The East Coast

The east of the country stretches from the town of Drogheda somewhat north of Dublin down to Waterford in the south-east and includes such towns as Carlow, Kilkenny, New Ross, Wexford. This is the area which was first settled by the English from the late 12^th century onwards and it is roughly coterminous with that which was encompassed by the Pale, the region of English influence in the late medieval ages, at its greatest extension. The original input from south-west England did in fact survive in altered form until the beginning of the 19^th century in the archaic dialect of Forth and Bargy which was recorded by a few glossary compilers before it finally ceased to exist.