TIPPERA'RY, an inland county of the province of Munster, Ireland, bounded on the a. by Waterford; and on the iv. by Cork, Limerick, Clare, and Galway. Area, 1659 sq.m., or 1,061,731 acres, of which 843,837 are arable, 178,183 uncultivated, 2,359 in towns, and the rest under plantations and water. Pop., '91, 216,713, of whom 203,227 were Catholics, 13,459 Protestants: this includes Presbyterians and other sects of Christians; there were no Jews in Tipperary that year. In the year 1878, the number of acres under crops of different kinds was 266,964. In the same year the cattle num bered 236,403; sheep, 269,638; and pigs, 89,850 The inhabitants are mostly engaged in agriculture. The annual value of property in the county is £680,000. The number of children attending the national schools in the county of Tipperary in 1875 was 38,743, of whom 37,779 were Roman Catholics, and 853 of the Episcopal church.
The county of Tipperary, for the most part lies in the basin of the river Suit.. This river rises near Templemore, in the n. of the county; and after traversing Tipperary for a distance of about 76 m., forms for a time its boundary with Waterford; through which county it ultimately passes to the sea. The other rivers of Tipperary are the Nore, the Nenagli, and the Brosna. The lakes are numerous, but of small size. The county is inter sected by the Great Southern and Western, and the Limerick and Waterford railways. The surface is generally plain, and the mountains which diversify it are rather groups than portions of any connected range. These mountains are the Galtees, rising to 3,000 ft., Knockmeledown (2,700 ft. high), and Slievenara on the s.; Keeper mountain, 2,100 ft. high, and its group on the w. ; and the Slievardagh Hills on the east. There is one very curious isolated height called the Devil's Bit, to which many popular legends attach. The soil of the plain is a rich calcareous loam, singularly fertile and product ive, especially a district called the Golden Vein, in the center of which stands the town of Tipperary (q.v.), and which extends from Limerick to the county of Kilkenny. There
is another similarly fertile district in the n. of the county. In geological formation the plain belongs to the great central limestone district. The mountains are for the most part of clay-slate, surrounded or surmounted by sandstone; the Galtees, together with a contiguous group called Slievenamuck, as well as the intervening valley, being sand stone. There is a large amount of bog in the central and eastern districts, one continu ous tract extending a distance of 30 miles. The mineral productions are coal (anthracite), copper, and lead, also zinc and very good fire-clay; and slates of an excel lent quality are quarried near Killaloe. Wheat was formerly grown in large quantities; but of late years dairy-farming and the raising of cattle have been rapidly taking the place of the production of cereals. Flax is but sparingly produced.
The county, which sends two members to the house of commons, is divided into two ridings, n. and s., each of which is subdivided into six baronies.
Anciently, Tipperary formed a part of the two distinct principalities of Ormond, or n. Munster, and Desmonn, or s. Munster: after the English invasion, Tipperary was formed into a county by king John in 1210; but the authority of the conquerors was long little more than nominal. Eventually, it came to be divided between the Anglo-Norman families of Butter, which held Ormond, and Geraldine, to whom a por tion of Desmond fell. The antiquities are numerous, as well Celtic as Anglo-Norman. In the latter, the city of Cashel is specially rich; and the ruin of Holy Cross is a noble specimen of the monastic remains of the mediaeval period, as the castle of Cahir is of the military and baronial architecture of the same age. There is a series of caves near the border of the co. of Cork, in the vicinity of Mitchellstown, which attract much notice as a natural curiosity. They consist of a number of chambers and galleries formed by stalactite deposits, one portion of the range being no less than 870 ft. in length.