Golden Vale

The Golden Vale 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. Historically 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" ' 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". ()