Kilkennycounty

Kilkenny (county), an inland county of Ireland, in the province of Leinster, bounded by Queen's County on the N., Carlow and Wexford on the E., Tipperary on the W-, and Waterford on the S.; area, 796 square miles. The northern part of the county consists for the most part of wide tracts of moor or grassy uplands, used as pasturage for sheep and cattle; the centre is a large plain, broken by hillocks and swelling ground; whilst in the S. the surface becomes more hilly, reaching in many places an elevation of 1,000 or 1,500 feet above the sea level. The climate is mild and favourable to agriculture, the most fertile districts being along the valleys of the Barrow and Suir, on the E. and S. borders respectively, and that of the Nore, which runs through from N.W. to S.E., where it joins the Barrow. The Castlecomer coalfield in the N. furnishes more than one-half the total amount of coal produced in Ireland. Black marble, slate, manganese, and other minerals are also found. Of the numerous antiquities the most noteworthy is the Castle of Graney, in the barony of Iverk, said to have been built by the Earls of Ormonde early in the 16th century.