Carlow Flagstone

Notes:

Raised at Shankill and Kellymount townlands, Co. Kilkenny but close to the county border with Carlow (Wilkinson 1845, p. 209-10), and also at Conahy, which were inferior, but could be split thin enough to use for roofing (Kinahan 1888, p. 273). Samuel Lewis in his Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (p. 551) noted that "Kellymount and Shankill are some of the principal flagstone quarries in the county, the produce of which is chiefly send by the Barrow navigation to Dublin, Waterford and other places, and generally sold under the name of Carlow flags." Kinahan (1888) noted that they were largely distributed from Carlow town which provided their rather name, which is confusing seeing they were quarried in Co. Kilkenny. Aside from use in Ireland, flags were exported to England and the east coast of the USA where they were utilised to pave the sidewalks in New York and Boston (National School archive 1937-8, vol. 0862, p. 347). By the late 1880 the use of asphalt as a paving material had reduced the demand for the flags (Kinahan 1888, p. 273). The flags from Shankill were considered the best (Wilkinson 1845).