Book Launch: Landlords and Tenants in Co. Carlow, 1879-1960 by Oliver Whelan

What to Expect

Carlow County Library hosts the launch of Landlords and Tenants in Co. Carlow, 1879-1960 by Oliver Whelan on Thursday 20 August, from 7:30pm to 9:30pm as part of National Heritage Week 2026. The book covers eighty years that remade rural Carlow: the Land War from 1879, the successive Land Acts that transferred ownership from landlord to tenant, the break-up of the big estates, and the slow settling of a new pattern of ownership that lasted into the middle of the twentieth century.

Land transfer is the most consequential local history subject in any Irish county and one of the least understood, because it happened family by family and townland by townland rather than in a single event. A county-level study of it is the kind of book that answers questions people in Carlow have about their own farms. Launch evenings at the library run to two hours, so there is time for the author to speak, for questions and for the usual local history society conversation afterwards. Admission is free, and the Kehoe Papers archives talk runs in the same building at lunchtime that day.

Good to Know

• Thursday 20 August 2026, 7:30pm to 9:30pm.
• Venue: Carlow County Library, Tullow Street, Carlow Town.
• Free of charge.
• Phone Carlow County Library on 059 912 9705 to confirm whether places should be reserved.
• Part of National Heritage Week 2026, which runs across County Carlow from 15 to 23 August.
• Copies of the book are normally available to buy on the night at a launch of this kind.
• Of particular interest to Carlow farming families, local history society members and genealogists.

Getting There

Carlow County Library occupies the Presentation Building on Tullow Street in the centre of Carlow Town, a couple of minutes from the Potato Market and the main shopping streets. Carlow railway station on the Dublin Heuston to Waterford line is about ten minutes on foot. Town-centre car parks at the Shopping Centre and Potato Market are free from the early evening, which makes driving the simplest option for a 7:30pm start.