Celbridge (; ) is a town and
townland
A townland (; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a traditional small land division used in Ireland and in the Western Isles of Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of medieval Gaelic origin, predating the Norman invasion, and mo ...
on the
River Liffey
The River Liffey (Irish language, Irish: ''An Life'', historically ''An Ruirthe(a)ch'') is a river in eastern Ireland that ultimately flows through the centre of Dublin to its mouth within Dublin Bay. Its major Tributary, tributaries include t ...
in
County Kildare
County Kildare () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, 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 gove ...
,
Ireland
Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
. It is west of
Dublin
Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
. Both a local centre and a commuter town within the
Greater Dublin Area
The Greater Dublin Area (GDA; Irish: ''Mórcheantar Bhaile Átha Cliath''), or simply Greater Dublin, is an informal term that is taken to include the city of Dublin and its hinterland, with varying definitions as to its extent. At the expansive ...
, it is located at the intersection of the
R403 and
R405 regional roads. As of the
2022 census, Celbridge was the third largest town in County Kildare by population, with 20,601 residents.
The town originated in the 13th century, the name Cill Droichid being anglicised to Celbridge after 1714.
Etymology
The name ''Celbridge'' is derived from the Irish ''Cill Droichid'' meaning "Church of bridge" or "Church by the bridge". The Irish name was historically
anglicised
Anglicisation or anglicization is a form of cultural assimilation whereby something non-English becomes assimilated into or influenced by the culture of England. It can be sociocultural, in which a non-English place adopts the English language ...
as ''Kildroicht'', ''Kildrought'', ''Kildroght'', ''Kildrout'' ().
Demographics
Celbridge is the third largest town in County Kildare. The population increased by 7.8% between 2002 and 2006, the town's most rapid growth rate in absolute terms (3,011 in four years). However, in percentage terms, it was a slowdown on previous growth rates which were at one stage the highest in Ireland. Celbridge's growth slowed down to 1.5% between 2016 and 2022, reaching a population of 20,601 as of the
census
A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
of 2022.
Of the 2006 population of 17,262. 8,732 were male and 8,530 female, 4,307 (25pc) were aged 0–14, 2,678 (15.5pc) were aged 15–24, 6,219 (35pc) were aged 35–44, 3,400 (19.7pc) were aged 45–64 and 658 (3.6pc) were aged 65 years and over. Of these 9,586 were single, 6,602 were married, 715 were widowed and 359 were separated. Only 4,146 (24.4pc) of the 16,980 who were recorded by the census as "usually resident in Celbridge" had been born in County Kildare. 10,071 (59.3pc) had been born elsewhere in Ireland and 2,763 (16.3pc) were born outside Ireland.
Churches
Celbridges's two main active parish churches are those of St. Patrick (
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
) and Christ Church (Church of Ireland). St Patrick's forms part of the Catholic Parish of Celbridge and Straffan within the Archdiocese of Dublin.
Christ Church is the Anglican Parish Church for Celbridge and forms part of the grouped Parish of Celbridge, Straffan and Newcastle-Lyons in the Archdiocese of Dublin and Diocese of Glendalough.
The Bridge Church is a non-denominational independent church formed in 2005. The congregation is made of more than 200 adults and children drawn from many nations. Its current pastor is Paul R Carley, who founded the church. Pastor Carley has ministered in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Belarus and Kenya.
Education
Celbridge has six primary schools: Primrose Hill (co-ed, COI), St Brigid's (girls, RC), Aghards also known as Scoil Mochua (mixed, RC), Scoil na Mainistreach (mixed, RC), North Kildare Educate Together National School (mixed, multi-denominational), and St Patrick's currently located in the GAA grounds on the Newcastle road (mixed, RC); and three secondary schools: Celbridge Community School (a coeducational school, operating under the auspices of the Kildare/Wicklow Education & Training Board and Educate Together.),
St. Wolstan's Community School for girls (the only all-female community school in Ireland), and
Salesian College Celbridge for boys.
There is also a residential special school, Saint Raphael's, (co-educational, Catholic) for children with a learning disability. Celbridge also has one of the very few Primary Montessori Schools in Ireland, Weston Primary Montessori School, which was established in 2016 by the parents and teachers of the former Glebe School. This school provides Montessori education to children from 3–12 years and is located on the grounds of Barnhall Rugby Club.
Transport and access
Celbridge's growth has created some traffic congestion, including at peak times. A 2008 report by Kildare County Council attributed some of the issues to the single bridge over the Liffey in the town, and issues with illegal parking and parking enforcement. The Celbridge Interchange (Junction 6 of the
M4) which connects the town to the motorway as well as the
Intel
Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and Delaware General Corporation Law, incorporated in Delaware. Intel designs, manufactures, and sells computer compo ...
and
Hewlett-Packard
The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company. It was founded by Bill Hewlett and David Packard in 1939 in a one-car garage in Palo Alto, California ...
plants in Leixlip, was opened in 2003 to help address related traffic issues, with some success.
The town is served by
Dublin Bus
Dublin Bus () is an Irish State-owned enterprise, state-owned bus operator providing services in Dublin. By far the largest bus operator in the city, it carried 145 million passengers in 2023. It is a subsidiary of CIÉ, Córas Iompair Éireann ...
along the C4, X27 and X28 routes along with a night time service (C6). Local services are also provided by Dublin Bus, as the L58 and L59, while
Go-Ahead Ireland
Go-Ahead Transport Services (Dublin) Limited, trading as Go-Ahead Ireland, is a bus operator in Dublin that commenced trading in September 2018. It is a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group.
History
With the aim of improving efficiency, in 2015 t ...
operate the W61. These routes link the town to the city centre, as well as to the nearby towns of
Lucan
Marcus Annaeus Lucanus (3 November AD 39 – 30 April AD 65), better known in English as Lucan (), was a Roman poet, born in Corduba, Hispania Baetica (present-day Córdoba, Spain). He is regarded as one of the outstanding figures of the Imper ...
,
Maynooth
Maynooth (; ) is a university town in north County Kildare, Ireland. It is home to Maynooth University (part of the National University of Ireland and also known as the National University of Ireland, Maynooth) and St Patrick's College, Maynoo ...
and
Leixlip
Leixlip ( or ; , ) is a town in north-east County Kildare, Ireland. Its location on the confluence of the River Liffey and the Rye Water has marked it as a frontier town historically: on the border between the ancient kingdoms of Leinster and ...
. The Town is also served by
Bus Éireann
Bus Éireann (; "Irish Bus") is a state-owned bus and coach operator providing services throughout Republic of Ireland, Ireland, with the exception of Dublin, where bus services are provided by sister company Dublin Bus. It is a subsidiary of C ...
route 120 and 120B.
Iarnród Éireann
Iarnród Éireann, () or Irish Rail, is the operator of the national Rail transport in Ireland, railway network of Ireland. Established on 2 February 1987, it is a subsidiary of CIÉ, Córas Iompair Éireann (CIÉ). It operates all internal I ...
runs commuter rail services to a station in Hazelhatch, about from Celbridge. The L58, L59 and W61 bus services link the station with the rest of Celbridge, Leixlip, and Maynooth, providing connections to other bus and rail routes. ''Commuter'' suburban rail services from
Kildare
Kildare () is a town in County Kildare, Ireland. , its population was 10,302, making it the 7th largest town in County Kildare. It is home to Kildare Cathedral, historically the site of an important abbey said to have been founded by Saint ...
to
Dublin
Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
city centre serve Hazelhatch, although these are quite limited on Sundays. The service brings passengers to
Heuston station or to Grand Canal Dock (via Connolly Station, Tara Street and Pearse Street stations). The station is located on one of the most important ''InterCity'' lines in the country, with services to Cork, Limerick and Galway, however, these do not stop at Hazelhatch station.
