Calverstown () is a small village in
County Kildare
County Kildare ( ga, Contae Chill Dara) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the local authority for the county, ...
,
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
. It lies south of the town of
Kilcullen
Kilcullen (), formally Kilcullen Bridge, is a small town on the River Liffey in County Kildare, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Its population of 3,473 at the 2011 census made it the 12th largest settlement in County Kildare and the fastest growi ...
and about from each of the towns of
Athy
Athy ( ; ) is a market town at the meeting of the River Barrow and the Grand Canal in south-west County Kildare, Ireland, 72 kilometres southwest of Dublin. A population of 9,677 (as of the 2016 census) makes it the sixth largest town in Kild ...
,
Kildare
Kildare () is a town in County Kildare, Ireland. , its population was 8,634 making it the 7th largest town in County Kildare. The town lies on the R445, some west of Dublin – near enough for it to have become, despite being a regional cen ...
,
Naas
Naas ( ; ga, Nás na Ríogh or ) is the county town of County Kildare in Ireland. In 2016, it had a population of 21,393, making it the second largest town in County Kildare after Newbridge.
History
The name of Naas has been recorded in th ...
and
Newbridge. It is an old settlement located close to the archaeological sites of
Dún Ailinne
Dún Ailinne (; sometimes anglicized Dun Aulin) is an ancient ceremonial site on the hill of Cnoc Ailinne (Knockaulin) in County Kildare, Ireland. It is southwest of Kilcullen, near the R418 road to Athy. It is a large circular enclosure coveri ...
and
Old Kilcullen
''Old Kilcullen'', formerly ''Kilcullen'' (''Cill Chuilinn'', "the Church of the Holly" in Irish), is a townland in County Kildare, Ireland, which includes a noted religious archaeological site within its boundary. As a townland it is rel ...
. The village has a stream running through it with another to the south. As of the
2016 census, Calverstown had a population of 699.
History
Calverstown has been in existence as a named location since the early medieval period. An early reference to lands described as "Terra Philippi Vituli" (
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
for "Philip of Calves land") provides an unaudited confirmation in the form of a petition from the
Order of Hospitallers of
Kilmainham
Kilmainham (, meaning " St Maighneann's church") is a south inner suburb of Dublin, Ireland, south of the River Liffey and west of the city centre. It is in the city's Dublin 8 postal district. The area was once known as Kilmanum.
History
In th ...
listing their possessions to
Pope Innocent III
Pope Innocent III ( la, Innocentius III; 1160 or 1161 – 16 July 1216), born Lotario dei Conti di Segni (anglicized as Lothar of Segni), was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 January 1198 to his death in 16 J ...
in 1212. The Irish name ''Baile an Chalbhaigh'' was historically anglicised as ''Ballinchalwey, Ballinchallowe'' and ''Ballinchalloe''.
In a note to an edition of Bishop
Richard de Ledrede
Richard de Ledrede (died 1360/1361), also known as Richard Ledred, was a 14th-century churchman in Ireland who served as Bishop of Ossory. His long tenure as Bishop was marked by bitter controversies and repeated quarrels with his colleagues, bot ...
's account of the
Kyteler witchcraft trial, Wright (1843, pp. 56-57) noted that Walter le Veele, or Calf, of Calfstown was Chancellor of
Kildare Cathedral
The Cathedral Church of St. Brigid, Kildare, in Kildare, County Kildare, is one of two cathedrals in the United Dioceses of Meath and Kildare of the Church of Ireland in Ireland. It is in the ecclesiastical province of Dublin.
History Early hi ...
and was made
Bishop of Kildare
The Bishop of Kildare was an episcopal title which took its name after the town of Kildare in County Kildare, Ireland. The title is no longer in use by any of the main Christian churches having been united with other bishoprics. In the Roman Cat ...
in 1299. He purchased the manor of
Norragh, in which Calverstown is situated, from Geoffrey de Norragh before his death in 1332. The barony was inherited by his nephew John Calf, who passed it to his son Sir Robert Calf and to his daughter
Elizabeth Calf who married William Wellesley of Baronsrath, whose heirs held the barony after that. The name of the town appears to be derived from the anglicised name of the le Veele family.
It is explicitly mentioned in a Rental of Gerald
Earl of Kildare
Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word ''eorl'', meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form ''jarl'', and meant "chieftain", particular ...
begun in 1518-19
1518 as "In baronia de Norragh. Item, in the barone of the Norragh & may be distraynet at Calfiston: £6" (MacNiocaill 1992, 291); and in the Extents of Irish Monastic Possessions
1540
Year 1540 ( MDXL) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
January–June
* January 6 – King Henry VIII marries Anne of Cleves, his fourth Queen consort; the ma ...
-
41. In the former, the name is spelt Calfiston, in the latter, Calveston.
The Civil Survey of
1656
Events
January–March
* January 5 – The First War of Villmergen, a civil war in the Confederation of Switzerland pitting its Protestant and Roman Catholic cantons against each other, breaks out but is resolved by March 7. The ...
noted that in 1641 Calverstown contained 760
Irish acres of land and had one castle and a stone quarry and was held by Sir Robert Dixon (Simington 1952, 98) The Dixon family held the estate until about 1730, when it passed by inheritance to the
Borrowes Baronets
The Borrowes Baronetcy of Grangemellon in the County of Kildare, was a title in the Baronetage of Ireland. It was created on 14 February 1646 for Erasmus Borrowes, High Sheriff of Kildare in 1641. Erasmus was the son of Henry Borrowes of Gilltown ...
.
