Johnstown () is a 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 is located north of Naas just off the N7 at junction 8. It is approximately from Dublin city centre, and is a home for commuters working in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

and Naas. Most of the housing was built after 1990. The village was set out as a planned settlement. The main street was a part of the old main road southwest from Dublin towards Cork and Limerick, and the village was a hamlet in 1970. The Johnstown Inn was a busy coaching stop until the 19th century, and outside it the Cork mail coach was stopped and burned at the start of the

1798 rebellion The Irish Rebellion of 1798 ( ga, Éirí Amach 1798; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ''The Hurries'') was a major uprising against British rule in Ireland. The main organising force was the Society of United Irishmen, a Irish republicanism, ...

. It had a post office that closed in the 1920s, and still has the ruins of the medieval St John's church that became a ruin after 1500. The church is famous for the grave of the

Earl of Mayo Earl of the County of Mayo, usually known simply as Earl of Mayo, is a title in the Peerage of Ireland created, in 1785, for John Bourke, 1st Earl of Mayo, John Bourke, 1st Viscount Mayo (of the second creation). For many years he served as "Firs ...

, the

viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the French word ''roy'', meaning "k ...

, who was killed in India in 1872. The main road eventually bypassed Johnstown in 1964 when the Naas dual carriageway was finished. This was enlarged into the 6-lane N7 road from Dublin to Johnstown, after which it reduces to the 4-lane M7 motorway that runs towards

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

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See also