Sport and voluntary groups
GAA
Celbridge GAA
Celbridge is a Gaelic Athletic Association club in Celbridge, County Kildare, Ireland. They were awarded Kildare GAA club of the year in 2008, winners of the Kildare Senior Club Football Championship, Kildare senior football championship of 200 ...
park and centre on the
Hazelhatch Road was opened in 1996, ending 52 years without a home, the club having lost its field in Ballymakeally after a court case in 1944. Celbridge GAA club is the third oldest club in County Kildare, formed on 15 August 1885, eight months after the GAA was founded in
Thurles
Thurles (; ''Durlas Éile'') is a town in County Tipperary, Ireland. It is located in the civil parish of the same name in the barony of Eliogarty and in the ecclesiastical parish of Thurles. The cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Arch ...
. In 1890 there were two clubs in the parish: Celbridge Shamrocks, based in Kilwogan with 64 members, and the Irish Harpers at Hazelhatch, with 70 members.
Celbridge play at senior level in both codes. They won their first
Kildare Senior Football Championship
The Kildare Senior Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football competition organised by Kildare GAA between the top clubs in County Kildare, Ireland. The winners of the Championship qualify to represent their county in the Leinster Senior ...
in 2008. Celbridge GAA had won its first
Kildare Senior Hurling Championship
The Kildare Senior Hurling Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the UPMC Kildare Senior Hurling Championship and abbreviated to the Kildare SHC) is an annual club hurling competition organised by the Kildare GAA, Kildare County Board o ...
in 1921. Success in the top hurling competition in Kildare would not arrive until 2005 when Celbridge, managed by Jimmy Doyle, beat Coill Dubh in the final. Following a number of semi-final defeats, a "three in a row" of hurling titles came in 2009, 2010 and 2011. After defeat in the 2012 decider to Confey, Celbridge reclaimed the title in 2013. The club has won the
Kildare Senior Camogie Championship in 2005, 2006 and 2010, and won the U21 football county championship in 2012 and 2014.
Association football
The town has two clubs. Celbridge Town AFC, which was formed in 1959 and plays its home games in St Patricks Park. Ballyoulster United FC, which was formed in 1968 and plays its home games at Louglinstown road. Both clubs compete in the Leinster Senior League.
Golf and pitch and putt
Celbridge Elm Hall Golf Club is a 9-hole parkland course located adjacent to Celbridge / Hazelhatch train station on the Loughlinstown Road. Celbridge's 18 hole championship
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 normally used. The game was organised and developed in Ireland during the early 20th century, before ...
course meets
PPUI standards.
Athletics
Local resident
Mark Kenneally represented Ireland in the marathon at the 2012 London Summer Olympics.
George Magan was Irish cross country champion in 1920 and 1922, Irish Mile champion in 1919, 1921 and 1922, Irish 880 yards champion in 1918, 1919 and 1921, and Irish four-mile (6 km) champion in 1921.
Jack Guiney was Irish champion in the triple jump and shot in 1937.
Celbridge Athletic Club is active locally, and has over 500 participants across all ages.
Rugby
Celbridge Rugby Club, founded by Fr Joseph Furlong, competed in the Towns Cup in 1928/29. Celbridge players compete in the All Ireland League with
MU Barnhall.
Watersports
Celbridge Paddlers canoeclub is a multidiscipline kayaking club,
which was formed in 1984 and is affiliated to the
Irish Canoe Union.
The annual
Liffey Descent Canoe Race passes through Celbridge, where competitors have to navigate the Vanessa weir and Castletown rapids.
Other sports
Celbridge Tennis Club was founded in 1923, and the club's premises on Hazelhatch Road were opened in the 1970s.
Celbridge horse racecourse is mentioned in the ''
Freeman's Journal
The ''Freeman's Journal'', which was published continuously in Dublin from 1763 to 1924, was in the nineteenth century Ireland's leading nationalist newspaper.
History Patriot journal
It was founded in 1763 by Charles Lucas and was identified ...
'' of 27 September 1763 and 4 October 1763, but was not in use after the end of the 18th century. Locally trained horse
Workman, trained by
Jack Ruttle out of
Hazelhatch Stud, was the winner of the
Aintree Grand National in 1939. A point-to-point meeting was held at nearby Windgaps 1912–1954.
A cricket club was active from 1880 to 1902. Kildare County Polo Club had their grounds on Castletown Estate 1901–1906. Among those who played polo in Celbridge was
Prince Heinrich, younger brother to Kaiser William II.
There is salmon and sea trout angling locally, with trout found from
Islandbridge
Island Bridge (), formerly Sarah or Sarah's Bridge, is a road bridge spanning the River Liffey, in Dublin, Ireland which joins the South Circular Road to Conyngham Road at the Phoenix Park.
Island Bridge and the surrounding area (often known ...
upstream, with other trout fishing grounds above
Leixlip
Leixlip ( or ; , ) is a town in north-east County Kildare, Ireland. Its location on the confluence of the River Liffey and the Rye Water has marked it as a frontier town historically: on the border between the ancient kingdoms of Leinster and ...
and all the way to
Ballymore Eustace.
Community groups
There are three separate
Scouting Ireland
Scouting Ireland () is one of the largest youth movements on the island of Ireland, a voluntary educational movement for young people with over 45,000 members, including over 11,000 adult volunteers . Of the 750,000 people between the ages of 6 ...
Groups in operation in Celbridge. The Groups are 1st Kildare (2nd Celbridge), 3rd Kildare (1st Celbridge), and 19th Kildare. The Celbridge Amenity Group is also active locally.
Politics
Celbridge is located within the
Kildare North constituency, which elects 4 TDs to the
Dáil.
Despite its size (third largest in the county – and larger than other towns which had their own councils such as
Leixlip
Leixlip ( or ; , ) is a town in north-east County Kildare, Ireland. Its location on the confluence of the River Liffey and the Rye Water has marked it as a frontier town historically: on the border between the ancient kingdoms of Leinster and ...
and
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 11,035 (as of the 2022 census) made it the sixth largest town in Kil ...
), and numerous proposals, the town was not granted a town council. This meant that
Kildare County Council
Kildare County Council () is the Local government in the Republic of Ireland, local authority of County Kildare, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. As a county council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. The council is responsible for ...
had full control over zoning land in the area, leading to some local discontent. The point is now moot, as town councils have been abolished in Ireland.
History
Origins
There is evidence of 5,000 years of habitation, as evidenced by beads and quern stones in the
National Museum
A national museum can be a museum maintained and funded by a national government. In many countries it denotes a museum run by the central government, while other museums are run by regional or local governments. In the United States, most nati ...
from
Griffinrath (), and the nearby high ground sloping down to the
Liffey. Research has linked Celbridge with the
Slí Mór possibly crossing the Liffey at a ford located below the site of the mill directly east of the bridge rather than at
Castletown House
Castletown House, Celbridge, County Kildare, Ireland, is a Palladian country house built in 1722 for William Conolly, the Speaker of the Irish House of Commons. It formed the centrepiece of an estate. The estate was sold in 1965, and late ...
, as previously thought.
The etymology of
Donaghcumper Church (church of the confluence, "Domhnach" is one of the earliest Irish words for church) (.) suggests it may have existed as a monastic site from the 5th century.
Folklore and heroic literature associate the north bank of Celbridge with both
Saint Patrick
Saint Patrick (; or ; ) was a fifth-century Romano-British culture, Romano-British Christian missionary and Archbishop of Armagh, bishop in Gaelic Ireland, Ireland. Known as the "Apostle of Ireland", he is the primary patron saint of Irelan ...
(hill and church of uncertain antiquity in
Ardrass) (.) and
Saint Mochua (c570), who was associated with a church in
Tea Lane (.), and a well on the site of the current mill where pagan converts were baptised.
