Newcastle () is a village in the south-western part of

South Dublin , image_map = Island of Ireland location map South Dublin.svg , map_caption = Inset showing South Dublin (darkest green in inset) within Dublin Region (lighter green) , area_total_km2 ...

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

. It is also a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

in the

barony Barony may refer to: * Barony, the peerage, office of, or territory held by a baron * Barony, the title and land held in fealty by a feudal baron * Barony (county division), a type of administrative or geographical division in parts of the British ...

of the same name. It was the location of the castle of the barony, which in historical and official documents is described as Newcastle-Lyons. The area is still primarily rural in nature. Newcastle village is within the administrative area of

South Dublin County Council South Dublin County Council ( ga, Comhairle Contae Átha Cliath Theas) is the authority responsible for local government in the county of South Dublin, Ireland. It is one of three local authorities created by the Local Government (Dublin) A ...

History

Evidence of ancient settlement in the Newcastle area include a number of

ringfort Ringforts, ring forts or ring fortresses are circular fortified settlements that were mostly built during the Bronze Age up to about the year 1000. They are found in Northern Europe, especially in Ireland. There are also many in South Wale ...

fulacht fiadh A burnt mound is an archaeological feature consisting of a mound of shattered stones and charcoal, normally with an adjacent hearth and trough. The trough could be rock-cut, wood-lined or clay-lined to ensure it was watertight. Radiocarbon ...

and

tower house A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, in order to command and defend strateg ...

sites in the

townland A townland ( ga, baile fearainn; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a small geographical division of land, historically and currently used in Ireland and in the Western Isles in Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of Gaelic orig ...

s of Newcastle Farm, Newcastle North, Newcastle South and Ballynakelly. A raised motte, dated to the 12th century

Norman invasion of Ireland The Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland took place during the late 12th century, when Anglo-Normans gradually conquered and acquired large swathes of land from the Irish, over which the kings of England then claimed sovereignty, all allegedly san ...

, is located close to the medieval church in Newcastle, St Finian's church. The parliamentary borough of Newcastle elected two MPs to the

Irish House of Commons The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until 1800. The upper house was the House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, but on a highly restrictive fran ...

from 1613 to 1801. It was disenfranchised by the

Acts of Union 1800 The Acts of Union 1800 (sometimes incorrectly referred to as a single 'Act of Union 1801') were parallel acts of the Parliament of Great Britain and the Parliament of Ireland which united the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ir ...

. The gradual relaxation of the Penal Laws throughout Ireland and Great Britain from 1778 onward culminated in the

Roman Catholic Relief Act 1793 The Roman Catholic Relief Act 1793 (33 Geo. III, c.21) is an Act of the Parliament of Ireland, relieving Roman Catholics of certain political, educational, and economic disabilities. The Act was introduced by the Chief Secretary for Ireland, ...

passed the Irish Parliament. The eventual achievement of full Catholic Relief was secured during the administration of the Dublin-born hero of the Napoleonic war, the

Duke of Wellington Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain, serving twice as prime minister ...

. Signed into law by

George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten y ...

, it proclaimed wide

Catholic Emancipation Catholic emancipation or Catholic relief was a process in the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, and later the combined United Kingdom in the late 18th century and early 19th century, that involved reducing and removing many of the restricti ...

in 1829. This followed a very effective Irish campaign by

Daniel O'Connell Daniel O'Connell (I) ( ga, Dónall Ó Conaill; 6 August 1775 – 15 May 1847), hailed in his time as The Liberator, was the acknowledged political leader of Ireland's Roman Catholic majority in the first half of the 19th century. His mobilizat ...

, 'the Liberator'. In the ensuing general Christian religious revival, it became possible for the reinstated

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

community to build a new church here in the 1830s. The existing pre-reformation Irish Church premises had continued in use as a place of worship by the established

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the sec ...

following the schism caused by the divorce of the newly created King of Ireland, Henry VIII. The subsequent church

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

in the 1550s under Edward and later under Elizabeth I during the Tudor reconquest and plantation of Ireland was only moderately successful. It did not succeed with the majority of the native Irish or Hiberno-Irish leaders or, as a consequence, with their few priests or their generally illiterate followers. The former residential tower fortification of the castle now forms part of St Finian's Church of Ireland church. It was built originally in the late 14th century. The eastern stained glass window of the church serves as an unofficial symbol of Newcastle village, and features on the crest of Saint Finian's National School.

Location and population

Newcastle-Lyons is located at the junction of the R120 and the R405 regional roads. It lies approximately 3 km north of the N7 at Rathcoole, 6 km south-east of

Celbridge Celbridge (; ) is a town and townland on the River Liffey in County Kildare, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is west of Dublin. Both a local centre and a commuter town within the Greater Dublin Area, it is located at the intersection of the ...

, and 9 km west of Tallaght. The village lies west of

Casement Aerodrome Casement Aerodrome ( ga, Aeradróm Mhic Easmainn) or Baldonnel Aerodrome is a military airbase to the southwest of Dublin, Ireland situated off the N7 main road route to the south and south west. It is the headquarters and the sole airfield of ...

(Baldonnell), the HQ of the Irish Air Corps. It features a public house and two churches. Peamount Hospital, a facility for long-term care, is 2 km north of the town centre on the R120. The 2001 census registered a village population of 1,160, but the surrounding area has grown rapidly since then, with the village population doubling by 2010.

Transport

Newcastle-Lyons is served by the number 68 bus to the city centre. It is also connected to the rail network via the nearby train station of Hazelhatch and Celbridge.

Sport

Newcastle-Lyons is home to St Finian's Newcastle GAA club ( ga, CLG Naomh Finnéin) which was founded in 1943. In 1949, the club won the Dublin Intermediate Championship. The

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

(soccer) club,

Peamount United F.C. Peamount United Football Club () is an Irish association football club based in Newcastle, South Dublin. The club is best known for its senior women's team who in 2011–12 became founder members and inaugural champions of the Women's National ...

, is also based in the area. Founded in 1983, the club is based in a purpose-built facility in

Greenogue Greenogue () is a football ground located in Newcastle, South Dublin, Ireland. Location Greenogue is located east-northeast of Newcastle, County Dublin and immediately west of Casement Aerodrome. Hosts The field at Greenogue is part of the ...

, Newcastle. In the 2011–12 season Peamount United's ladies team became the first Irish club to qualify for the UEFA Women's Champions League. Peamount United's male adult team plays in the Senior 1 division of the Leinster Senior League. The ladies' team plays in the Women's National League. Elm Hall Golf Club in located near Newcastle at Hazelhatch. It features two 18-hole

pitch and putt Pitch and putt is an amateur sport very similar to, and derived from, golf, where the hole length is typically up to and just 2–3 clubs are typically used. The game was organised and developed in Ireland during the early 20th century, befor ...

courses.

References

{{Authority control Towns and villages in South Dublin (county) Civil parishes of Newcastle, County Dublin

History

Location and population

Transport

Sport

See also

References