XPW043543 IRELAND (1933). Nenagh Reservoir, Nenagh, Carlow, Ireland, 1933. Oblique aerial photograph taken facing South/West.

This is a photo of Carlow Cathedral taken just over a century since work began on the building in 1829, the same year that the Catholic Emancipation Act was passed. The granite church was designed by Thomas Cobden, in early Neo-Gothic style, with a distinctive octagonal tower 46 metres high. The lantern-shaped tower, finished with turrets and crenulations, is reminiscent of the Cloth Hall, Bruges, Belgium. This splendid feature, coupled with the judicious use of granite ashlar in the octagonal turrets at the terminal ends of the nave and transepts, masks the fact that the main body of the cathedral was built with dark limestone.



Carlow is the county town and main urban centre of the northern part of Co.Carlow, with a population of 7,642 in the 1936 Census. The city has good road and rail links to the capital, in addition to being situated on the Barrow Navigation system. The urban area of Carlow had a population exceeding 13,000 in 2002.