Parish of Kildrought
The original Kildrought parish church (built 14th century, burned 1798) stood in the present graveyard at Tea Lane and houses the mausoleums of the Dongan and Conolly families. It was granted by the Normans to the Abbey of St Thomas in Dublin.
Donaghcumper Church (c1150) had windows of cut stone inserted into the building in the 14th century. Its ruins are extant in the main graveyard in Celbridge, and members of the Alan family are buried in the church vault.
The old parish of Donaghcumper consisted of the modern townlands of Parsonstown, Rinnawad, Ballyoulster, Commons, Coneyboro, Coolfitch, Donaghcumper, Elm Hall, Loughlinstown, Newtown, Reeves, Simmonstown, Straleek and St. Wolstans. Pre Norman churches served the adjoining parishes in Donaghcumper (.) and
Stacumny (.) (mentioned 1176, burned 1297, held in 1308 by a parson, Waleys) to the east, Adherrig or Aderrig further to the east (Athdearg or Red Ford, church first mentioned 1220) (.),
Kilmacreddock (.) to the north east, the tiny parish of
Donaghmore (plundered 1150, mentioned in letter 1190) further to the north (.),
Laraghbryan (plundered 1036 and 1171) (.) to the north west, and
Killadoon (.) to the south.
The modern
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
parish of Celbridge and Straffan comprises the medieval parishes of Kildrought and
Straffan
Straffan () is a village in County Kildare, Ireland. It is situated on the banks of the River Liffey, 25 km upstream of the Irish capital Dublin. As of the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census, the village had a population of 1,158, an over ...
, as well as the former parishes of
Stacumny,
Donaghcumper,
Killadoon,
Castledillon and
Kilmacredock. The parish of
Stacumny (Teach Cumni) originally included the townlands of Ballymadeer, Balscott and Stacumny. Killadoon from Cill an Dún may get its name from the earthen mound that still stands by the gate leading into the grounds surrounding Killadoon House. On the left-hand side of the avenue, as you enter through the gate, there is an overgrown churchyard with some headstones.
Killadoon parish embraced the present townlands of Ardrass, Ballymakeally, Crippaun, Killadoon, Killenlea and Posseckstown.
Kilmacredock is the smallest of the medieval parishes. A roofless ruin is all that remains of the original church. It is named for Redoc, who had a son who established a religious foundation southwest of the present town of Leixlip. Bellingham family members were buried in a vault in the floor of the building, but their remains were removed in the mid-20th century.
Town of Kildrought
The town of Kildrought or Kildroighid developed around the castle, monastery and mill of Kildrought which
Thomas de Hereford, the Norman Lord of Kildrought erected early in the 13th century. The one long street running between the de Hereford Castle and lands of Castletown, and the mill, had taken shape by 1314 when Henry le Waleys was charged at a Naas court of "breaking the doors" of houses in the town of Kildrought and by night "taking geese, hens, beer and other victuals" against the will of the people of the town.
By the time of the Down Survey (1654–1656) the population was 102 and the Dongan family were in possession of all the land in Celbridge. Killadoon House was the home of John Dongan's brother in law
Richard Talbot Earl of Tyrconnell. Dongan died at the Battle of the Boyne and is buried in Tea Lane cemetery. Talbot died immediately before the Siege of Limerick. His widow remained in Killadoon, outliving the two men who took over the town from her husband and John Dongan,
Bartholmew Van Homrigh and
William Conolly
William Conolly (9 April 1662 – 30 October 1729), also known as Speaker Conolly, was an Irish Whig politician, Commissioner of Revenue, lawyer and landowner. He was an influential figure in Irish politics, serving as Speaker of the Irish ...
.
Kildrought to Celbridge
The present day houses in Celbridge Main Street and town centre were built over a period of two hundred years.
Celbridge Abbey was built in 1703 by a Dutch Williamite emigre,
Bartholmew Van Homrigh. He was appointed Chief Commissioner for Stores in Ireland for the victorious allied forces of
William III and
Mary II
Mary II (30 April 1662 – 28 December 1694) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England, List of Scottish monarchs, Scotland, and Monarchy of Ireland, Ireland with her husband, King William III and II, from 1689 until her death in 1694. Sh ...
who defeated the
Jacobite alliance, and enforced the
Treaty of Limerick
The Treaty of Limerick (), signed on 3 October 1691, ended the Williamite War in Ireland, a conflict related to the Nine Years' War (1688–1697). It consisted of two separate agreements, one with military terms of surrender, signed by commander ...
in 1691. He moved to Kildrought Manor in 1695. When
William "Speaker" Conolly purchased the rundown Castletown Estate in 1709 from
Thomas Dongan
Thomas Dongan, 2nd Earl of Limerick (1634 – 14 December 1715) was an Irish military officer and colonial administrator who served as the governor of New York from 1683 to 1688. He called the first representative legislature in the Province o ...
, the restored
Earl of Limerick
Earl of Limerick is a title that has been created twice in the Peerage of Ireland, associated first with the Dongan family, then with the Pery family. It should not be confused with the title Viscount of the City of Limerick (usually shortened ...
and later
Governor of New York
The governor of New York is the head of government of the U.S. state of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor ...
, he complained that "all the Earl's tenants were beggars". Conolly built his new mansion at Castletown, cleared the existing tenantry and began to develop the town. Improvers and speculative developers followed Conolly to Celbridge. The new leases were granted on condition that the builders erect substantial stone houses with gable ends and two chimneys, replacing mud cabins and waste ground.
Existing mercantile buildings such as the 17th-century
Market House
A market house or market hall is a covered space historically used as a marketplace to exchange goods and services such as provisions or livestock, sometimes combined with spaces for public or civic functions on the upper floors and often with a ...
, where the town's first school was based in 1709, were incorporated into the expanding mill complex of buildings near the bridge. Developers began to survey e green field sites to the north east of the bridge in the direction of Castletown House. The result was to move the axis of Celbridge away from the bridge, corn and tuck mill and road to St Mochua's church to a new Main Street.
The old Irish name Cill Droichid (Kildrought), meaning the church of the bridge, was anglicised first to Cellbridge and then, after 1724, to Celbridge. Swift in his letters to
Vanessa always named the place "Kildrought", but she replied from "Celbridge".
Celbridge's 18th-century bridge had to be rebuilt after it was destroyed in a flood in December 1802.
Historic buildings and places
Celbridge Main Street
The development of the Main Street commenced with the building of
Kildrought House by Joseph Rotheny in 1720 for Robert Baillie, a Dublin upholsterer who was William Conolly's greatest prospect as an improving tenant. A large extension, which included a malt house, was added after Baillie sold in 1749. Kildrought house became home to John Begnall's Academy after 1782. Among the attendees were the sons of
Col George Napier,
George,
Charles
Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''* ...
,
William
William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...
and
Henry
Henry may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Henry (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters
* Henry (surname)
* Henry, a stage name of François-Louis Henry (1786–1855), French baritone
Arts and entertainmen ...
, later to be collectively known as "
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...
's Colonels, " and their younger brother
Richard Napier
Richard Napier (1559 – 1 April 1634) was a prominent England, English astrologer and medical practitioner.
Life
Also known as Dr Richard Sandy, he was the brother of Sir Sir Robert Napier, 1st Baronet, of Luton Hoo, Robert Napier of Luton H ...
, and
John Jebb (1775–1833), later
Church of Ireland
The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...
bishop of
Limerick
Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...
,
Ardfert
Ardfert () is a village and Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish in County Kerry, Ireland. Historically a religious centre, the economy of the locality is driven by agriculture and its position as a dormitory town, being only from Tralee. T ...
