Crookstown () is a village in the south of

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 lies in the

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 ...

of Crookstown Upper on the R448 road where it meets the R415 regional road, about south 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 ...

. It has a few hundred inhabitants, a church, a primary school, a petrol station/rest area on the N9, restaurant and some craft shops. It is less than one kilometre from the larger neighbouring village of Ballitore, and Crookstown is treated as part of Ballitore for census purposes.

Name

The

Placenames Database of Ireland The Placenames Database of Ireland (), also known as , is a database and archive of place names in Ireland. It was created by Fiontar, Dublin City University in collaboration with the Placenames Branch of the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, ...

records Crookstown in Irish as ''Baile an Chrócaigh'' (the town of Chrócaigh). Irish folklorist Tomás MacCormaic has stated that the name is a corruption of ''Bile Mac Cruaich'' (the Sacred Tree of the Sons of Cruaich), an ancient name for the parish of

Narraghmore Narraghmore () is a village in County Kildare, Ireland. It lies within 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 loc ...

, which adjoins Crookstown. The name was recorded in Loca Patriciona, and it is possible that when first translated into English ''Bile'' became ''Baile'', while ''Chrócaigh'' is a modern Irish variation of the personal name ''Cruaich''. The tree was named after the two sons of ''Cruaich mac Duilge'', Macha and h-Eircc, who were part of the

Dál Cormaic Dál Cormaic (also Clann Cormaic, Uí Cormaic Lagen, Moccu Corbmaic) were a Gaelic dynasty located in South Kildare (UK Parliament constituency), South Kildare. People Abbán moccu Corbmaic Abbán, St. Abbán had six brothers: Daman Uí Chorma ...

, a Gaelic dynasty in the locality in the 5th century.

Public transport

The village is served by bus route 880 operated by Kildare Local Link on behalf of the National Transport Authority. There are several buses each day including Sunday linking the village to

Castledermot Castledermot () is an inland town in the south-east of Republic of Ireland, Ireland in County Kildare, about from Dublin, and from the town of Carlow. The N9 road (Ireland), N9 road from Dublin to Waterford previously passed through the villa ...

Carlow Carlow ( ; ) is the county town of County Carlow, in the south-east of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, from Dublin. At the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census, it had a population of 27,351, the List of urban areas in the Republic of Ireland, ...

and

Naas Naas ( ; or ) is the county town of County Kildare in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In 2022, it had a population of 26,180, making it the largest town in County Kildare (ahead of Newbridge, County Kildare, Newbridge) and the List of urban ar ...

as well as villages such as

Moone Moone (; ) is a small village in the south of County Kildare, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is on the former N9 road (Ireland), N9 road (now by-passed) about south of Dublin. It has only a few hundred inhabitants, a church, a National scho ...

in the area.

References

{{Authority control Towns and villages in County Kildare

Name

Public transport

See also

References