National Ploughing Championship

The National Ploughing Championships takes place each year in the month of September. The next Championships will be held at Ballintrane, Fenagh, Co. Carlow from September 17th - 19th 2019. The first inter- county ploughing contest took place in 1931 as a result of an argument between two lifelong friends, Denis Allen of Gorey, County Wexford and JJ Bergin of Athy, County Kildare. Each argued that their respective counties had the best ploughmen. This resulted in a challenge being called for. Therefore on Monday 16th of February 1931, the first National Ploughing contest took place in Mr W.K. Hosie’s field at Coursetown in Athy. Since then, the National Ploughing Championships has grown in size, year on year. It has expanded from requiring a small field of 26 acres to needing over 700 acres of land today. Within this, the site now requires 220 acres for ploughing, 150 acres for trade stands and exhibition space, 400 acres of car parking and a demonstration area of approximately...