, and
Aghadoe. Jeremiah Haughton, owner of the Mill lived there after 1818. For a time in the early 19th century, Kildrought House had a cholera hospital attached to it and served as the local police barracks from 1831 to 1841 when the barrack moved to the site of the current Michaelangelo's restaurant. After 1861 it was leased by Richard Maunsell of Oakley Park. Next door is the courthouse where the local petty sessions took place every fourth week. It later became home of
Lloyd Christian, athletics pioneer and colleague of
Michael Cusack in the
hurling
Hurling (, ') is an outdoor Team sport, team game of ancient Gaelic culture, Gaelic Irish origin, played by men and women. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goa ...
revival of the 1880s.

No. 22 Main Street, the original home of Conolly's second agent George Finey was occupied by
Richard Guinness for a time and his sons
Arthur
Arthur is a masculine given name of uncertain etymology. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur.
A common spelling variant used in many Slavic, Romance, and Germanic languages is Artur. In Spanish and Ital ...
, founder of the Guinness brewery, and Samuel. Richar
married Elizabeth Clare proprietor of the White Hart Inn, a public house at the site of the current Londis supermarket. Finey's successor as Conolly's agent, Dublin cabinetmaker Charles Davis, built Jessamine Lodge, an impressive fivebay house with a weather vane on the junction of Main Street and the Maynooth Road (1750). It was home to seven generations of Mulligans until 1992. One of the Mulligans had the decorative iron arch to the entrance gate constructed from material salvaged from the GPO Dublin after the 1916 Rising. The Castletown Inn stands where Isaac Annesley, the early 18th-century master stonemason, lived. One of the oldest houses in the town. No 59 next door, was renovated in the latter half of the 18th century for Thomas Conolly's huntsman. Christopher Barry's Auctioneers was built in 1840 by Richard Nelson and let to Chief Constable Marley, it replaced an old dwellinghouse with stables and offices where William Wadsworth, the original Irish Straw Manufacturer and exporter lived and operated at the end of the 19th century. On the corner of the Main Street and Liffey Bridge, Broe's house and shop (1773) is now the Bank of Ireland. Matthew Gogarty came from Clondalkin in 1818 and established his shop on the other side of the street. James Carberry's Brewery (1709) later became Coyles and eventually Norris's and the Village Inn. Roseville was built in 1796.
Other notable buildings on Main Street include the Catholic Church (1857
JJ McCarthy Architect), the Holy Faith convent (1877) and Christ Church (Church of Ireland, 1884) which retains the tower of an earlier church (1813). Castletown gates at the end of the street were built in 1783 after a design inspired by
Batty Langley
Batty Langley (''baptised'' 14 September 1696 – 3 March 1751) was an English garden designer, and prolific writer who produced a number of engraved designs for " Gothick" structures, summerhouses and garden seats in the years before the mid-1 ...
. According to research by local historian Lena Boylan, the work was by a stonemason named Coates and a blacksmith named Behan.
Temple Mills
The oldest mill in the area is Temple Mills, operated by the Tyrrell family for 300 years, 2 km outside the town on the
Ardclough
Ardclough, officially Ardclogh (; ), is a village and community in the parish of Kill, County Kildare, Ireland. It is two miles (3 km) off the N7 national primary road. It is the burial place and probable birthplace of Arthur Guinness, wh ...
Road(.). Joseph Shaw's flax and flour mills was a major employer in the town until its closure after the death of William Shaw.
Templeplace: a vanished settlement
The now disappeared "town" of Templeplace is recording as having a population of 279 in 1841, 310 in 1851, 382 in 1861, 402 in 1871 and was, after 1881, included in the townland of Newtown "on which it stood" as it "did not contain 20 inhabited houses." A footnote to the census returns comments "the decline in population is attributed to the discontinuance of the flax mill". The population of Newtown in 1891 was 128, down from 145.
Celbridge Mill
The Manor Mills (built by
Louisa Conolly
Lady Louisa Conolly (5 December 1743 – August 1821) was an English noblewoman. She was the third of the famous Lennox Sisters, and was notable among them for leading a wholly uncontroversial life filled with good works.
Biography
Born La ...
in 1785–1788, extended by Laurence Atkinson 1805, restored 1985) incorporate parts of the old Celbridge Market House. It was purchased by Jeremiah and Thomas Houghton after Atkinson's bankruptcy in 1815. When the Houghton partnership became bankrupt in 1818 Jeremiah took charge of the operation.
Houghton told a
parliamentary committee
A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...
that this mill was the biggest wool manufactory in Ireland. the mill was described as employing several hundred people when King
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 29 January 1820 until his death in 1830. At the time of his accession to the throne, h ...
visited Celbridge in August 1821 and the description "biggest wool manufactory in Ireland" was repeated in the 1845 Parliamentary Gazetteer. It employed 600 people at full capacity, some of them children who were eight and nine years of age. Workers from Yorkshire who came to work in the mill lived in Tea Lane (so called because of the amount of discarded tea leaves on the street) and English Row. The closure of the mills in 1879 caused the population of Celbridge to plunge from a 19th-century peak of 1,674 in 1861 (1,391 in 1871) to 988 in 1881 and a low of 811 in 1891
Under the Irish Government regeneration scheme of the 1930s, the Leinster Hand Weaving Company acquired the premises for conversion into a weaving mill. Celbridge woollen mill was operated by Youghal carpets (acquired 1966, workforce extended from 120 jobs in October 1969.). It was a major employer until its closure in May 1982 with the loss of 220 jobs. This ended two centuries of intermittent wool production in the village. The mill now serves as a community centre. Its warehouses which bear a wallmount dating the Mill to 1785, and a stone commemorating the site of St Mochua's well.
Mills at Coneyburrow (Newbridge, near St. Wolstan's) (.) were granted to Robert Randall, Dublin paper maker, in 1729, and were later converted for use as a flourmill.
Brewery
After Richard Guinness married Elizabeth Read (1698–1742), of a brewing family from
Bishopscourt and an aunt of
Arthur Guinness
Arthur Guinness ( 172523 January 1803) was an Irish brewer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. The inventor of Guinness beer, he founded the Guinness Brewery at St. James's Gate in 1759.
Guinness was born in Ardclogh, near Celbridge, County Ki ...
, he took over the town brewery in 1722 and moved it from the site of the Village Inn to where the entrance forecourt of the Holy Faith convent is today There he placed his land steward Richard Guinness in charge of production of "a brew of a very palatable nature". In 1752, Dr Price's estate bequeathed £100 to Richard's son, the 27-year-old Arthur Guinness to help him expand the brewery, first in 1755 on a new site in
Leixlip
Leixlip ( or ; , ) is a town in north-east County Kildare, Ireland. Its location on the confluence of the River Liffey and the Rye Water has marked it as a frontier town historically: on the border between the ancient kingdoms of Leinster and ...
and from 1759 in
St James's Gate in
Dublin
Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
. Some of the blocked up doors from the original PriceGuinness brewery can still be seen on the perimeter walls of the Catholic Church forecourt.
Workhouse
Celbridge
workhouse
In Britain and Ireland, a workhouse (, lit. "poor-house") was a total institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. In Scotland, they were usually known as Scottish poorhouse, poorh ...
was constructed between 1839 and 1841 and is the smallest of three
workhouses
In Britain and Ireland, a workhouse (, lit. "poor-house") was a total institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. In Scotland, they were usually known as poorhouses. The earliest ...
in County Kildare. It was built at a cost of £6,800 and was designed to house 519 people from Celbridge, Lucan, Rathcoole, Leixlip, Maynooth and Kilcock, an area containing 25,424 people.
A site on the Maynooth road has a memorial to between 1,500 and 2,500 inmates who died and were buried there during the
Great Famine of 1845/47, subsequently restored by the community. According to Tony Doohan's "History of Celbridge" during the worst of this disaster, a human being died every hour. Another historian Seamus Cummins suggests that the effects of the famine in the Celbridge
Poor Law
In English and British history, poor relief refers to government and ecclesiastical action to relieve poverty. Over the centuries, various authorities have needed to decide whose poverty deserves relief and also who should bear the cost of hel ...
