Page 131 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Ireland

IRELAND REGION B Y REGION  129

SOUTHEAST

IRELAND

Kildare • Wicklow • Carlow • Kilkenny • Waterford • Wexford
Blessed with the warmest climate in Ireland, the Southeast has
always presented an attractive prospect for settlers. Landscapes
of gently rolling hills have been tamed by centuries of culti vation,
with lush farmland, imposing medieval castles and great houses
enhancing the region’s atmosphere of prosperity.
The Southeast’s proximity to Britain meant island. From the 18th century, wealthy
that it was often the first port of call for Anglo-Irish families were drawn to what
foreign invaders. Viking raiders arrived they saw as a stable zone, and felt confident
here in the 9th century and founded enough to build fine mansions like the
some of Ireland’s earliest towns, including Palladian master pieces of Russ borough
Water ford and Wexford. They were and Castletown. English rule was not
followed in 1169 by the Anglo-Normans universally accepted, however. The Wicklow
(see pp40–41), who shaped the region’s Mountains became a popular refuge for
subsequent development. opponents to the Crown, including the
Given its strategic importance, the South- rebels who fled the town of Enniscorthy
east was heavily protected, mostly by Anglo- after a bloody battle during the uprising
Norman lords loyal to the English Crown. against the English in 1798 (see p45).
Remains of impressive castles attest to the This mountainous region is still the only
power of the Fitzgeralds of Kildare and the real wilderness in the Southeast, in contrast
Butlers of Kilkenny, who between them to the flat grasslands that spread across Kil-
virtually controlled the Southeast through- dare to the west. To the east, sandy beaches
out the Middle Ages. English influence was stretch almost unbroken along the shore
stronger here than in any other part of the between Dublin and Rosslare in Wexford.

Traditional thatched cottages in Dunmore East, County Waterford
The 12th-century Norman Kilkenny Castle, County Kilkenny

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