County Tipperary Contae Thiobraid Árann | |
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Nickname: The Premier County | |
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Country | Ireland |
Province | Munster |
Region | Southern |
Shired [1] | 1328 |
Divided | 1838 |
Reunified | 2014 |
County towns | Nenagh/Clonmel |
Government | |
• Local authority | Tipperary County Council |
• Dáil constituency | Tipperary |
• EP constituency | South |
Area | |
• Total | 4,305 km2 (1,662 sq mi) |
• Rank | 6th |
Highest elevation | 918 m (3,012 ft) |
Population | |
• Total | 159,553 |
• Rank | 12th |
• Density | 37/km2 (96/sq mi) |
Time zone | UTC±0 (WET) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC+1 (IST) |
Eircode routing keys | E21, E25, E32, E34, E41, E45, E53, E91 (primarily) |
Telephone area codes | 051, 0504, 0505, 052, 062, 067 (primarily) |
Vehicle index mark code | T |
Website | Official website ![]() |
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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 century, shortly after the Norman invasion of Ireland. It is Ireland's largest inland county and shares a border with eight counties, more than any other. The population of the county was 167,895 at the 2022 census. [3] The largest towns are Clonmel, Nenagh and Thurles.
Tipperary County Council is the local authority for the county. In 1838, County Tipperary was divided into two ridings, North and South. From 1899 until 2014, they had their own county councils. They were unified under the Local Government Reform Act 2014, which came into effect following the 2014 local elections on 3 June 2014. [4]
Tipperary is the sixth-largest of the 32 counties by area and the 12th largest by population. [5] It is the third-largest of Munster's six counties by both size and population. It is also the largest landlocked county in Ireland.
Tipperary is bounded (clockwise) by counties Offaly, Laois, Kilkenny, Waterford, Cork, Limerick, Clare and Galway. Its eight neighbours are the most of any county on the island.
The region is part of the central plain of Ireland, but the diverse terrain contains several mountain ranges: the Knockmealdown, the Galtee, the Arra Hills and the Silvermine Mountains. Most of the county is drained by the River Suir; the north-western part by tributaries of the River Shannon; the eastern part by the River Nore; the south-western corner by the Munster Blackwater. No part of the county touches the coast. The centre is known as 'the Golden Vale', a rich pastoral stretch of land in the Suir basin which extends into counties Limerick and Cork. At 917 m, Galtymore is the highest point.
The Devil's Bit is a part of the Slieve Bloom range. The River Shannon flows along the northwest border with counties Limerick, Galway and Clare. The River Suir rises at the Devil's Bit and flows into the sea at Waterford.
There are 12 historic baronies in County Tipperary: Clanwilliam, Eliogarty, Iffa and Offa East, Iffa and Offa West, Ikerrin, Kilnamanagh Lower, Kilnamanagh Upper, Middle Third, Ormond Lower, Ormond Upper, Owney and Arra and Slievardagh.