District area were less traumatic than elsewhere (such as south Kildare) because of the availability of wage economy employment in the district.
After the 1860s the workhouse was used as a fever hospital, regarded as progressive for its time, as a home for the elderly and infirm, and for unmarried mothers. Orphans and illegitimate children were fostered out into the village community from the workhouse and also from the
Holy Faith convents in Dublin.
In 1922 the workhouse was used as a base by the
Free State army
The National Army, sometimes unofficially referred to as the Free State Army or the Regulars, was the army of the Irish Free State from January 1922 until October 1924. Its role in this period was defined by its service in the Irish Civil War, ...
, was visited by General
Michael Collins Michael Collins or Mike Collins most commonly refers to:
* Michael Collins (Irish leader) (1890–1922), Irish revolutionary leader, soldier, and politician
* Michael Collins (astronaut) (1930–2021), American astronaut, member of Apollo 11 and Ge ...
and there are claims that the barracks was the first in which the uniform of the new Free State army was worn. After 1923 the workhouse was closed and the barracks vacated. By 1933 the Union Paint factory had been established on the site and in 1934 there were plans for a rope factory by Henry's from Cork Street in Dublin. In 1939 the current
Garda barracks was built on part of the workhouse site.
The workhouse is now a paint shop.
Former Methodist Hall
The cut stone former Methodist Hall on Ardclough Road fell into disrepair during the 1980s but was acquired and renovated by Cunninghams Funeral Directors in the mid-1990s.
Other industry
John Wynn Baker (c. 1730 – 1775), agricultural improver and writer, established the first factory in Ireland in 1765 with the financial assistance of the Dublin Society on a property at Elm Hall on the Loughlinstown Road near the newly constructed
Grand Canal at
Hazlehatch for manufacturing agricultural implements.
One of Celbridge's most original industries was the Callender Paper Company established in Celbridge in 1903 to make paper from
peat
Peat is an accumulation of partially Decomposition, decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, Moorland, moors, or muskegs. ''Sphagnum'' moss, also called peat moss, is one of the most ...
. Despite the report in the
Irish Times
''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...
of 25 June 1904 that facilities of the company were "totally inadequate to cope with demand" and that "Celbridge peat paper is finding its way into almost every village and hamlet in Ireland" the enterprise had already run into financial trouble by November 1904.
In 1977 French electrical group
Telemecanigue invested £6m in establishing a factory on the Maynooth Road, employing 500 people at peak.
Schneider MGTE group closed the factory in September 2003.
Development
Six main residential and commercial areas were developed in Celbridge over a period of 250 years: Main Street (1720–1750), Tea (or Tay) Lane (1760), Maynooth Road (1790, when construction of Jasmine Lodge replaced six cabins on Main Street and eight cabins on Maynooth Road), English Row (1805–1811), Ballyoulster (1948–1951), and St Patrick's Park (two phases 1954–1957 and 1964–1967). The historical population of the town in the 19th and 20th century period closely mirrored periods of activity and cyclical closure of the town's
woollen mills
Woolen (American English) or woollen (Commonwealth English) is a type of yarn made from carded wool. Woolen yarn is soft, light, stretchy, and full of air. It is thus a good insulator, and makes a good knitting yarn. Woolen yarn is in contrast t ...
, once the largest in the country.
Housing estates
Celbridge was rezoned for rapid growth under the 1967
Kildare Development Plan. That year a consortium of Brian and Tony Rhattigan and the McMullan brothers, who owned the Maxol petroleum group, purchased most of the former Castletown Estate for development purposes. Planning permission was granted on appeal for a suburban housing estate along the edge of the avenue leading into
Castletown House
Castletown House, Celbridge, County Kildare, Ireland, is a Palladian country house built in 1722 for William Conolly, the Speaker of the Irish House of Commons. It formed the centrepiece of an estate. The estate was sold in 1965, and late ...
. In response
Desmond Guinness personally bought the house in 1967 to save the immediate hinterland from development and established the
Irish Georgian Society in the building.
Permission was granted for the first development of 400 houses within the gates of Castletown in 1969 and the first phase of Castletown Estate was opened by
Minister for Industry and Commerce Justin Keating
Justin Pascal Keating (7 January 1930 – 31 December 2009) was an Irish Labour Party politician, broadcaster, journalist, lecturer and veterinary surgeon. In later life he was president of the Humanist Association of Ireland.
Keating was tw ...
on 1 October 1975. This was followed by more than 30 housing developments over the next thirty years. The 1986 census listed Celbridge (+54.9pc) as the fastest growing town in Ireland.
The population, which had been 1,514 in 1966, rose to 1,744 in 1971, 3,230 in 1979, 4,583 in 1981, 7,135 in 1986, 9,629 in 1991, 12,289 in 1996, 14,251 in 2002 and 17,262 in 2006.
A 2008 planning application by Devondale Ltd for a new €750m mixed-use development at Donaghcumper Demesne for offices, shops, restaurants, sixscreen cinema and 108 detached houses on the site, which is being promoted as "a natural extension" to Celbridge, has been criticised by local planners for being "on a city scale rather than a more acceptable town scale." The plans ultimately failed to materialise.
Houses outside the town
Castletown House
Castletown House
Castletown House, Celbridge, County Kildare, Ireland, is a Palladian country house built in 1722 for William Conolly, the Speaker of the Irish House of Commons. It formed the centrepiece of an estate. The estate was sold in 1965, and late ...
is situated at the end of an avenue extending from the main street. It is Ireland's original and largest
Palladian
Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...
country house. Building commenced in 1722 by
William "Speaker" Conolly (1662–1729), Speaker of the
Irish House of Commons
The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until the end of 1800. The upper house was the Irish House of Lords, House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, ...
, who came under the influence of the
Neo-Palladians, whose adherents included
Alessandro Galilei
Alessandro Maria Gaetano Galilei (25 August 1691 – 21 December 1737) was an Italian mathematician, architect and theorist, and a distant relative of Galileo Galilei.
Biography
Born in Florence to the patrician Galilei family, he received archi ...
, believed to have designed the main house, and
Edward Lovett Pearce
Edward Lovett Pearce (1699 – 7 December 1733) was an Irish architect, and the chief exponent of Palladianism in Ireland. He is thought to have initially studied as an architect under his father's first cousin, Sir John Vanbrugh. He is best ...
, thought to have designed the entrance hall and the long gallery in its original form, as well as the colonnades and wings. Pearce did commissions for William Conolly before his speculated involvement with Castletown.
The house was inherited by
Tom Conolly (1738–1803) in 1758 and the interior decoration was finished by his wife
Louisa Lennox (greatgranddaughter of
Charles II of England
Charles II (29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685) was King of Scotland from 1649 until 1651 and King of England, Scotland, and King of Ireland, Ireland from the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy until his death in 1685.
Charles II was the eldest su ...
and
Louise de Keroualle) during the 1760s and 1770s.
Two of the best known features of Castletown are the Long Gallery (an long room decorated in the
Pompeian manner in blue and gold), and the main staircase (which is cantilevered and made of white
Portland stone
Portland stone is a limestone geological formation (formally named the Portland Stone Formation) dating to the Tithonian age of the Late Jurassic that is quarried on the Isle of Portland in Dorset, England. The quarries are cut in beds of whi ...
).