The population, street layout and land use have changed little over the past two-and-a-half centuries. A map from
1752
In the British Empire, it was the only leap year with 355 days, as September 3–13 were skipped when the Empire adopted the Gregorian calendar.
Events January–March
* January 1 – The British Empire (except Scotland, which h ...
shows a layout very similar to that of today. The natural environment reflects the predominance of well-established enclosed agricultural land.
The ruins of Calverstown Castle (an early 17th-century manor house incorporating an earlier tower house) are located to the south of the village in the demesne of the later (18th century) Calverstown House.
Battles at Ballyshannon and Kilrush
Two battles were fought nearby. In 738 at the Battle of Uchbad (Ballyshannon, Grid reference N78830), Aed Allin defeated the Laigin and established Kildare's hegemony over the kingship of Leinster that would last nearly 300 years. In 1642,
James Butler, Earl of Ormond defeated his second cousin
Richard Butler, Lord Mountgarrett, on the high grounds of Kilrush and Bullhill, a victory was considered so important that the English House of Commons voted him £500 for the purchase of a jewel, and petitioned the King to create him a Knight of the Garter. The site has since then been known as Battlemount (Grid reference S 77276). Guillaume le Maréchal (or
William Marshall), Earl of Pembroke and son-in-law of
Strongbow, founded an
Augustinian Augustinian may refer to:
*Augustinians, members of religious orders following the Rule of St Augustine
*Augustinianism, the teachings of Augustine of Hippo and his intellectual heirs
*Someone who follows Augustine of Hippo
* Canons Regular of Sain ...
Abbey in Kilrush at the start of the thirteenth century which subsisted until the
Suppression of the Monasteries in the 1540s.
[Journal of the Kildare Historical and Archaeological Society, Volume XVII pp125-126]
Birth of motor racing
![1903 Gordon Bennett Trophy](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/1903_Gordon_Bennett_Trophy._De_Knyff_passes_Winton_repairing_his_car.jpg)
On Thursday, 2 July 1903 the
Gordon Bennett Cup started at the Ballyshannon crossroads from the centre of Calverstown. It was the first international motor race to be held in Great Britain. The
Automobile Club of Great Britain and Ireland wanted the race to be hosted in the British Isles, and Ireland was suggested as the venue because racing was illegal on British public roads. After some lobbying, several local laws were adjusted and Kildare was chosen as the location – at least partly because the straightness of the roads was seen as a safety benefit. As a compliment to Ireland, the British team chose to race in
Shamrock green
Spring green is a color that was traditionally considered to be on the yellow side of green, but in modern computer systems based on the RGB color model is halfway between cyan and green on the color wheel.
The modern spring green, when plott ...
which thus became known as
British racing green
British racing green, or BRG, is a colour similar to ''Brunswick green'', ''hunter green'', ''forest green'' or '' moss green'' ( RAL 6005). It takes its name from the green international motor racing colour of the United Kingdom. This originat ...
. The route consisted of several loops of a circuit that passed through
Kilcullen
Kilcullen (), formally Kilcullen Bridge, is a small town on the River Liffey in County Kildare, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Its population of 3,473 at the 2011 census made it the 12th largest settlement in County Kildare and the fastest growi ...
,
Kildare
Kildare () is a town in County Kildare, Ireland. , its population was 8,634 making it the 7th largest town in County Kildare. The town lies on the R445, some west of Dublin – near enough for it to have become, despite being a regional cen ...
,
Monasterevin
Monasterevin (), also Monasterevan, and Mevin is a town in County Kildare, Ireland. The town lies on the River Barrow and the Barrowline, a canal branch of the Grand Canal. The population was 4,246 at the 2016 Census.
Location and Access
Situ ...
,
Stradbally
Stradbally () is a town in County Laois, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, located in the midlands of Ireland along the N80 road, a National Secondary Route, about from Portlaoise. It is a townland, a Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish an ...
,
Athy
Athy ( ; ) is a market town at the meeting of the River Barrow and the Grand Canal in south-west County Kildare, Ireland, 72 kilometres southwest of Dublin. A population of 9,677 (as of the 2016 census) makes it the sixth largest town in Kild ...
,
Castledermot
Castledermot () is an inland village in the south-east of Ireland in County Kildare, about from Dublin, and from the town of Carlow. The N9 road from Dublin to Waterford previously passed through the village but upon completion of a motorway ...
, and
Carlow
Carlow ( ; ) is the county town of County Carlow, in the south-east of Ireland, from Dublin. At the 2016 census, it had a combined urban and rural population of 24,272.
The River Barrow flows through the town and forms the historic bounda ...
. The race started at the Ballyshannon cross-roads () near Calverstown on the contemporary
N78. The race was ultimately won by the Belgian racer
Camille Jenatzy
Camille Jenatzy (1868, Schaerbeek – 8 December 1913, Habay la Neuve) was a Belgian race car driver. He is known for breaking the land speed record three times and being the first man to break the 100 km/h barrier.
He was nicknamed ''Le ...
, driving a Mercedes.
Notable people
*
Veronica Burns (1914 – 1998), was an Irish museum curator, born in Calverstown
*
Robert Dixon (1685-1732), was an Irish barrister, judge and politician
*
Ruby Walsh
Rupert Walsh (born 14 May 1979 in Kill, County Kildare, Ireland) is an Irish former jockey. He is the second child, and eldest son, of former champion amateur jockey Ted Walsh and his wife Helen. Walsh is the third most prolific winner in Britis ...
, a national hunt jockey, lives in Calverstown with his family.
See also
*
List of towns and villages in Ireland
Further reading
*
*
*
*
Notes
References
{{County Kildare
Towns and villages in County Kildare