Parishes were delineated after the Down Survey as an intermediate subdivision, with multiple townlands per parish and multiple parishes per barony. The civil parishes had some use in local taxation and were included on the nineteenth century maps of the Ordnance Survey of Ireland. [6] For poor law purposes, district electoral divisions replaced the civil parishes in the mid-nineteenth century. There are 199 civil parishes in the county. [7] Townlands are the smallest officially defined geographical divisions in Ireland; there are 3,159 townlands in the county. [8]
Year | Pop. | ±% |
---|---|---|
1600 | 23,454 | — |
1610 | 25,667 | +9.4% |
1653 | 31,597 | +23.1% |
1659 | 26,684 | −15.5% |
1821 | 346,896 | +1200.0% |
1831 | 402,563 | +16.0% |
1841 | 435,553 | +8.2% |
1851 | 331,567 | −23.9% |
1861 | 249,106 | −24.9% |
1871 | 216,713 | −13.0% |
1881 | 199,612 | −7.9% |
1891 | 173,188 | −13.2% |
1901 | 160,232 | −7.5% |
1911 | 152,433 | −4.9% |
1926 | 141,015 | −7.5% |
1936 | 137,835 | −2.3% |
1946 | 136,014 | −1.3% |
1951 | 133,313 | −2.0% |
1956 | 129,415 | −2.9% |
1961 | 123,822 | −4.3% |
1966 | 122,812 | −0.8% |
1971 | 123,565 | +0.6% |
1979 | 133,741 | +8.2% |
1981 | 135,261 | +1.1% |
1986 | 136,619 | +1.0% |
1991 | 132,772 | −2.8% |
1996 | 133,535 | +0.6% |
2002 | 140,131 | +4.9% |
2006 | 149,244 | +6.5% |
2011 | 158,754 | +6.4% |
2016 | 159,553 | +0.5% |
2022 | 167,690 | +5.1% |
[2] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] |
Rank | Town | Population (2016 census) |
---|---|---|
1 | Clonmel | 17,140 |
2 | Nenagh | 8,968 |
3 | Thurles | 7,940 |
4 | Carrick-on-Suir | 5,771 |
5 | Roscrea | 5,446 |
6 | Tipperary | 4,979 |
7 | Cashel | 4,422 |
8 | Cahir | 3,593 |
9 | Ballina | 2,632 |
10 | Templemore | 1,939 |
11 | Fethard | 1,545 |
Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was claimed as a lordship. By 1210, the sheriffdom of Munster shired into the shires of Tipperary and Limerick. [15] In 1328, Tipperary was granted to the Earls of Ormond as a county palatine or liberty. [15] The grant excluded church lands such as the archiepiscopal see of Cashel, which formed the separate county of Cross Tipperary. [15] Though the Earls gained jurisdiction over the church lands in 1662, "Tipperary and Cross Tipperary" were not definitively united until the County Palatine of Tipperary Act 1715, when the 2nd Duke of Ormond was attainted for supporting the Jacobite rising of 1715. [16] [17]
The county was divided once again in 1838. [18] The county town of Clonmel, where the grand jury held its twice-yearly assizes, is at the southern limit of the county, and roads leading north were poor, making the journey inconvenient for jurors resident there. [18] A petition to move the county town to a more central location was opposed by the MP for Clonmel, so instead the county was split into two "ridings"; the grand jury of the South Riding continued to meet in Clonmel, while that of the North Riding met in Nenagh. [18] When the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 established county councils to replace the grand jury for civil functions, the ridings became separate "administrative counties" with separate county councils. [18] Their names were changed from "Tipperary North/South Riding" to "North/South Tipperary" by the Local Government Act 2001, which redesignated all "administrative counties" as simply "counties". [19] The Local Government Reform Act 2014 has amalgamated the two counties and restored a single county of Tipperary. [20]
Following the 2014 local election, Tipperary County Council is the local authority for the county. The authority is the successor council to North Tipperary County Council and South Tipperary County Council which operated up until June 2014. The local authority is responsible for certain local services such as sanitation, planning and development, libraries, the collection of motor taxation, local roads and social housing.
Most of the county is in the Dáil constituency of Tipperary, which returns five deputies (TDs) to the Dáil. A small part of the county in the former rural district of Nenagh is in the constituency of Limerick City. [21] The county is part of the South constituency for European elections.
Tipperary is referred to as the "Premier County", a description attributed to Thomas Davis, Editor of The Nation newspaper in the 1840s as a tribute to the nationalistic feeling in Tipperary and said[ citation needed ] that "where Tipperary leads, Ireland follows". Tipperary was the subject of the famous song "It's a Long Way to Tipperary" written by Jack Judge, whose grandparents came from the county. It was popular with regiments of the British Army during World War I. The song "Slievenamon", which is traditionally associated with the county, was written by Charles Kickham from Mullinahone, and is commonly sung at sporting fixtures involving the county. [22]
There is no Gaeltacht in County Tipperary and consequently few Irish speakers. Nevertheless, there are five Gaelscoileanna (Irish language primary schools) and two Gaelcholáistí (Irish language secondary schools). [23]
The area around Clonmel is the economic hub of the county, due to manufacturing facilities owned by Bulmers (brewers) and Merck & Co. (pharmaceuticals) east of the town. There is much fertile land, especially in the region known as the Golden Vale, one of the richest agricultural areas in Ireland.
