Carlow County Museum - a Snapshot of Ireland's History and Heritage

From ancient archeological treasures and industrial history to notable personalities, transportation and sporting memorabilia; Carlow County Museum is a treasure trove for the history buff, genealogical researcher and tourist alike.

With over 5000 artifacts, the Museum's collection spans a wide range of periods and  topics including natural history specimens, stone and bronze age archaeological objects, coins, medals, stamps, religious objects, military and police artifacts and memorabilia, agricultural implements, trade, craft and industrial items, sporting memorabilia and a large collection of photographs and archival material. Just over an hour outside of Dublin city, the Carlow County Museum gives a snapshot of the wonderful history and heritage of the county.

Among the items on display is the famous and magnificent 19th century hand carved pulpit from Carlow Cathedral. The pulpit has been included in the book ‘A History of Ireland in 100 Objects’ by Fintan O’Toole, winner of the Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards 2013 ‘Best Irish-published Book of the Year’. The pulpit is over 20ft tall and is made entirely of oak. Also on view is the original gallows trapdoor from the Carlow Gaol which was used during the 19th century for public executions. See the wooden smoking pipe of Captain Myles Keogh, who was killed at the infamous Battle of Little Big Horn in 1876. Myles was among the last to be killed in the battle and his horse Comanche survived the battle. Find out about the great 19th century scientist John Tyndall who was the first person to discover the greenhouse effect and has a peak in the Alps named after him. The Museum is home to the remains of the last cigarette smoked by Kevin Barry, a medical student from Co. Carlow was executed in 1920 in Mountjoy Gaol, Dublin at the age of 18 for his role in the Irish War of Independence.

Carlow County Museum is located in the former Presentation Convent on College Street, just off Tullow Street, the main street of Carlow Town. The building is part of a complex that also houses the Tourist Office, the County Library and Archive.

Visit Carlow County Museum and see what you are missing, admission is free. Start planning your self-drive tour of Ireland with Celtic Tours World Vacations!

Carlow County Museum & Carlow Tourist Office,
College Street,
Carlow Town,
Co. Carlow,
Ireland 

GPS coordinates: 52.836559, -6.928314

Tel:        00353 – 59 - 9131554
Fax:        00353 - 59 - 9142249
Email:        museum@carlowcoco.ie
Web:         www.carlowcountymuseum.com

Museum Opening Hours:
Monday - Saturday 10.00am - 4.30pm September to May
Monday - Saturday 10.00am - 5.00pm June - August
Sundays & Banks Holidays 2.00pm - 4.30pm June – August
Free Admission. (Last admission half hour before closing)
For groups pre-book a Free Guided Tour (10 people +)
Wheelchair Access.

Literary Attractions in Ireland

Celtic Tours trips to Ireland are like stepping into a setting from Maeve Binchy novel. You will experience quaint villages with thatched cottages, soaring peaks of its highest mountains, sea-side towns such as Cobh and cosmopolitan Dublin, Rich in literary history, you will find the birthplace of W.B. Yeats in County Sligo or the setting for James Joyce’s “Ulysses,” considered in the top 100 Best Books of All Time, and don’t forget Frank McCourt’s memoirs of his impoverished childhood in Limerick “Angela’s Ashes”. Dive into Ireland’s rich literary history. Here are just a few of the can’t miss literary attractions in Ireland:

Trinity College and the Book of Kells
Trinity College has played host to several of Ireland’s literary greats from Samuel Beckett and Oscar Wilde to Jonathan Swift and Bram Stoker. Here you will also find the famous mid-8th century illuminated Book of Kells. The illustrations and ornamentation of the Book of Kells surpass that of other Insular Gospel books in extravagance and complexity.

St. Patrick’s Cathedral
Jonathan Swift, author of Gulliver’s Travels was Dean here from 1713 to 1745 and is buried here. You will find an exhibition that tells his fascinating story.

Dublin Writer’s Museum
The Dublin Writer’s Museum is a great place to start your literary tour of Ireland and is an essential visit for anyone who wants to discover, explore and simply enjoy the immense heritage of Dublin. The museum houses splendid works from the literary celebrities of the past 300 years including manuscripts, letters, portraits and personal items.

James Joyce Center
Joyce spent 6 days at the Martello Tower in Sandycove in 1904 – astay that ended in his companion Oliver St. John Gogarty firing a gun. This strange scene is immortalized in the first chapter of Joyce;s Ulysses and the tower now contains a museum dedicated to James Joyce.

National Library of Ireland
The country’s foremost literary attraction, the National Library of Ireland provides an intellectual record of the life of Ireland. The library contains a vast collection of books, manuscripts, records, photographs and maps.

