SNIPPET: Lying between the natural boundaries of the Wicklow mountains on the east and the River Barrow on the west, Kildare is a relatively prosperous county (one of its villages is actually named "Prosperous") with large cattle and sheep farms, and a strong tradition of stud farming linked to the famous race-course at the Curragh. Before the arrival of the Normans, the region was part of the territories of the O'BYRNEs and O'TOOLEs. Following the granting of the county to the Norman FITZGERALDs, they were forced to migrate east, into the barren and impregnable Wicklow mountains. The FITZGERALDs became earls of Kildare and later, Dukes of Leinster, and were virtual rulers of Ireland up to the 16th century. Prosperous, Co. Kildare, was the site of a cotton spinning factory established circa 1780 by Richard BROOKE. The Irish parliament, anxious to promote industrial development and also attracted by the prospect of relocating part of the capital's disorderly artisan population to a safe distance, made substantial loans and grants, but the venture collapsed in 1786.