Tipperary
a county of Ireland, province of Munster, surrounded by King's County, Queen's County, Kilkenny, Waterford, Cork, Limerick, Clare, and Galway; area, 1,659 square miles. It lies in the basin of the Suir, which rises in the N. of the county and forms part of the S. boundary before passing through Waterford to the sea. The surface, for the most part level, is diversified by hill ranges, of which the chief are the Galtees (3,015 feet), Knockmeledown (2,150 feet), Slievenaman (2,364 feet), the Devil's Bit (1,600 feet), the Keeper (2,278 feet), and Slievenamuck (1,215 feet). The Shannon and Lough Derg form part of the W. boundary, separating Tipperary from Galway and Claire; and other streams which water it are the Brosna, Nenagh, and Mulkear. There are many small lakes, and among the more fertile districts are the plain of Ormond and Golden Vale. The prevailing rocks are clay, slate, greywacke, sandstone, and limestone; and among the minerals are anthracite coal, copper, zinc, and lead mixed with silver. The soil, calcareous loam, is in parts singularly productive. The crops include po tatoes, oats, wheat, turnips, and mangelwurzel. Clonmel is the chief town. There are numerous antiquities, including the Holy Cross Abbey at Cashel, and Cahir Castle. The Mitchellstown caves, on the border of Cork, are of great extent and contain fine stalactite deposits. Pop. about 152,000.
TIPPERARY (Irish Gaelic, Tiobrad Arann, "the well of the district of Ara"), a market town in the county of the same name; on the Arra, an affluent of the Suir; 24½ miles N. W. of Clonmel and 110 S. W. of Dublin. Lying at the base of the Slievenamuck mountains, near the center of the Golden Vale, on the direct road from Clonmel to Limerick, it carries on a considerable trade in butter, corn, flour, etc. The daily butter market is said to be next in importance to that of Cork. Tipperary is the headquarters of the Union Agricultural Society, and it has a spacious corn and provision market, in which markets are held on Thursdays and Saturdays. There is a fine parish church, a Gothic Roman Catholic church with a spire 156 feet high, a Presbyterian church, a Methodist chapel, a town hall, etc. Pop. about 6,000.