Post on 07-Feb-2023
PHILIP I. POWELL
A history of County Kildare
A History of County Kildare
From Prehistory to Oliver Cromwell
Philip I. Powell
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PHILIP I. POWELL
A HISTORY of County Kildare
HISTORIC KILDARE from PREHISTORY to CROMWELL
The earliest and only written records from pre-Christian County Kildare come from the
Greek historian, Ptolemy, whose map of Ireland of 100 A.D., shows an inland town that
maybe Rheban on the River Barrow. Before this time therefore, we must rely on the
archaeological evidence thus far discovered, in an attempt to understand the prehistoric
history of the county. Perhaps the very earliest remains of humankind in County Kildare,
are those at Grange Beg near Kildare town. The megalithic structure, marked on the OSI
map as ‘Druids Altar’, is thought to be that of a Neolithic tomb dating from the 3rd
millennia BC. (2,000-3,000 B.C.) and, consists of a large oval capstone, supported by two
small slabs, covering a small chamber and surrounded by an earth mound 4m. in diameter.
However, archaeologists believe that there is not enough conclusive evidence to definitively
class the structure as a Neolithic tomb. The tomb is located next to a modern home, on
private land. Therefore, the most definitive and earliest evidence of prehistoric activity in
County Kildare must be that of the Stone Circles within the county. Stone circles date from
the early to middle Bronze Age, from around 2,400 - 1,500 B.C., and as of now, three such
circles have been recorded in County Kildare. Of these, two survive at Brewel Hill West &
Broadleas Commons while the other stone circle at Whiteleas, was destroyed within the last
two centuries. The stone circles in Kildare, are circular settings of upright stones with their
broad sides facing inwards, towards the centre, and are primarily a Bronze Age ritual
monument dating from 2,000-1,100 B.C. The Kildare stone circles are commonly known as
the ‘Piper’s Stones’, a tradition explaining them as being people turned into stone for
dancing impiously round a piper, who is sometimes thought to be represented by an
isolated pillar either inside or outside the circle. ‘This folk belief may possible recall,
however faintly, some sort of pagan ritual dance at such of the sites as might presumably
have been sacred’. (Raftery, J., p102). The other most visible and prominent Bronze Age
remains within the county, are those of the huge standing stones, most of which, can be
found in the east of the county and includes the tallest standing stone in Ireland at
Punchestown Great. A Standing Stone, or Gallaun in Irish, is a stone purposely set upright
in the ground, usually with an orientation of NE - SW and are normally 1.6m in height. ‘It
is believed they may represent the spirit of the departed, or is a mark over a grave, (as in
Punchestown Great) or may be just a boundary stone.’ (Raftery, J., p.102). Some standing
stones that have been excavated, revealed cremated human remains and pottery sherds
that date from the Beaker people of the early Bronze Age. Not all of these monoliths are of
the Bronze Age, some maybe later, perhaps from the early Iron Age. When exactly the Iron
Age began in Ireland, is a subject that has been hotly debated by historical scholars. Some
archaeologists believe it may have begun as early as 700 B.C., while others give a more
conservative date of around 200 B.C., or later.
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PHILIP I. POWELL
A HISTORY of County Kildare
Ptolemy’s map of Ireland showing Rheban (Rheba), 100 A.D.
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PHILIP I. POWELL
A HISTORY of County Kildare
Whichever is the most plausible of dates, by 300 B.C., the art of the La Tène Iron Age Celts
had arrived in Ireland and some of the most imposing of Iron Age monuments began to
appear in County Kildare, in the form of Hill Forts & Barrows, ‘although some may have
been started already during the Bronze Age.’ (Harbison. P., p.9). The most impressive of
these Hill Forts in Kildare and indeed the whole of Ireland, is that at Knockaulin, near
Kilcullen. Dún Áilinne, was the most important of the royal sites in south Leinster and
enclosed an area of 13.8 hectares (34 acres) on this prominent hill-top. Excavations carried
out in the late 1960s and early 1970s by Bernard Wailes 1, showed the site had been
occupied as early as the Neolithic & Bronze Age periods. From around 250 B.C., three
concentric rings of timber uprights were erected close together, the outermost being the
highest, enclosing the central area 28.5m in diameter. Some 200 years later, two further
concentric palisades were built on almost the exact same spot. Dún Áilinne showed little
trace of habitation and we can only conclude that it may have been used for some
occasional or seasonal ritual of which we have no knowledge. Its enormous scale and
continued re-shaping, showed the importance that Dún Áilinne held in the mindset of these
early Iron Age people. But this sacred pre-Christian site at Dún Áilinne was finally
abandoned around 400 A.D., in favour of the Christian site on a neighbouring hill at
Kilcullen, a transition summarized by Aenghus, writing in his Calendar around 800 A.D.
