Celbridge

Vorlage:Infobox Irish Place Celbridge is a town situated on the River Liffey in County Kildare in Ireland. Located 22 kilometres (13 miles) from Dublin, the town has an estimated population, now, of 18,934 people according to volume 1 of the 2006 Census. It is a town within the Dublin Metropolitan Area and the Greater Dublin Area.

In recent years Celbridge has expanded dramatically, yet most of the towns services and amenities still centre around the single main street. Celbridge largely retains the character which seems to have been lost in many other towns within Dublin's commuter belt.

History

The name Celbridge is derived from the Irish Cill Droichid meaning "Church by the Bridge" and has sometimes been spelled Kildrought in English.[1]

Castletown House is situated just off the main street, it is Ireland's finest Palladian country house and is an imposing building established in the town in the year 1722 by Speaker William Conolly (1662-1729), Speaker of the Irish House of Commons. The house was inherited by Tom Connolly in 1758 and the interior decoration was finished by his wife Lady Louisa (great-grand-daughter of Charles II of England and Louise de Keroualle) during the 1760s and 1770s.

Two particular features of Castletown is the Long Gallery, an 80 foot long room decorated in the Pompeian manner in blue and gold and the main staircase, which is cantilevered and made of white Portland stone.

Conolly's Folly (also known as "The Obelisk") is an obelisk structure (like Washington Monument). It is built to the rear of Castletown House which contains two follies, both commissioned by the widow of Speaker William Conolly to provide employment for the poor of Celbridge at a time when famine was rife. As such these monuments serve no real purpose, instead they were dedicated to battles in the 1500s. The Obelisk was built in 1739 after a particularly severe winter. Designed by Richard Castle, it is 42 metres high and is composed of several arches, adorned by stone pineapples and eagles. It can be seen from the back of Castletown house.

Celbridge will always be remembered as the home of Vanessa, the ill-starred lover of Dean Swift. The town has a deep historical background ranging from Celbridge Abbey with Jonathan Swift to Castletown House.

In the early 20th Century, Celbridge was home to the Callender Paper Company. This enterprise made paper from peat (turf).

Politics

Celbridge is located within the Kildare North constituency which elects 3 TDs to the Dáil. This is set to increase to four due to the levels of population growth within the region. Despite its size, and numerous proposals, the town does not have a town council, despite being the third largest town in the county (and larger than other towns which have town councils such as Leixlip and Athy). Government acts provide for town councils for towns with a population of greater than 7,500, which Celbridge exceeds twice over, yet little progress has been made. Due to the lack of a town council to address specific local issues the town has suffered. For example as it does not have a town council, a Development Plan is developed with considerably less detail and control than a Local Area Plan which town councils develop. The situation effectively means that Kildare County Council, based 20 km away, have full control over zoning land in the area, and this means that they can zone land without specific local knowledge of what is needed. Owing to this as well as other factors the town has been consumed by the Celtic Tiger fuelled urban sprawl of Dublin, resulting in a fragmented community and a severe lack of sufficient amenities for the scale of the population.

Transport and Access

Celbridge's substantial growth has created considerable traffic congestion. Much of this is attributed to the fact that there is only one bridge over the Liffey in the town, thus creating traffic bottlenecks. Lax enforcement of parking laws and a lack of adequate parking space is also blamed. This may change as recently pay parking was introduced on the main street which is being enforced by a parking warden with fines payable in the parking office beside the CAstletown Inn pub.The Celbridge Interchange (Junction 2a of the M4) which connects the town to the motorway as well as Intel, opened in 2003 to help address these traffic issues, with some success.

Kildare County Council installed a set of traffic lights in 2000 at the junction of the Liffey bridge and Main Street, however there was considerable opposition to the lights from the town shopkeepers. The town traders actually sponsored an advertising supplement in Dublin's Evening Herald which featured a photograph of a man shaking his fist at the lights to show the trader's opposition to the lights. Shortly afterwards, a motorist suspiciously reversed into the lights, "accidentally" knocking them over and the council switched them off for good. Now motorists have to depend on each other's good will to negotiate the junction, however it is now possible to park directly outside the Londis shop as the lights are no longer in use.

The town is served by Dublin Bus along the 67, 67A and 67X routes. These routes link the town to the city centre as well as the nearby towns of Lucan and Maynooth (but notably, no link to Leixlip exists despite the significant employment there).

Some other bus operators, notably Morton's, also serve Celbridge.

