Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Thurles

THURLES, an ancient market-town of Ireland, in the county of Tipperary, and the seat of the Catholic archdiocese of Cashel, is pleasantly situated on the Suir, and on the Great Southern and Western Railway, 46 miles east of Limerick, 29 west from Kilkenny, and 87 south west of Dublin. The cathedral of St Patrick is a beautiful building, erected at a cost of £45,000. The town is the seat of other important Catholic establishments, including an Ursuline convent, in which is a large boarding-school for young ladies; a Presentation convent; St Patrick's Catholic college (1829) for ecclesiastical students, where was held in 1850 the synod of Thurles, composed of all the Catholic bishops of Ireland; and an establishment of Christian Brothers, who devote themselves to the instruction of boys on the Lancastrian method. The town has a considerable agricultural and retail trade. The population was 5008 in 1871, and 4850 in 1881.

Originally the town was called Durlas O Fogarty. In the 10th century it was the scene of the defeat of the Irish by the Danes. A preceptory was founded here by the Knights Templars, who possessed themselves of a castle erected early in the 13th century. A castle was subsequently erected by James Butler, first lord palatine of Tipperary, of which till recently a tower still remained.