He said:-
‘Ailenn’s proud burgh has perished with its warlike host; great is victorious Brigit, fair is her multitudinous cemetery’.
The introduction of Christianity to County Kildare, traditionally dates from the middle, to
late 5th century, with the foundation of the monastery at Cill Dara in 490 A.D. The first
Bishop of Cill Dara was Conlaed ua hEimri, (St. Conleth) who died around 520 A.D. Naomh Bríd, (St. Brigid) the foundress, died around 521-526 A.D., and her death has been
celebrated traditionally on 1st February, which is also the pre-Christian festival of Imbolc
and her cross is the emblem of the county. Old Kilcullen, strategically placed beside the
pagan, royal site of Dún Áilinne, is believed to have been assigned a bishop, St. Iserninus,
by St. Patrick, which began as a monastic settlement in the period around 448 A.D.
Killashee, near Naas, was also strategically placed next to the residence of the local king of
the Uí Faelain, where Bishop Auxilius founded a church in the 5th century and in the ‘Obits of the Abbots of Killashee’ occur in the Annals from 829 A.D. The power of the old pagan
priest-kings at Dún Áilinne declined, and they were replaced by kings, whose power was
more politically based. Such kings, like the Kings of Leinster, the Uí Dúnlainge, were
unopposed following the death of Aed mac Colggan in the Battle of Ballyshannon, on 19th
August, 738 A.D., and ruled the province from c.738 A.D., until 1050 A.D.
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1 Excavations in 1960s-1970s by Bernard Wailes recovered pottery dating from 1,270 B.C.
PHILIP I. POWELL
A HISTORY of County Kildare
Its symbolism reminds us that, in Ireland the arrival of
Christianity did not mark a sudden break with the past.
Indeed, the stone speaks of a remarkable continuity in one
of the most resonant of so-called Celtic rituals: ‘the sword in
the stone’. The idea of the true king being the one who can
pull a sword from a stone is central to the British legends of
King Arthur. The Mullamast Stone functioned, almost
certainly, as the place where the Uí Dúnlainge, Kings of
Leinster, were initiated. It is notable that such an important
ritual object has no Christian symbolism. The Mullamast
Stone has four blade marks on the left hand side and two
very deep ones on the top. The new king seems to have
struck or sharpened his sword against the stone as a key
part of the inauguration ritual. The idea of the ‘sword in the
They claimed descent from Cairbre Lifechair, son of Cormac mac Airt, the legendary High
King of Ireland and the dynasty divided into three kindred, unusually in Ireland, rotating
the kingship between them from c.750 until 1050 A.D. The three kindred were the Uí Meiredaig (O’ Tooles), the Uí Faelain (O’ Byrnes) and the Uí Dúnchada (Mac Gilla Mo-
Cholmóg, later the Fitzdermots2).The Uí Meiredaig kings were based at the Great Rath of
Mullaghmast, ‘Máistín’ & the Rath of Mullaghreelan, ‘Mullach Raeirinne’. The Uí Faelain
kings were based at the Rath of Naas, ‘Nás na Ríogh’, and the Uí Dúnchada kings were
based at the Rath of Lyons Hill, ‘Líamhain’. The coming of Christianity to Ireland did not
mean that the ancient Celtic customs & traditions disappeared altogether. The ‘Mullamast
Stone’, (photo) c. 500-600 A.D., is a sculptured stone that was discovered in 1902, being
used as a sill in the doorway of farm called Prospect Farm, on the east side of the Hill of
Mullaghmast, near Narraghmore. It had come from a Fitzgerald castle in the area that was
demolished pre-1897 but its original location was most likely the royal site at Dún Áilinne,
near Kilcullen. The stone, composed of limestone & one of only five La Tène decorated
stones in Ireland,3 is mostly carved in low relief, with some incised, and with a continuous
abstract La Tène style design of concentric spirals, similar to that on the Turoe Stone in
County Galway, that dates it to the 6th century A.D., after the mission of St. Patrick.
