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. Its population of 17,262 (2006 Census) makes it the third largest town in Kildare and the 22nd largest in the Republic of Ireland.

As a town within the Dublin Metropolitan Area and the Greater Dublin Area, Celbridge has expanded dramatically in recent years - however most of the towns services and amenities still centre around the single main street.

History

The town has a deep historical background ranging from Celbridge Abbey with Jonathan Swift to Castletown House.

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

The town of Kildrought or Kildroighid developed around the mill of Kildrought which Thomas de-Hereford, the Norman Lord of Kildrought erected close to the ancient well of Saint Mochua, early in the thirteenth 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.

The houses in town centre were built over a period of two hundred years, starting with Celbridge Abbey, built by Bartholomew Van Homrigh, in 1703. When William “Speaker” Conolly purchased the Castletown estate in 1709 from Thomas Dongan the restored Earl of Limerick and governor of New York, he complained that "all the Earl's tenants were beggars." Conolly built his own mansion at Castletown and left the development of the town to the new Protestant improvers and developers who followed him to Celbridge. Their leases were granted on condition that they erect stone houses with gable ends and two chimneys on their holdings. The old Irish name Cill Droichid (Kildrought), meaning the church of the bridge, was re-anglicised and became Celbridge around this time.

The development of the Main Street commenced with the building of Kildrought House by Robert Baillie in 1720, replacing in many cases mud cabins and intermixed areas of waste ground. The current St. Raphael's hospital was built in 1724 by Arthur Price when he was created Bishop of Meath. The former Collegiate School on the Clane Road was built from 1732 by architect Thomas Burgh - who also built the Royal Barracks and famous library building at Trinity College - both in Dublin. The Collegiate School was founded as a charity school and served as a boarding school for protestant girls until 1972. It is now the Setanta Hotel. The Manor Mills (built by Laurence Atkinson 1805, restored 1985) incorporate parts of the old Celbridge Market House, warehouses which bear a wall-mount dating them to 1785, and a stone commemorating the site of St Mochua’s well. They now serve as a community centre.

Other notable buildings 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). The original Kildrought parish church (built 14th c, burned 1798) stood in the present graveyard at Tea Lane and houses the mausoleums of the Dongan and Conolly families. No 22 Main Street, the original home of Conolly’s agent George Finey was occupied by Richard Guinness for a time and his sons Arthur, founder of the Guinness brewery, and Samuel. Richard married Elizabeth Clere, 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 an impressive five-bay house with a weather vane on the junction of Main Street and the Maynooth Road (1750).

Celbridge is remembered as the home of "Vanessa", the ill-starred lover of Dean Swift.

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

Castletown House

Castletown House is situated just off the main street, and is one Ireland's finest Palladian country houses. An imposing building, it was established in the town in the year 1722 by William "Speaker" 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 are, 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. 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.

Politics

Celbridge is located within the Kildare North constituency which elects 4 TDs to the Dáil. In the past it was only a three seat constituency, but has increased to four due to population growth within the region.

Government acts provide for town councils for towns with a population of greater than 7,500, which Celbridge exceeds twice over, however, despite its size and several proposals, the town does not have a town council. (Though other smaller towns in the area do: such as Leixlip and Athy).

It is perceivedVorlage:Fact that the lack of a town council has impacted town development. 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. Vorlage:Fact

Transport and Access

Road

Celbridge's substantial growth has created considerable traffic congestion. Much of this is attributed to the single bridge over the Liffey in the town - which creates traffic bottlenecks. Lax enforcement of parking laws and a lack of adequate parking space is also blamedVorlage:Fact. 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 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.

Bus

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 also serve Celbridge, notably Circle Line (previously Mortons), linking Celbridge to the city and southside of Dublin, including Ballsbridge, Dundrum and Nutgrove.

Rail

Iarnród Éireann run commuter rail services to a station in Hazelhatch, about 3 km from Celbridge village. Hazelhatch and Celbridge railway station opened on 4 August 1846 and closed for goods traffic on 9 June 1947. 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. 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. A sixth primary school, St.Patrick's is due to open September 2007 on the Hazelhatch Road due to the rising population. Celbridge also has one of the very few Primary Montessori Schools in Ireland, The Glebe Primary Montessori School (est. 1978). Providing Montessori Education to children from 3-12 years.

Amenities

The Setanta House Hotel is the only hotel in Celbridge town, and was originally an 18th century school with historic ties to the Connolly family who built Castletown House. Located on the Clane road, the hotel is host to the only after-hours club in Celbridge. The Abbey Lodge pub occasionally runs a late bar and has a restaurant.

Other pubs in the town include: O'Connors Bar and The Kildrought Lounge, Castletown Inn (also with restaurant), The Mucky Duck, The Village Inn and Celbridge House. Last orders in pubs are generally at 11:30pm Mon-Thur, 12:30am Fri-Sat, and 11:00pm on Sundays.

Restaurants include Michaelangelos, Dehli Darbar, Da Mario's and The Mill Restaurant/Cafe La Serre. The latter is at Lyons Estate outside the village proper[1], and is owned by celebrity chef Richard Corrigan.

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

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.[2]), and Celbridge Town AFC. The latter was formed in 1959 and plays home games in St.Patricks Park, with 8 schoolboy teams and 3 senior teams. The Senior Sunday team currently play in the Leinster Senior League Division 1A, and recently qualified for the 2007 FAI Ford Cup 2nd Round against Eircom Premier League side Longford Town. 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 the meetings are open and everyone is welcome to attend.[3]

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
• Barbara Streisand performed in Celbridge at Castletown House on 14th July 2007 as part of her European tour.

See also

• List of towns in the Republic of Ireland

External links

• Map of Celbridge