Tipperary is famous for its horse breeding industry and is the home of Coolmore Stud, the largest thoroughbred breeding operation in the world. [24]
Tourism plays a significant role in County Tipperary – Lough Derg, Thurles, Rock of Cashel, Ormonde Castle, Ahenny High Crosses, Cahir Castle, Bru Boru Heritage Centre and Tipperary Crystal are some of the primary tourist destinations in the county.
Road transport dominates in County Tipperary. The M7 motorway crosses the north of the county through Roscrea and Nenagh and the M8 motorway bisects the county from north of Two-Mile Borris to the County Limerick border. Both routes are among some of the busiest roads on the island. The Limerick to Waterford N24 crosses the southern half of Tipperary, travelling through Tipperary Town, Bansha, north of Cahir and around Clonmel and Carrick-on-Suir.
Tipperary also has a number of railway stations situated on the Dublin–Cork line, Dublin-to-Limerick and Limerick–Waterford line. The railway lines connect places in Tipperary with Cork, Dublin Heuston, Waterford, Limerick, Mallow, and Galway.
County Tipperary has a strong association with the Gaelic Athletic Association which was founded in Thurles in 1884. The Gaelic Games of Hurling, Gaelic football, Camogie and Handball are organised by the Tipperary GAA County Board of the GAA. The organisation competes in the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship and the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship. Tipperary, with 28 wins, are the only county to have won an All-Ireland title in every decade since the 1880s.
Horse racing takes place at Tipperary Racecourse, Thurles Racecourse and Clonmel Racecourse.
This section needs additional citations for verification .(April 2022) |
Munster is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings". Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into counties for administrative and judicial purposes. In later centuries, local government legislation has seen further sub-division of the historic counties.
Thurles is a town in County Tipperary, Ireland. It is located in the civil parish of the same name in the barony of Eliogarty and in the ecclesiastical parish of Thurles. The cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly is located in the town.
Cahir is a town in County Tipperary in Ireland. It is also a civil parish in the barony of Iffa and Offa West.
Nenagh is the county town of County Tipperary in Ireland. Nenagh used to be a market town, and the site of the East Munster Ormond Fair.
Dromineer is a small village and townland in County Tipperary, Ireland. It is situated on the shores of Lough Derg on the River Shannon. The village is located 10 km north of Nenagh on the R495 road. It is a civil parish in the historical barony of Ormond Lower. Historic documents describe the places as "Dromynnyre"; the earliest form of the name dating from 1302 was Dromynwyr.
North Tipperary was a county in Ireland in the province of Munster. It was named after the town of Tipperary and consisted of 48% of the land area of the traditional county of Tipperary. North Tipperary County Council was the local authority for the county. In 2011, the population of the county was 70,322.
South Tipperary was a county in Ireland in the province of Munster. It was named after the town of Tipperary and consisted of 52% of the land area of the traditional county of Tipperary. South Tipperary County Council was the local authority for the county. The population of the county was 88,433 according to the 2011 census. It was abolished on 1 June 2014, and amalgamated with North Tipperary to form County Tipperary under a new Tipperary County Council.
Roscrea is a market town in County Tipperary, Ireland, which in 2016 had a population of 5,446. Roscrea is one of the oldest towns in Ireland, having developed around the 7th century monastery of Saint Crónán of Roscrea, parts of which remain preserved today.