Mullaghmast La Tène Stone stone’ seems to have lasted at least from the 5th or 6th centuries to the 12th century. The
‘Mullamast Stone’, is now on display in the National Museum of Ireland.
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2 Fitzdermot - It is one of only two attested surnames of native Gaelic-Irish origin with the Norman
French Fitz prefix. 3 The other four La Tène stones are: - Turoe, Co. Galway, Castlestrange, Co. Roscommon,
Killycluggin, Co. Cavan & Derrykeighan, Co. Antrim.
PHILIP I. POWELL
A HISTORY of County Kildare
Mr. George Coffey, the Keeper of the Irish Antiquities, noted in a paper to the R.I.A., in
November, 1903, that:-
‘the ornament carved on it is, in my opinion, pre-Christian. The stone evidently stood upright. This is shown by the bands or ornament at the base on the four sides of the stone. The incised patterns have a
late look, and closely resemble the Trumpet patterns of the Christian period. But there is nothing Christian about the stone. It may therefore be placed at the end of the Pagan period. As a transitional
piece, helping to carry over the pre-Christian style into the Christian period, it is an important example for the history of ornament in Ireland’.
Mr. Joseph Raftery stylizes the stone to be the most exquisite of any La Tène decoration in
Ireland. He said:-
‘The Mullamast stone belongs to the best period of the Ultimate La Tène style, to our Iron Age C, and some of its designs appear in almost identical form on a latchet brooch found at Navan Fort, County
Armagh’. (Raftery, J., p.213)
Understanding the language and customs of the Celtic peoples in Ireland before
Christianity and, subsequently the introduction of writing, had long been a mystery, until
the discovery of Ogham Stones and their eventual translation. Ogham stones are usually
upright monoliths, onto which ogham script has been incised, which consists of groups of 1-
5 parallel lines and notches cut along the side or across the edge of a stone, to represent the
sounds of the Ancient Irish language. The inscription usually gives a persons name and
immediate decedent/s or tribal ancestor and functioned as memorials, grave markers or
territorial markers that date from the late 4th to the early 8th century A.D. Eight ogham
stones have been discovered in Kildare to date, from two sites at Killen Cormac, in
Colbinstown and at Donaghmore, in the Carton House Demesne. In 1945, during
archaeological excavations on the passage tomb at Killeen Cormack ‘Cillín Cormaic’, several ogham stones were re-discovered in and around the site. One of these ogham stones,
known as ‘the Drunides Stone’, is probably one of the most important archaeological finds
from this period ever found in Ireland. It is the only ogham stone discovered so far in
Ireland that has both Ogham & Latin inscribed on it and has been dated to 400-550
A.D.(Ziegler, S., p.219). The ogham inscription reads, UVANOS AVI IVACTTOS, and
translates as ‘Uvan grandson of Ivacatt’. The Latin has been interpreted as reading either
‘The Four True Druids’ or ‘The Druid Youths’, due to a partial letter. The stone is now on
display in the National Museum of Ireland. (MacAliaster, R.A.S., p.78-79 & McManus, D., p.61).
The monastic sites in Kildare prospered throughout the following three centuries under the
patronage & protection of the Uí Dúnlainge kings. The early monasteries of wattle, wood
and daub, were replaced by fine stone churches and large communities developed around
these religious centres. The monasteries of Kildare & Old Kilcullen, grew very large and
would equate to small towns by today’s standards.
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PHILIP I. POWELL
A HISTORY of County Kildare
However, this peace and prosperity would be shattered by the arrival of a violent force that
had been sweeping through Britain & northern Europe for 50 years, the Vikings. It was
during the reign of Bran mac Fáeláin, King of Leinster that Viking raids began in earnest
in County Kildare. In 833 A.D., the Vikings raided the Kildare monastery for first time and
again, three years later in 836 A.D., in what was the most destructive of sixteen raids in
total. Old Kilcullen too suffered from raids by the Vikings at least twice. In 936 A.D., the
Vikings landed at a location near the present town, led by Amhlaibh, son of Godfrey and
plundered the monastery, and again by Amhlaibh in 944 A.D., when it is reported that a
thousand prisoners were taken. In 837 A.D., a Viking force of sixty ships operating on the
River Liffey, plundered the surrounding plains of north Kildare. However, the Leinster
kings fought back and scored numerous successes against the Norsemen. The Annuls of
Ulster record that in 848 A.D., Lorcán mac Cellaig, King of Leinster, in alliance with
Ólchobar mac Cináeda, led his forces in a victory over the Vikings in the Battle of Sciath Nechtain near modern Castledermot, in which the Viking leader jarl 4 Tomrair, was slain.