Conolly's Folly (also known as "The Obelisk") is an obelisk structure. It is built to the rear of
Castletown House
Castletown House, Celbridge, County Kildare, Ireland, is a Palladian country house built in 1722 for William Conolly, the Speaker of the Irish House of Commons. It formed the centrepiece of an estate. The estate was sold in 1965, and late ...
which contains two follies, both commissioned by the widow of Speaker
William Conolly
William Conolly (9 April 1662 – 30 October 1729), also known as Speaker Conolly, was an Irish Whig politician, Commissioner of Revenue, lawyer and landowner. He was an influential figure in Irish politics, serving as Speaker of the Irish ...
to provide employment for the poor of Celbridge at a time when
famine
A famine is a widespread scarcity of food caused by several possible factors, including, but not limited to war, natural disasters, crop failure, widespread poverty, an Financial crisis, economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenom ...
was rife. As such these monuments serve no real purpose, instead they were dedicated to battles in the 16th century. The
Obelisk
An obelisk (; , diminutive of (') ' spit, nail, pointed pillar') is a tall, slender, tapered monument with four sides and a pyramidal or pyramidion top. Originally constructed by Ancient Egyptians and called ''tekhenu'', the Greeks used th ...
was built in 1739 after a particularly severe winter. Designed by
Richard Castle
Richard Edgar "Rick" Castle (born Richard Alexander Rodgers) is a fictional character on the ABC crime series ''Castle''. He is portrayed by Nathan Fillion.
The name Richard Castle is also used as a pseudonym under which a set of real books ...
, it is 42 metres high and is composed of several
arch
An arch is a curved vertical structure spanning an open space underneath it. Arches may support the load above them, or they may perform a purely decorative role. As a decorative element, the arch dates back to the 4th millennium BC, but stru ...
es, adorned by stone pineapples and eagles.
The main avenue from the town is no longer accessible by vehicular traffic, which must enter the grounds from the roundabout off the M4.
Celbridge Abbey
Celbridge Abbey was the childhood (1688–1707) and later adult (1714–1723) home of
Bartholomew Van Homrigh's daughter
Esther
Esther (; ), originally Hadassah (; ), is the eponymous heroine of the Book of Esther in the Hebrew Bible. According to the biblical narrative, which is set in the Achaemenid Empire, the Persian king Ahasuerus falls in love with Esther and ma ...
(1688–1723), the ill-starred lover of
Dean Swift. The poem in which Swift fictionalised her as "
Vanessa" "Cadenus and Vanessa" (1713) was written seven years before he visited her in Celbridge in 1720. A rock bower associated with the lovers is a 19th-century recreation. The current
Celbridge Abbey was constructed by
Thomas Marlay,
Lord Chief Justice of Ireland
The Court of King's Bench (or Court of Queen's Bench during the reign of a Queen) was one of the senior courts of common law in Ireland. It was a mirror of the Court of King's Bench in England. The Lord Chief Justice was the most senior judge ...
, grandfather of the Irish parliamentarian
Henry Grattan
Henry Grattan (3 July 1746 – 4 June 1820) was an Irish politician and lawyer who campaigned for legislative freedom for the Irish Parliament in the late 18th century from Britain. He was a Member of the Irish Parliament (MP) from 1775 to 18 ...
. His daughter Mary was married to
James Grattan, Henry Grattan's father and a member of the
Irish House of Commons
The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until the end of 1800. The upper house was the Irish House of Lords, House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, ...
. A later occupant was
Gerald Dease, a Catholic nobleman who entertained the
Empress of Austria
This is a list of the Austrian empresses, archduchesses, duchesses and margravines, wives of the List of rulers of Austria, rulers of Austria. The monarchy in Austria was abolished at the end of the First World War in 1918.
The different title ...
during her visit to Ireland. He is buried in a prominent position on front of the local Catholic church, the construction of which he helped to fund. The rock bridge in Celbridge Abbey grounds is now the oldest stone bridge across the
Liffey since the removal of
John Le Decer's 1308 bridge three miles downriver at Salmon Leap.
Oakley Park (St Raphael's)
Oakley Park, the current St. Raphael's hospital was built in 1724 to a design by
Thomas Burgh for
Arthur Price, when he was created
Church of Ireland
The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...
Bishop of Meath
The Bishop of Meath is an episcopal title which takes its name after the ancient Kingdom of Meath. In the Catholic Church it remains as a separate title, but in the Church of Ireland it has been united with another bishopric.
History
Until the ...
. The house was built close to the small stone house of his father vicar of Kildrought and Straffan
Samuel Price
Samuel Price (July 28, 1805February 25, 1884) was a Virginia lawyer and politician who helped to establish the state of West Virginia during the American Civil War. Upon West Virginia's statehood, Price became its Lieutenant Governor and was l ...
. Dr Price had previously been Bishop of
Clonfert
Clonfert () is a small village in east County Galway, Ireland, halfway between Ballinasloe and Portumna. The village gives its name to the Diocese of Clonfert (Roman Catholic), Diocese of Clonfert. Clonfert Cathedral is one of the eight cathedr ...
,
Ferns
The ferns (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta) are a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. They differ from mosses by being vascular, i.e., having specialized tissue ...
&
Leighlin, and later became Archbishop of
Cashel
Cashel (an Anglicised form of the Irish language word ''Caiseal'', meaning "stone fort") may refer to:
Places in Ireland
*Cashel, County Tipperary
**The Rock of Cashel, an ancient, hilltop fortress complex for which Cashel is named
** Archbishop ...
. After his departure for Cashel, Oakley Park became home to Col
George Napier
Colonel George Napier (11 March 1751 – 13 October 1804), styled "The Honourable", was a British Army officer, most notable for his marriage to Lady Sarah Lennox, and for his sons Charles James Napier, William Francis Patrick Napier and George ...
, Richard Maunsell, High Sheriff of Kildare and his descendants, and, in 1926 Justin McCarthy. In 1946 it was sold by Philip Guiney the
Irish Christian Brothers
The Congregation of Christian Brothers (; abbreviated CFC) is a worldwide religious community within the Catholic Church, founded by Edmund Ignatius Rice, Edmund Rice.
Their first school opened in Waterford, Ireland in 1802. At the time of its ...
for use as an industrial school but sold instead to the
St John of God Brothers and opened as St Raphael's Hospital, a home for intellectually disabled boys in 1953. The grand parents of Henry Grattan are buried in a private graveyard on the site.
Collegiate School (formerly Setanta Hotel, now Celbridge Manor Hotel)
The former
Collegiate School on the Clane Road was built 1732 by architect Thomas Burgh who also built the
Royal Barracks and famous library building at
Trinity College both in
Dublin
Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
. The Collegiate School was founded as a
charity school
Charity schools, sometimes called blue coat schools, or simply the Blue School, were significant in the history of education in England. They were built and maintained in various parishes by the voluntary contributions of the inhabitants to ...
by
Louisa Conolly
Lady Louisa Conolly (5 December 1743 – August 1821) was an English noblewoman. She was the third of the famous Lennox Sisters, and was notable among them for leading a wholly uncontroversial life filled with good works.
Biography
Born La ...
of Castletown (1743–1821). At the time of Lady Louisa's death it had 600 pupils, and served as a boarding school for Protestant girls until 1973. when the Incorporated Society for Promoting Protestant Schools in Ireland closed the school and transferred the pupils to
Kilkenny
Kilkenny ( , meaning 'church of Cainnech of Aghaboe, Cainnech'). is a city in County Kilkenny, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region, Ireland, South-East Region and in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinst ...
. The building reopened as the Setanta Hotel on 25 January 1980.
Setanta Hotel closed down in 2008 but has since been refurbished and has reopened as the four-star Celbridge Manor Hotel.
St Wolstan's
St Wolstan's, near the site of the ancient Abbey of St Wolstan's described by
Mervyn Archdall in his "Monasticon Hibernicum" in 1786 was originally a monastery in the
Order of St Victor. It was founded c1202 by one of
Strongbow's companions for
Adam de Hereford. It was named for
St Wulfstan,
Bishop of Worcester
The Bishop of Worcester is the Ordinary (officer), head of the Church of England Anglican Diocese of Worcester, Diocese of Worcester in the Province of Canterbury, England. The title can be traced back to the foundation of the diocese in the ...