Bram Stoker Park
Just outside of Dublin, in his native Clontarf there is a park dedicated to the Gothic horror writer, Bram Stoker

Patrick Kavanagh Rural and Literary Resource Center
The Center houses exhibitions on local history and on Kavanagh. The special feature of the Patrick Kavanagh Centre is the unique performance tour of Kavanagh Country, which takes in many local sites immortalised by Innishkeen's most famous son, with anecdotes, historical facts, wild rumours and even the odd poem along the way.

Little Lea, Belfast
Little Lea was the Lewis family home from 1905 until 1930. It was here that CS Lewis first took to writing as a hobby in his childhood because of a disability in his thumbs, which meant he could not make things with his hands. He claimed that someone could do more with a castle in a story than with any cardboard castle that ever stood on a nursery table. Few have proved him wrong. The house is now a private residence.

County Sligo
With its many connections to the beloved poet WB Yeats, this county is a pilgrimage destination for Yeats fans. The poet’s writing was shaped by the landscape and people of this farming region.

Limerick City
The setting for Frank McCourt’s impoverished Catholic childhood and the setting for his memoir “Angela’s Ashes”.

With such a distinguished literary history in Dublin and throughout Ireland, it is no wonder that Dublin became a UNESCO City of Literature in 2010. Start your Irish literary pursuit on your next vacation to Ireland with Celtic Tours World Vacations.

Number Twenty Nine Georgian House Museum

Number Twenty Nine Museum is Dublin's Georgian House Museum. Visitors take a guided tour from the basement to the attic, through rooms which have been furnished with original artefacts as they would have been in the years 1790 to 1820. Number Twenty Nine Lower Fitzwilliam Street was first occupied in 1794, during a time of great change and expansion in Ireland's Capital.

The first occupant was Mrs Olivia Beatty, the widow of a prominent Dublin wine merchant. Visiting the exhibition gives young and old alike a chance to experience what life was like for the fortunate who lived in such elegant townhouses, and the less fortunate who worked in them.

The exhibition is a partnership between Electricity Supply Board and the National Museum of Ireland and has been playing an important role since 1991 in making the history of late Georgian Dublin more accessible.

Visit Number Twenty Nine on your next self-drive tour of Ireland with Celtic Tours.

Dublin Museums, Cultural & Literary Attractions

Discover Ireland through its cultural attractions. From writer’s museums to the Museum of Modern Art to the world’s only Leprechaun Museum, Dublin’s cultural attractions await your discovery.

1. Trinity College and the Book of Kells: The 690 page Book of Kells is the centerpiece of the “Turning Darkness into Light” exhibition which attracts over 500,000 visitors to Trinity College every year. Written around 800 AD, the Book of Kells contains a richly decorated copy of the four gospels in a latin text, written on vellum (prepared calfskin). The script is embellished by the elaboration of key words and phrases and by an endlessly inventive range of decorated initials and interlinear drawings.

2. Dublin Writer’s Museum: Situated in a magnificent Georgian Mansion on Parnell Square, the Dublin Writer’s Museum is an essential visit for anyone who wants to discover, explore or simply enjoy Dublin’s immense literary history. Swift, Sheridan, Shaw, Wilde, Yeats, Joyce and Beckett are among those exhibited through their books, letters, portraits and personal items.

3. Leprechaun Museum: Discover the stories and magic of mythical Ireland, land of the leprechaun.

4. The Shaw Birthplace: Birthplace and childhood home of renowned playwright George Bernard Shaw has been, it was in the is house that Shaw began to gather the store of characters that would later populate his books.

5. The James Joyce Museum: The James Joyce Museum is located in the Martello Tower which was featured in the opening chapter of Ulysses. It is considered one of the world’s most famous literary landmarks.

6. The National Library of Ireland: No exploration of Dublin’s literary history would be complete without a visit the National Library of Ireland.

7. Irish Museum of Modern Art: The Irish Museum of Modern Art is Ireland’s leading institution for the presentation of modern and contemporary art. The museum is housed in the magnificent 17th century Royal Hospital building, whose grounds include a formal garden, meadow and medieval burial grounds.

8. The National Gallery of Ireland: Housing some 13,000 works of art, among the Irish artists represented are James Barry, Nathaniel Hone, William Orpen, Roderic O’Conor and Louis le Brocquy. The European Collection includes pieces by masters such as: Fra Angelico, Titian, Caraviaggio, Rembrandt, Poussin, Vermeer, Goya, Murillo and Gainsborough.

9. Abbey Theater: The Abbey Theater, Ireland’s national theater was founded by WB Yeats and Lady Gregory in 1904.



10. Literary Pub Crawl: Compliment your literary tour of Dublin with a Literary Pub Crawl. Enjoy some of Ireland's best literature acted out as you travel from one famous Dublin pub to another.

Discover these great Ireland attractions on your next vacation to Ireland with Celtic Tours.