And again, The Annals of Ulster state that, in 902 A.D., Cerball mac Muirecáin, King of
Leinster, together with Máel Finnia mac Flannacain, King of Brega, lead an expedition to
Dublin which drove the ‘foreigners’, the Vikings and Norse-Gaels, from Ireland. But the
Leinster Kings also saw the great wealth that the new Viking settlement at Dublin, ‘Diflin’ in Old Norse, generated from commerce & metalworking and through alliances &
intermarriages, began to forge greater links with the Norse-Gaels. This eventually led to
great conflict between the forces of King Máel Mórda of Leinster & King Sigtrygg Silkbeard
of Dublin and those of the High King of Ireland, Máel Sechnaill II & the King of Munster,
Brian Boru, which culminated in the Battle of Glenn Máma in 999 A.D. The Battle of Glenn
Máma, Cath Ghleann Máma, ‘the Glen of the Gap’, took place in what is now, present day
west County Wicklow, in a narrow valley, where the armies of Máel Sechnaill II & Brian Boru inflicted a crushing & decisive defeat on those of Máel Mórda & Sigtrygg Silkbeard.
The battle resulted in the submission of Máel Mórda and Sigtrygg Silkbeard to Brian Boru.
This submission did not last however, and eventually resulted in a second Leinster revolt
against Brian and the Battle of Clontarf in 1014 A.D. Brian Boru perished at Clontarf but
so too did Máel Mórda and with his death, the power of the Uí Dúnlainge waned. After the
death of the last Kildare-based King of Leinster, Murchad Mac Dunlainge, in 1042 A.D., the
great Kildare dynasty of the Uí Dúnlainge and their centuries hold on the kingship of
Leinster, had come to an end. The Kingship of Leinster reverted to their great rivals the Uí Cheinnselaig based in the south east, in present day County Wexford. Although these
Viking raids brought great death and destruction to the communities and monasteries of
Kildare, it also brought about an explosion in Irish decorative art in the form of the High
Crosses & Architectural masonry in the form of Round Towers.
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4 He is called jarl (Earl) and deputy of the King of Lochlann.
PHILIP I. POWELL
A HISTORY of County Kildare
Irish Architecture in Ireland & were
built from around the end of the 10th
century to the middle of the 12th century.
County Kildare has some of the finest
examples of round towers in Ireland,
such as those at Kildare Cathedral in
Kildare town & Taghadoe near
Maynooth. They are tall & slender, with
a doorway about 10 feet from the
ground, with windows at the top, just
below the conical roof and originally
there were a number of wooden landings,
joined by flights of stairs. They had
many functions and one was probably to
act as a bell tower to call monks in from
The Irish High Cross, Ardchros in Irish or ‘Celtic Cross’ as it is sometimes known, date
from around the 8th - 9th century A.D., to the late 12th century A.D. & are one of the most
iconic of crosses. They are found in other lands where a Celtic language is spoken & this
gives them their alternative name. There are two main periods evident in the carving of the
High Crosses. The early period around the 8th-9th century have highly decorated panels
(usually on the east & west faces) bearing figures from the Bible. The east face panels
usually illustrate scenes from the Old Testament, while the west face panels are usually
reserved for the New Testament. The Crucifixion generally occupies the centre of the west
face and some of the finest examples of these early High Crosses of exquisite workmanship
and elaborate design can be seen in Castledermot & Moone. Other High Crosses of less
elaborate carving, can be seen at Ballymore Eustace, which has a large boss at the centre of
a tall cross. The Round Tower, Cloigtheach in Irish or ‘Bell Tower’, was a celebration of
Conjectural drawing of an early monastic site
the surrounding fields for pray. They also served as storage places for monastic treasures
and possibly as a place of refuge in times of danger, such as Viking raids. Their great
height suggests they were intended to be seen from afar, perhaps to guide weary travellers
and pilgrims to the monastic site. With the death of Máel Mórda mac Murchada at Clontarf
in 1014 A.D., the kingdom of Leinster saw much in-fighting between the incumbent kings,