, then newly canonised by
Pope Innocent III
Pope Innocent III (; born Lotario dei Conti di Segni; 22 February 1161 – 16 July 1216) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 January 1198 until his death on 16 July 1216.
Pope Innocent was one of the most power ...
. Before the time of the
Dissolution of the Monasteries it had extensive lands in Kildare and Dublin with buildings covering an estimated 20 acres. It was the first Irish Monastery to be
dissolved when Sir
Gerald Aylmer
Gerald Edward Aylmer, (30 April 1926, Greete, Shropshire – 17 December 2000, Oxford) was an English people, English historian of 17th century England.
Gerald Aylmer was the only child of Edward Aylmer (cricketer), Edward Arthur Aylmer, fro ...
of nearby
Lyons
Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...
(died 1559) petitioned
Henry VIII
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...
. It then became the home to the ill-fated Lord Chancellor and Archbishop of Dublin
John Alen
John Alen (1476 – 28 July 1534) was an English priest and canon lawyer, whose later years were spent in Ireland. He held office as Archbishop of Dublin and Lord Chancellor of Ireland, and was a member of the Privy Council of Ireland. In the l ...
(1476–1534). St Wolstan's after the Archbishop's cousin, also John Alen, who was master of the rolls, travelled with Aylmer to England in 1536 to receive the bill for suppression of the Irish monasteries. The act of St Wolstan's, introduced in September 1536 as a special commission of dissolution, assured Aylmer and his fellow chief justice and brother-in-law Thomas Luttrell an annual rent of £4 during the life of Sir Richard Weston, the last prior, while Alen was granted the monastery estates. The house remained with the Alen family for two subsequent centuries. St Wolstan's was then home to later Bishops of
Clogher
Clogher (; , ) is a village and civil parish in the border area of south County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It lies on the River Blackwater, 5.8 miles from the border crossing to County Monaghan. It stands on the townlands of Clogher Demesne ...
(
Robert Clayton) and
Limerick
Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...
, a summer resident of the Viceroy in the 1770s, a boys' school (sold 1809), home to the Cane family for another century and eventually a girls' secondary school (1957–1999) run by the Holy Faith sisters. When a new school building was built on the Clane Road in 2001, opening on 8 October, the name ''St. Wolstan's'' was reused for this.
Other houses
Other large houses outside the town include
Killadoon a three-storey block with a single storey wing built c. 1770 (redecorated 1820) for
Nathaniel Clements MP, banker and amateur architect. Significantly, it does not appear to have been designed by Clements himself. Clements is also reputed to have designed Colganstown house, built by the Yeats family c 1760 was the property of
Dublin Corporation
Dublin Corporation (), known by generations of Dubliners simply as ''The Corpo'', is the former name of the city government and its administrative organisation in Dublin since the 1100s. Significantly re-structured in 1660–1661, even more si ...
through the first half of the 19th century. It is associated with the Andrews, Sherlock, Colgan and Meade families. Pickering Forest is a three-storey Georgian house associated with the Brooke (Barons Somerton) and later Ogilby families. Donaghcumper is a Tudor revival house built by William Kirkpatrick c1835, was sold after the death of
Ivone Kirkpatrick
Sir Ivone Augustine Kirkpatrick, (3 February 1897 – 25 May 1964) was a British diplomat who served as the British High Commissioner in Germany after World War II, and as the Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, the hig ...
to J Bruce Bredin, Springfield was associated with the Jones and Warren families and then the Mitchell family until 1906. Elm Hall was associated with the O'Connor family, Stacumny with the Lambert family, and Ballygoran with the Murray family, while The Grove was home of Dr. Charles O'Connor, resident surgeon for the workhouse and first chairman of
Kildare GAA
The Kildare County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), or Kildare GAA, is one of 12 county boards governed by the Leinster provincial council of the GAA in Ireland, and is responsible for the administration of Gaelic games in Count ...
Board. Temple Mills was associated with the Tyrrell, Shaw and Von Mumm families and John Ellis. The parsonage, known as Robert Scott's house (rebuilt 1780, locally known as the "Shelbourne") fell into ruin and became the site of St Patrick's Park housing estate.
Castles in the area
Castles in the Celbridge area were at Castletown, Posseckstown, Simmonstown, Templemill, Reeves, Lyons, Barberstown and St. Wolstans.
People
Born or resident
*
John Alen
John Alen (1476 – 28 July 1534) was an English priest and canon lawyer, whose later years were spent in Ireland. He held office as Archbishop of Dublin and Lord Chancellor of Ireland, and was a member of the Privy Council of Ireland. In the l ...
Archbishop of Dublin
The Archbishop of Dublin () is an Episcopal polity, archiepiscopal title which takes its name from Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Since the Reformation in Ireland, Reformation, there have been parallel apostolic successions to the title: ...
, and
Chancellor of Ireland (1476–1534), casualty of the "
Silken Thomas
{{Infobox noble, type
, name = Thomas FitzGerald
, title = The Earl of Kildare
, image = Thomas FitzGerald, 10th Earl of Kildare.jpg
, caption =
, alt =
, CoA =
, ...
" Fitzgerald rebellion in 1534, and his cousin
John Alan (c. 1500 – 1561), also Lord Chancellor, buried at Donoghcomper.
*
Simon Bradstreet
Simon Bradstreet (baptized March 18, 1603/4In the Julian calendar, then in use in England, the year began on March 25. To avoid confusion with dates in the Gregorian calendar, then in use in other parts of Europe, dates between January and Ma ...
(1792–1853) of Stacumny, founder member of the
Catholic Association
The Catholic Association was an Irish Roman Catholic political organization set up by Daniel O'Connell in the early nineteenth century to campaign for Catholic emancipation within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It was one of ...
and associate of Daniel O'Connell.
*
Ben Briscoe (b.1934) former
Fianna Fáil
Fianna Fáil ( ; ; meaning "Soldiers of Destiny" or "Warriors of Fál"), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party (), is a centre to centre-right political party in Ireland.
Founded as a republican party in 1926 by Éamon de ...
Teachta Dála
A Teachta Dála ( ; ; plural ), abbreviated as TD (plural ''TDanna'' in Irish language, Irish, TDs in English), is a member of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas, the parliament of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The official Engli ...
and former
Lord Mayor of Dublin
The Lord Mayor of Dublin () is the honorary title of the chairperson ( ) of Dublin City Council which is the local government body for the city of Dublin, the capital of Ireland. The incumbent, since December 2024, is Fine Gael councillor Emma ...
*
John Augustus Conolly
Lieutenant Colonel John Augustus Conolly Victoria Cross, VC (30 May 1829 – 23 December 1888), born in Celbridge, County Kildare, Ireland, was an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the ...
(1829–1888),
Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious decoration of the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British decorations system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British ...
recipient
*
William "Speaker" Conolly (1662–1729) one of the most powerful politicians in Ireland in the first decades of the 18th century.
*
Lady Louisa Conolly
Lady Louisa Conolly (5 December 1743 – August 1821) was an English noblewoman. She was the third of the famous Lennox Sisters, and was notable among them for leading a wholly uncontroversial life filled with good works.
Biography
Born La ...
(1743–1821) and her sister
Sarah Napier (1745–1826), both daughters of
Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond
Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond, 2nd Duke of Lennox, 2nd Duke of Aubigny, (18 May 17018 August 1750) of Goodwood House near Chichester in Sussex, was a British nobleman and politician. He was the son of Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richm ...
.
*
Thomas Dongan, 2nd Earl of Limerick
Thomas Dongan, 2nd Earl of Limerick (1634 – 14 December 1715) was an Irish military officer and colonial administrator who served as the governor of New York from 1683 to 1688. He called the first representative legislature in the Province ...
