Newcastle () is a village in

South Dublin South Dublin () is a county in Ireland, within the province of Leinster and the Eastern and Midland Region. It is one of three successor counties to County Dublin, which was disestablished for administrative purposes in 1994. South Dublin Cou ...

county south-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 ...

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 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the historical barony 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.

History

Evidence of ancient settlement in the Newcastle area include a number of ringfort, fulacht fiadh 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, to command and defend strategic points ...

sites 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 ...

s of Newcastle Farm, Newcastle North, Newcastle South and Ballynakelly. A raised

motte A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or Bailey (castle), bailey, surrounded by a protective Rampart (fortificati ...

, 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 in Ireland over which the monarchs of England then claimed sovereignty. The Anglo-Normans ...

, is located close to the medieval church in Newcastle, St Finian's Church, Newcastle. The existing pre-reformation Irish Church premises continued in use as a place of worship by the established

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 ...

. 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. A new

Catholic Church 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 ...

was built in 1813. This followed the opening up of Catholic worship in the relaxation of the penal laws from 1778 culminating in the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1793 passed by the Irish Parliament. The

parliamentary borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

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 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, ...

from 1613 to 1801. It was disfranchised by the

Acts of Union 1800 The Acts of Union 1800 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 Ireland (previously in personal union) to create the United Kingdom of G ...

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 () or Baldonnel Aerodrome is a military airbase to the southwest of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland situated off the N7 road (Ireland), N7 main roads in Ireland, road route to the south and south west. It is the headquar ...

(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 population almost quadrupling by 2022 to 4,526. This growth included, for example, new housing developments at Graydon off the village's main street.

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. An orbital bus service, route W6, was also introduced to connect Newcastle to Maynooth, Celbridge, Hazelhatch, Saggart, Citywest and The Square shopping centre in Tallaght.

Sport

Newcastle-Lyons is home to St Finian's Newcastle GAA club (), 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 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

(soccer) club, Peamount United F.C., is also based in the area. Founded in 1983, the club is based in a purpose-built facility in Greenogue, 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 is located near Newcastle at Hazelhatch. It features two 18-hole pitch and putt courses.

References

{{Authority control Towns and villages in South Dublin (county) Civil parishes of Newcastle, County Dublin Former boroughs in the Republic of Ireland

History

Location and population

Transport

Sport

See also

References