the Uí Dúnlainge of Kildare and the Uí Cheinnselaig kings who were centred around Ferns,
County Wexford. Eventually the Uí Dúnlainge kings of Kildare, relinquished their hold on
the kingship of Leinster and the Uí Cheinnselaig assumed kingship over Leinster with
Diarmait mac Maíl na mBó in 1042 A.D. In earlier times, the Uí Cheinnselaig had been
prominent, but their power had been broken by the Uí Dúnlainge at the battle of Áth Senaig in 738 A.D. In 1126 A.D., Diarmait Mac Murchada, ‘Diarmait of the Foreigners’,
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PHILIP I. POWELL
A HISTORY of County Kildare
and in Kildare, as else where, these early
Normans established themselves in hastily built
fortifications called ‘mottes’, consisting of flat
topped mounds of earth, with a wooden tower on
top, and around the base was an enclosure called
a ‘bailey’. The wooden towers have long since
disappeared but some mottes can still be seen in
places like Ardscull in Athy and Carrigeen in
Clane. By the late 12th - early 13th century, the
Norman FitzGeralds in Kildare had secured
their hold on their newly won territories. They
started to replaced their wooden ‘motte &
bailey’ forts with stronger fortifications and a
great wave of stone castle building began. This
started, probably in the late-1180s, when
Maurice Fitzgerald erected Maynooth Castle
and Hugh de Lacy built Kilkea Castle. Richard
St. Michael, Baron of Rheban built Woodstock
Castle in Athy in the early 13th century, at the
same time that Adam de Hereford built Leixlip
Castle & the de Wogan’s were building a castle
great-grandson of Diarmait mac Maíl na mBó, became King of Leinster, which would led to
the invasion & subsequent conquest of Ireland by the Anglo-Normans, beginning in 1169
A.D. In 1167, Diarmait was deprived of the kingdom of Leinster by Ruaidri Ua Conchobair,
High King of Ireland, on the grounds that he had abducted the wife of the King of Breifne.
To regain his kingdom, Diarmait sought help from King Henry II of England and in return,
Diarmait pledged an oath of allegiance to Henry. Diarmait had done nothing unusual, in
fact, many deposed kings had sought help from abroad for the repossession of the thrones.
But Henry II had other ideas and seized upon the opportunity to expand his kingdom,
much as his predecessors had done in England the previous century. Henry sent troops in
1169 A.D., and among them was the very first Geraldine in County Kildare, Maurice
FitzGerald. Maurice FitzGerald, (pictured below) Lord of Llanstephan (1105 – 1177 A.D.),
was a Cambro-Norman nobleman and one of the first Normans to arrived in Ireland in
1169 A.D., to assist the exiled Irish King of Leinster Diarmait Mac Murchada regain his
kingdom and a major figure in the Norman invasion of Ireland. He settled in Ireland,
becoming Lord of Maynooth & Naas, and with his son, Gerald FitzMaurice, they founded
the FitzGerald dynasty that were to play important roles in Irish history. Gerald
FitzMaurice, by right of his wife, the heiress Eve de Bermingham, was granted the barony
of Offaly, and thus became the 1st Lord of Offaly. He is the ancestor of the Kildare branch
of the dynasty. The Norman lords overran the province within thirty years of their arrival
Maurice FitzGerald,Lord of Llanstephan
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PHILIP I. POWELL
A HISTORY of County Kildare
at Rathcoffey House. The ever present treat of conflict with the native Irish, saw these
castles undergo constant re-shaping and modifications throughout the 14th century, adding
bawns, towers & battlements. The 15th century would witness a new wave of castle building
in Kildare but unlike the great early Norman fortifications of the 13th century, these were
smaller and less impressive. They were square or rectangular in shape, with vaulted roofs
and fine examples of these later Norman castles in Kildare, can be seen at Whites Castle,
Athy, Kilteel Castle, near Naas and Grange Castle, near Edenderry, County Offaly. From
the 12th century onwards, religious worship in County Kildare also underwent great
changes, in parallel with the great castle building of the Norman Lords. The foundation of
new religious orders saw the arrival of the first Cistercians to Kildare, with the building of
an abbey in Monasterevin.