(1634–1715), member of the
Irish Parliament, an officer during the
English Civil War
The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...
, and Governor of the
Province of New York
The Province of New York was a British proprietary colony and later a royal colony on the northeast coast of North America from 1664 to 1783. It extended from Long Island on the Atlantic, up the Hudson River and Mohawk River valleys to ...
*
Arthur Guinness
Arthur Guinness ( 172523 January 1803) was an Irish brewer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. The inventor of Guinness beer, he founded the Guinness Brewery at St. James's Gate in 1759.
Guinness was born in Ardclogh, near Celbridge, County Ki ...
(1725–1803) founder of the famous brewery is buried in
Oughterard
Oughterard () is a small town on the banks of the Owenriff River close to the western shore of Lough Corrib in Connemara, County Galway, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located about northwest of Galway on the N59 road (Ireland), N59 road. ...
cemetery, near the plot of his uncle William Read. He was the son of Richard Guinness and Elizabeth Read (1698–1742) from
Bishopscourt, who was agent and receiver of Dr
Arthur Price and lived in Celbridge at the time of Arthur's birth.
*
Aidan Higgins
Aidan Higgins (3 March 1927 – 27 December 2015) was an Irish writer. He wrote short stories, travel pieces, radio dramas and novels. Among his published works are '' Langrishe, Go Down'' (1966), '' Balcony of Europe'' (1972) and the biographi ...
(b.1927), a writer whose 1972 novel, ''Balcony of Europe'' was shortlisted for the
Booker Prize
The Booker Prize, formerly the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a prestigious literary award conferred each year for the best single work of sustained fiction written in the English language, wh ...
.
*
Ivone Kirkpatrick
Sir Ivone Augustine Kirkpatrick, (3 February 1897 – 25 May 1964) was a British diplomat who served as the British High Commissioner in Germany after World War II, and as the Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, the hig ...
(1897–1964), diplomatist, British Chancellor in Berlin before the Second World War, and Under-Secretary of the British Foreign Office
*
Donal MacIntyre (b.1966), campaigning television journalist.
*
Devon Murray (b.1988), portrayer of Seamus Finnegan in the Harry Potter films, was raised in Celbridge.
*
George Napier
Colonel George Napier (11 March 1751 – 13 October 1804), styled "The Honourable", was a British Army officer, most notable for his marriage to Lady Sarah Lennox, and for his sons Charles James Napier, William Francis Patrick Napier and George ...
(1751–1804) and his sons
George (1784–1855),
Charles
Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''* ...
(1782–1853),
William
William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...
(1785–1860), and
Henry
Henry may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Henry (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters
* Henry (surname)
* Henry, a stage name of François-Louis Henry (1786–1855), French baritone
Arts and entertainmen ...
(1789–1853), later to be collectively known as "
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...
's Colonels."
*
Art O'Connor
Arthur James Kickham O'Connor (18 May 1888 – 10 May 1950) was an Irish politician, lawyer and judge.
Early life
He was born in 1888, the second son of Arthur O'Connor of Elm Hall, Celbridge, County Kildare (1834–1907) and his second wife E ...
(1888–1950), Minister for Agriculture in the
second Dáil cabinet (1921) and briefly leader of Sinn Féin after the foundation of
Fianna Fáil
Fianna Fáil ( ; ; meaning "Soldiers of Destiny" or "Warriors of Fál"), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party (), is a centre to centre-right political party in Ireland.
Founded as a republican party in 1926 by Éamon de ...
*
Arthur Price (1678/9–1752) serial bishop of four different
Church of Ireland
The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...
dioceses, culminating in the Archbishopric of
Cashel
Cashel (an Anglicised form of the Irish language word ''Caiseal'', meaning "stone fort") may refer to:
Places in Ireland
*Cashel, County Tipperary
**The Rock of Cashel, an ancient, hilltop fortress complex for which Cashel is named
** Archbishop ...
, and benefactor to Brewer
Arthur Guinness
Arthur Guinness ( 172523 January 1803) was an Irish brewer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. The inventor of Guinness beer, he founded the Guinness Brewery at St. James's Gate in 1759.
Guinness was born in Ardclogh, near Celbridge, County Ki ...
.
*
Damien Rice
Damien George Rice (born 7 December 1973) is an Irish musician, singer and songwriter. He began his career as a member of the 1990s rock group Juniper (band), Juniper, who were signed to Polygram Records in 1997. The band enjoyed moderate succe ...
(b.1973),
Indie Music
Independent music (also commonly known as indie music, or simply indie) is a broad style of music characterized by creative freedoms, low-budgets, and a do-it-yourself approach to music creation, which originated from the liberties afforded by in ...
ian.
*
Thomas Rochfort
Sir Thomas Rochfort (c.1450–1522) was a distinguished Irish judge and cleric who held the offices of Solicitor General for Ireland (he was the first recorded holder of that office), Master of the Rolls in Ireland, and Dean of St. Patrick's Ca ...
(died 1522) Dean of
St. Patrick's Cathedral and
Master of the Rolls in Ireland
The Master of the Rolls in Ireland was a senior judicial office in the Irish Chancery under English and British rule, and was equivalent to the Master of the Rolls in the English Chancery. Originally called the Keeper of the Rolls, he was respon ...
, born at Killadoon, where his father was Lord of the Manor.
*
John Sheehan (1809–1882), a journalist who wrote under the pseudonym of "the Irish Whisky Drinker" grew up in Celbridge
*
Kathleen Walsh (1947–2007), politician, elected as an
independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States
* Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...
to
Kildare County Council
Kildare County Council () is the Local government in the Republic of Ireland, local authority of County Kildare, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. As a county council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. The council is responsible for ...
at the
1999 local elections, and member of the Seanad 2002–2007.
Lived briefly or were educated in Celbridge
*
William Baillie (1723–1810), art dealer and printmaker, was the second son of Robert Baillie of Celbridge.
*
John Wynn Baker (c. 1730 – 1775), who established the first factory in Ireland in 1765 is buried at Celbridge.
*
Caroline Blackwood (1931–1996), writer, lived for a time in Castletown, originally with her husband, the depressive American poet Robert Lowell (1917–1977) and then with the poet Andrew Harvey (b 1951).
*
Henry Grattan
Henry Grattan (3 July 1746 – 4 June 1820) was an Irish politician and lawyer who campaigned for legislative freedom for the Irish Parliament in the late 18th century from Britain. He was a Member of the Irish Parliament (MP) from 1775 to 18 ...
(1746–1821) renowned 18th Irish patriot politician, lived with his uncle Colonel Thomas Marlay at Celbridge Abbey between 1777 and 1780. He afterwards wrote: "Along the banks of that river, amid the groves and bowers of Swift and Vanessa, I grew convinced that I was right".
[Webb's Dictionary of Irish Biography]
*
Richard McIlkenny (1934–2006), member of the
Birmingham Six
The Birmingham Six were six men from Northern Ireland who were each sentenced to life imprisonment in 1975 following their false convictions for the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings. Their convictions were declared unsafe and unsatisfactory and q ...
miscarriage of justice case, resided in the town until his death on 22 May 2006.
*Those educated at Celbridge include the disabled world traveller and politician
Arthur Macmorrough Kavanagh (1831–1889),
Church of Ireland
The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...
bishop
John Jebb (1775–1833), and broadcaster
Ruth Buchanan.
See also
*
List of towns and villages in the Republic of Ireland
This is a link page for cities, towns and villages in the Republic of Ireland, including townships or urban centres in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway, Waterford and other major urban areas. Cities are shown in bold; see City status in Ireland for a ...
*
Market Houses in Ireland
Notes and references
External links
*
{{Authority control
Towns and villages in County Kildare