Golden Vale

Typical East Limerick landscape of rich, green fields.

The Golden Vale (Irish: Machaire méith na Mumhan) is an area of rolling pastureland in the civil province of Munster, southwestern Ireland. Covering parts of three counties, Limerick, Tipperary and Cork, it is the best land in Ireland for dairy farming.

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The Golden Vale in winter, in County Tipperary. The Galtee Mountains are visible.

Historically, and occasionally still, it has been called the Golden Vein. An early instance is an 1837 book by Jonathan Binns, a British government official, where he refers to the area as '"the golden vale" (more correctly the "golden vein")' and states "The land is of excellent quality, being part of the golden vein of Ireland—a district reaching from Tipperary towards Limerick. The extent of the golden vein is about fourteen miles long, by six or seven wide." Some subsequent writers similarly prefer "vein".

The Golden Vale is bordered in the west by the Galtee Mountains, with the Glen of Aherlow as a picturesque abutting valley. The Munster Blackwater valley is the Vale's southern part. Towns in the Golden Vale include Charleville, Mitchelstown, Kilmallock and Tipperary.

In recent years intensive farming has resulted in the loss of many miles of hedgerows. The Golden Vale also contains a number of visitor farms.

Further reading

• The golden vale of Ivowen: between Slievenamon and Suir Eoghan Ó Néill 2001 ISBN 978-0-906602-91-1
• The book of the Galtees and the Golden Vein: a border history of Tipperary, Limerick & Cork Paul J. Flynn, 1926