Cahir
Cahir An Chathair
|
|
---|---|
Town | |
Castle Street, as viewed from the walls of Cahir Castle.
Castle Street, as viewed from the walls of Cahir Castle.
|
|
Location in Ireland | |
Coordinates: Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | |
Country | Ireland |
Province | Munster |
County | County Tipperary |
Dáil Éireann | Tipperary South |
Elevation | 50 m (160 ft) |
Population (2011) | |
• Total | 3,578 |
Dialing code | 052 744, +000 353 (0)52 744 |
Irish Grid Reference | S051252 |
Historical population | ||
---|---|---|
Year | Pop. | ±% |
1821 | 3,288 | — |
1831 | 3,408 | +3.6% |
1841 | 3,668 | +7.6% |
1851 | 3,694 | +0.7% |
1861 | 2,926 | −20.8% |
1871 | 2,694 | −7.9% |
1881 | 2,469 | −8.4% |
1891 | 2,046 | −17.1% |
1901 | 2,058 | +0.6% |
1911 | 1,930 | −6.2% |
1926 | 1,709 | −11.5% |
1936 | 1,638 | −4.2% |
1946 | 1,652 | +0.9% |
1951 | 1,589 | −3.8% |
1956 | 1,731 | +8.9% |
1961 | 1,662 | −4.0% |
1966 | 1,740 | +4.7% |
1971 | 1,747 | +0.4% |
1981 | 2,120 | +21.4% |
1986 | 2,118 | −0.1% |
1991 | 2,055 | −3.0% |
1996 | 2,236 | +8.8% |
2002 | 2,794 | +25.0% |
2006 | 3,381 | +21.0% |
2011 | 3,578 | +5.8% |
[1][2][3][4][5] |
Cahir (/ˈkɛər/; Irish: an Chathair / Cathair Dún Iascaigh) is a town in County Tipperary in Ireland. The town is best known for its castle and the Swiss Cottage. It is in the barony of Iffa and Offa West.
Contents
Location and access
For much of the twentieth century, Cahir stood at an intersection of two busy national roadways: the Dublin to Cork N8, and the Limerick to Waterford N24. The N8 was realigned in 1991 to run west of the town, while the old road through it was renumbered the R670. Traffic from the N24 still left the town badly congested, however, until October 2007 when this road was also realigned to bypass Cahir to the north and east. The same road improvement scheme saw major changes to the N8 corridor: a new motorway, the M8, was constructed west of the town between 2006 and 2008. Access to Cahir from this motorway is gained at Junctions 10 and 11.
Cahir is on the Limerick–Waterford regional railway line. The town's railway station opened on 1 May 1852.[6] There are two trains a day to Tipperary and Limerick Junction and two to Clonmel, Carrick on Suir and Waterford. There is no Sunday service.
Bus Éireann runs regular services to Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Waterford through the town.
History
The name Cathair or an Chathair translates as "stone ringfort", while the name Cathair Dún Iascaigh means "town of the fort of the fishery".[7] In older accounts, it was often spelled Caher.
For much of its history, the town has been influenced by the Butler family. It was from this family that the first Barons of Cahir were created. It was known for much of its history as being a defence town (<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>
). Cahir, together with Clonmel, were the centres in South Tipperary of the Quaker population, which culminated in the construction of a meeting house in Abbey Street in 1833. The principal Quaker family names, largely engaged in milling, were Grubb, Going and Walpole.[8] It was one of the first towns to be linked by stagecoach in the nineteenth century when Charles Bianconi commenced services between Clonmel, Cahir and Cashel. The building at The Square, where The Galtee Inn is now sited, was the stopping point in the town for Bianconi's coaches.[citation needed]
Amenities and features
Cahir Castle, which is situated on a small island in the River Suir, is the town's main tourist attraction. Cahir has a fine Church of Ireland parish church, still in use, designed by John Nash, one of only three ecclesiastical buildings he designed in Ireland. Another major attraction is the Swiss Cottage along with numerous specialty heritage walks. The nearby Galtee Mountains form the largest inland range in Ireland and are home to Glengarra Wood, which is a popular walking area. The Knockmealdown Mountains stand south of the town, while to the southwest lie the Mitchelstown Caves. The salmon weir, on the opposite side of the bridge from the castle, is a popular location to fish.
Cahir is a small heritage town. A shopping precinct is centred on the town square adjacent to Castle Street. The town has a leisure centre (Duneske), an all-weather soccer pitch, all weather tennis courts, a Downhill mountain-biking track and a GAA pitch. An 18 hole Golf course lies a few kilometres outside the town.
Education
- Cahir Boys National School
- Our Lady of Mercy Primary School
- Coláiste Dún Iascaigh (Secondary School)
Sport
Cahir has a number of teams in various sports, Cahir GAA are the local gaelic team and play in the GAA pitch located on the Ardfinnan road. They were Tipperary Senior Football Champions in 2003. Cahir Park AFC are the local junior soccer team. Formed in 1912 they are one of the oldest junior soccer teams in the country. Their ground is also located in Cahir Park on the Ardfinnan road.
Notable people
- John Noel Dempsey (1915–89), Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut 1959–61 and Governor of Connecticut 1961–71.
- Michael Murphy (1831–93), awarded the Victoria Cross, which he later forfeited.
- Brenda Hyland, winner of the Rose of Tralee competition in 1983 (although she represented County Waterford).
- Tommy O'Donnell, Munster and Ireland Rugby Player.
- Richard Butler, last Baron Cahir and 2nd Earl of Glengall, is buried here.
- Richard Pennefather, eminent Irish judge, is buried here.
International relations
Cahir is twinned with the town of Scarborough in the United Kingdom.
Image gallery
-
Protestant church-2.JPG
The Church of Ireland parish church in Cahir.
-
Cahir AD1599.JPG
A drawing of Cahir in 1599
-
Cahir Castle, Tipperary.JPG
Cahir Castle, Tipperary, lit up at night.
See also
![]() |
Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Caher. |
External links
![]() |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cahir. |
- Official Site
- Visit Cahir Website
- South Tipperary Rail & Bus Website
- Cahir Park AFC Website
- Cahir News Website
References
- ↑ Census for post 1821 figures.
- ↑ http://www.histpop.org
- ↑ http://www.nisranew.nisra.gov.uk/census
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ http://www.logainm.ie/?text=Cahir
- ↑ South Tipperary 1570-1842 Religion, Land and Rivalry, Four Courts Press, David J. Butler
- Pages with broken file links
- Articles containing Irish-language text
- Untranslated Irish place names
- Articles with unsourced statements from September 2011
- Commons category link is defined as the pagename
- Use dmy dates from September 2011
- Cahir
- Parishes in Diocese of Waterford and Lismore
- Towns and villages in County Tipperary