestiges of the ancient fortifications still remain. One of the four gates, which is still kept in repair, forms an ornamental entrance to the town on the western side. Since the division of the county into two ridings, Nenagh, the place appointed for holding the assizes in the north riding, has received some improvement. A prison is there in progress of erection. The population of this town amounts to 8446. Cashel, a city with a population now reduced to 6971 souls, was anciently the royal residence of the kings of Munster, the most celebrated of whom, Brian Born, built its fortifications. It was also the seat of the archiepiscopal residence, and so continued until the see was reduced to a bishopric and united with those of Waterford and Lismore, under the provisions of the church temporalities act of 1833. The archbishop’s palace is in this city. It has a small library, chiefly of theological works, attached to it. Cashel is also a parliamentary borough, returning one member. The other larger towns are Carrick-on-Suir, a place of some trade by means of its site on that navigable river. Population 9626. Thurles, the seat of the Roman Catholic see of Cashel, having in it the cathedral and the archiepiscopal residence, 7084; Tipperary, 6972; Roscrea. 5512; Cahir, 3408; Fethard, 3400; and Temple-more, 2936. (c.p. )