Iarnród Éireann run commuter rail services to a station in Hazelhatch, about 3 km from Celbridge village. Feeder buses are used to bring passengers to the train station. Commuter suburban rail services from Kildare to Dublin city centre serve Hazelhatch. While the service only brings passengers to Heuston Station, somewhat west of the city centre, there is no charge for extending the range of most tickets to include feeder bus (numbers 90, 91 and 92) from there to the city centre proper. However, additional charges apply to use the Luas tram services. [2]. The station is located on one of the most important InterCity lines in the country, with services to Cork, Limerick and Galway. However most of these do not stop at Hazelhatch station.

Under the Transport21 plan Hazelhatch-City will be electrified to provide a new DART service to Balbriggan, using the underground Interconnector tunnel in the city centre. This is to be completed by 2015.

Education

Celbridge has five primary schools, Primrose Hill (co-ed, COI), St Brigids (girls, RC), Aghards (co-ed, RC), Scoil na Mainistreach (boys, RC) and North Kildare Educate Together (co-ed, Multi-D); one special school, Saint Raphael's,(co-ed, RC) for children with a learning disability; two secondary schools; St.Wolstans Community School for girls (the only single sex community school in Ireland) and Salesian College Celbridge for boys.

Hotels, Pubs, Restaurants and Nightlife

Hotels

Setanta House Hotel, located on the Clane Road. Originally an 18th century school, this is the only hotel in Celbridge town and has historic ties with the Connolly family who built Castletown House.

Shop

The Village Book Store, located on the Main Street, near the entrance to Castletown House

Pubs

The Mucky Duck, located on the Main Street
Abbey Lodge / McNamees, located on the bridge just before the town
The Village Inn,O'Connors Bar,The Kildrought Lounge, located on the Main Street

Castletown Inn, located on the Main Street
Celbridge House, located on the Maynooth road

Last orders in pubs are @ 11:30pm Mon-Thur; 12:30am Fri-Sat; 11:00pm Sun

Restaurants

The Mill Restaurant/Cafe La Serre, Lyons estate 1 mile outside Celbridge village. Very upmarket restaurant situated in Lyons estate Celbridge. It is owned by celebrity chef Richard Corrigan (www.villageatlyons.com)
Michaelangelos, located on the Main Street. Irish/Italian food. Very pricey for what you get
Greens, above the Castletown Inn, traditional, good service, reasonable prices.
Abbey Lodge, - upstairs.
Dehli Darbar, - beside Tesco Supermarket - upstairs.Good food adn you can bring your own wine or beer
Da Mario's, - near Tesco on the Maynooth road, busy and basic, good pizza

Nightclubs

Setanta Hotel, located on the Clane road is host to the only after-hours club in Celbridge.
The Abbey Lodge, ocasionally runs a late bar (however mostly around big public holidays)

Sports and Groups

GAA

The Celbridge GAA club is the third oldest club in Kildare being formed on the 15th August 1885, only eight months after the GAA was founded in Thurles.

Association football

The town's two main soccer club's are Ballyoulster United (an amateur football club which partner with English Premier Division club Everton F.C.[3]), and Celbridge Town AFC. The latter was formed in 1959 and plays home games in St.Patricks Park, with 5 schoolboy teams and 3 senior teams. The Senior Sunday team currently play in the Leinster Senior League Division 1B, and recently qualified for the 2007 FAI Ford Cup. The teams play in the blue and white, and are sponsored by the Kildrought Lounge.

Celbridge Paddlers

Celbridge Paddlers canoe-club is a multi-discipline kayaking club and evolved out of Vanessa Canoe Club. Formed in 1984 it has over 150 members and has been recently represented at world level in sprint, marathon, slalom, wildwater, surf and freestyle. It is affiliated to the national governing body of canoe-sport in Ireland, the Irish Canoe Union where it has representation up to the role of ICU President.

Scouting

There are three separate Scout troops in operation in Celbridge. Each troop accepts both boys and girls in the 3 main program sections, and are: 1st Kildare (2nd Celbridge), 3rd Kildare (1st Celbridge), and 19th Kildare.

Celbridge Pentecostal Church

Formed in 2005 this is a small independent church. Services are each Sunday at 11 at the Center for Performing Arts, Celbridge Industrial Estate. The church is lead by Pastor Paul Carley.[4]

Celbridge Amenity Group

The Celbridge Amenity Group is currently working in conjunction with the Kildare County Council to plan new improvements around the town such as the new playground built for local children.

Claims to fame

Celbridge is the largest town in Ireland to have only one street, and no town council despite its large population.
Celbridge is the hometown of noted indie musician Damien Rice as well as the bands Juniper and more recently Bell X1.
One of the Birmingham Six, Richard McIlkenny, resided in the town until his death on 22nd May 2006.
Birth place of Arthur Guinness