Cashel is a town in County Tipperary in Ireland. Its population was 4,422 in the 2016 census. The town gives its name to the ecclesiastical province of Cashel. Additionally, the cathedra of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly was originally in the town prior to the English Reformation. It is part of the parish of Cashel and Rosegreen in the same archdiocese. One of the six cathedrals of the Anglican Bishop of Cashel and Ossory, who currently resides in Kilkenny, is located in the town. It is in the civil parish of St. Patricksrock which is in the historical barony of Middle Third.
Carrick-on-Suir is a town in County Tipperary, Ireland. It lies on both banks of the River Suir. The part on the north bank of the Suir lies in the civil parish of "Carrick", in the historical barony of Iffa and Offa East. The part on the south bank lies in the civil parish of Kilmolerin in the barony of Upperthird, County Waterford.
A regional road in the Republic of Ireland is a class of road not forming a major route, but nevertheless forming a link in the national route network. There are over 11,600 kilometres of regional roads. Regional roads are numbered with three-digit route numbers, prefixed by "R". The equivalent road category in Northern Ireland are B roads.
A registration district in the United Kingdom is a type of administrative region which exists for the purpose of civil registration of births, marriages, and deaths and civil partnerships. It has also been used as the basis for the collation of census information.
Moneygall is a village on the border of counties Offaly and Tipperary, in Ireland. It is situated on the R445 road between Dublin and Limerick. There were 313 people living in the village as of the 2016 census. Moneygall has a Catholic church, motorway service station, a car sales and repair centre, a national school, a Garda station and two pubs. The nearest Church of Ireland church, Borrisnafarney, is 2 km from the village beside the former Loughton Demesne.
Kilsheelan is a village and civil parish within the barony of Iffa and Offa East in County Tipperary, Ireland. It is also one half of the Roman Catholic parish of Kilsheelan & Kilcash in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Waterford and Lismore.
Carrickbeg is a village in County Tipperary, Ireland. Located on the border between counties Waterford and Tipperary, it comprises part of the town of Carrick-on-Suir that lies south of the River Suir. The area is in County Tipperary, but a minority of residents have an affinity for County Waterford, as well as it previously being a part of Waterford.
Ikerrin is a barony in County Tipperary, Ireland. This geographical unit of land is one of 12 baronies in County Tipperary. Its chief town is Roscrea. The barony lies between Eliogarty to the south and Ormond Upper to the west. As a "peninsula", it is surrounded on three sides by counties Offaly and Laois. The territory is currently administered by Tipperary County Council.
Iffa and Offa West is a barony in County Tipperary, Ireland. This geographical unit of land is one of 12 baronies in County Tipperary. Its chief town is Cahir. The barony lies between Clanwilliam to the north-west, Middle Third to the north-east and Iffa and Offa East to the east. The area is currently administered by Tipperary County Council. The barony is within the geographic remit of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Waterford and Lismore.
Iffa and Offa East is a barony in County Tipperary, Ireland. This geographical unit of land is one of 12 baronies in County Tipperary. Its chief town is Clonmel. The barony lies between Iffa and Offa West to the west, Middle Third to the north-west and Slievardagh to the north-east. It is currently administered by Tipperary County Council. The entire barony lies within the geographic remit of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Waterford and Lismore with the exception of the parish of Clerihan which is in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly.
Middle Third is a barony in County Tipperary, Ireland. This geographical unit of land is one of 12 baronies in County Tipperary. Its chief town is Cashel. The barony lies between Eliogarty to the north, Iffa and Offa East to the south, Clanwilliam to the west and Slievardagh to the east. It is currently administered by Tipperary County Council.
Ballysheehan is a village in the southern part of County Tipperary, Ireland. It is also a civil parish in the barony of Middle Third, within the Munster province.
Tipperary County Council will become an official unified authority on Tuesday, 3rd June 2014. The new authority combines the existing administration of North Tipperary County Council and South Tipperary County Council.