Tipperary

County in Munster province, SC Ireland; divided into North Riding (pop (2000e) 58 500; area 1996 km²/770 sq mi) and South Riding (pop (2000e) 76 000; area 2258 km²/872 sq mi); watered by R Suir; Silvermine Mts (N), Galty Mts (S), Slieve Ardagh Hills (W); capital, Clonmel; rich dairy-farming area; centre for horse and greyhound breeding; festival of Irish and modern music and dance at Tipperary town (Jun).

Tipperary (Irish: Tiobraid Árann) is a town in the south-west of County Tipperary, Ireland with a population of c.5,000 within the urban environs.

The town is a medieval foundation and became a centre of population in the reign of King John. The first engagement of the Irish War of Independence took place at nearby Solloghead Beg quarry on 19th January 1921 when Dan Breen and Seán Treacy led a group of volunteers in an attack on members of the Royal Irish Constabulary who were transporting gelignite.

It is often mistaken as the county capital, which is not the case as the county was divided into two council areas in 1898, North Tipperary and South Tipperary, with administrative centres of Nenagh and Clonmel respectively. However, it has a large agricultural catchment area in West County Tipperary and East County Limerick and was historically a market town of some significance, it still boasts an extensive butter-making and milk processing industry today. The town is situated on the N24 route between Limerick and Waterford and has a railway station on a line following the same route, but has an infrequent service.

Welcoming signs on roads entering the town quip "You've come a long way..." However, with distance from home the over-riding theme, local people prefer the old song of remembrance "Tipperary so far away" which commemorates one its famous sons, Seán Treacy, who died at the hands of British forces in Talbot Street, Dublin in October, 1920.

The town was the site of a large military barracks of the British army in the 50 years before Irish Independence and served as a military hospital during World War I. On September 30th 2005, Her Excellency, Mrs. Mary McAleese, President of Ireland, in a gesture of reconciliation, unveiled the newly refurbished Memorial Arch of the barracks in the presence of several ambassadors and foreign emissaries, military attaches and town dignitaries; The Arch is the only remaining porch of what was the Officers mess and has panels mounted bearing the names of fallen members of the Irish Defence Forces (on United Nations service), and American, Australian and United Kingdom armed services.