Littleton, County Tipperary

Fingerpost in Littleton.

Littleton Main Street.

Baile Beag ('little town').

Littleton (Irish: an Baile Beag) is a village in North Tipperary, Ireland. It is within the townlands of Ballybeg and Ballydavid, about 18 km (11 mi) northeast of Cashel and to the southeast of Thurles. By-passed by the M8 in December 2008, Littleton lies at a crossroads on the R639 road. Its population was 463 at the 2006 census. It is in the barony of Eliogarty.

As well as being a familiar name to travellers between Dublin and Cork, Littleton is closely associated with Bord na Móna peat harvesting in the nearby complex of raised bogs. Littleton is also home to the long-established 'Moycarkey Band', the Seán Treacy Pipe Band.

History

St. Ruadhan of Lorrha founded a monastery on a raised island in the middle of the bog at Littleton.

It is called Derrynaflan and it became famous when a ninth-century chalice, paten, stand and strainer were found there in 1980. They are now in the National Museum in Dublin.

See also

• List of towns and villages in Ireland

External links

• Photographs of Littleton

Notes

Putting the barony in its historico-geographical context.

• Barony - an old administrative division. Eliogarty - one of 14 baronies in the old county, between Ikerrin to the north (whose chief town is Roscrea), Kilnamanagh Upper to the west (whose chief town is Borrisoleigh) and Middle Third to the south (whose chief town is Cashel).

Explanation for the use of "North Tipperary" instead of "County Tipperary".

• Following the abolition of the former county - Tipperary - as an administrative division in 1898, the county of North Tipperary was created. This is still the legal status of the county. See also County Tipperary for further history on the topic.