Conjectural drawing of an early Norman motte & bailey
Although it is believed that St. Emin founded a monastery here around 800 A.D. (Gwynn and Hadcock, p.398), sometime between 1177 & 1181 A.D., Dermot O'Dempsey, King of
Offaly, founded an abbey dedicated to St. Mary & St. Benedict, probably on its site, and
shortly afterwards it became the Cistercian Abbey of Rosglas or ‘de Rosea Vallis’, of which
no visible remains survive. (Gwynn and Hadcock, p.142). They were followed by the
Augustinians, who founded priories in Naas in 1200 A.D., and shortly after in Great
Connell in 1202 A.D. and the Dominicans who established a friary at Athy in 1253 A.D.
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PHILIP I. POWELL
A HISTORY of County Kildare
But it would be the Franciscan Order that would have the biggest impact in County
Kildare, founding abbeys in Castledermot in 1247 A.D., Clane in 1258 A.D. and the Grey
Abbey in Kildare town in 1260 A.D. Other lesser orders, such as the Knights Hospitaller,
were also very active in Kildare and they founded Black Abbey in Kildare town in 1212
A.D. The arrival of these new religious orders to Kildare & Ireland, sounded the death
knell for the old Irish monasteries like Kildare & Old Kilcullen, ‘whose organisation was as
loose and disorganised as the buildings of the monasteries themselves.’ (Harbison P., p.22).
For these new orders were more organised than their early Irish counterparts, both in the
layout of the monastic buildings & the monastic life of the monks, a simple but stern life
that had an appeal to the Irish monks, who quickly abandoned the old monasteries which
fell into decay. In building these new monasteries, they introduced remarkable
workmanship of obliquely chiselled stonework, comprising of geometrical ornamentation
and figured sculpture that are one of the most aesthetically pleasing sights in all of County
Kildare. The abbeys of Kildare thrived and prospered under the great patronage of the
Ftizgeralds and in the 15th century, they saw a great revival in ecclesiastical architecture,
especially by the Franciscans who either altered, transformed or added to the abbeys at
Casledermot & Clane. Their monastic buildings were rebuilt or repaired, adding new
doorways, replacing the old lancet windows with broader traceried windows, and thus
letting in more light. However, this new expression in ecclesiastical architecture came to an
abrupt end in 1536 A.D., when Henry VIII, decreed the dissolution of all monasteries
and the confiscation of all monastic property. The rebellion by Silken Thomas
Fitzgerald in 1535 A.D., and its subsequent ruthless suppression, brought great destruction
to many of the great Norman castles in County Kildare and with Henry VIII adopting the
title ‘King of Ireland’ in 1540, a new era of castle improvements began and continued on
into the reign of Elizabeth I. With this Tudor style architecture, many of the older castles
added mansions to their homes and fortification for defence became of secondary concern.
The English Lord Deputy, Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Stafford, started building a
grandiose new mansion at Jigginstown outside Naas in 1640 A.D., and had he completed it,
it would have been one of the finest 17th century houses in Ireland. However, he was
recalled to London in 1641 A.D., and hanged, and the house remained incomplete. What
followed, was 11 years of constant warfare in Ireland, first with the Confederate Wars of
1642–1649 A.D., and after the defeat and execution of Charles I, the Parliamentary armies
of Cromwell between 1649-1653 A.D., destroyed many castles and abbeys, removing the
last remaining vestiges of the old monasteries in Kildare. Although this paper finishes at
the 1700s, some antiquities of notable exception deserve special mention. Some show the
extravagant lifestyles of the wealthy in 18th century Kildare, who embarked upon lavish
garden ornamentations for their stately mansions, such as the ‘Eagle Obelisk’ in Belan
from the 1740s and ‘The Wonderful Barn’ in Celbridge from the 1740s. Others are more
pragmatic and functional, and serve as a reminder of the great changes that took place in
County Kildare in the early 19th century, like the ‘Lifting Bridge’ in Monasterevin or the
‘Dan Donnelly Obelisk’ in The Curragh.
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PHILIP I. POWELL
A HISTORY of County Kildare
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Gwynn, A.O., & Hadcock, R.N., - ‘Medieval Religious Houses: Ireland’ (Longman Publishing Group. 1970)
Keating, Geoffrey, ‘History of Ireland: Foras Feasa ar Eirinn’ trans. O’Mahoney. 3 vols.
(Irish Genealogical Foundation. 1980)
Harbison, Peter, - ‘National and Historic Monuments of Ireland’ (Gill and Macmillan. 1970)
Harbison, Peter, - ‘Pre-Christian Ireland - From the First Settlers to the Early Celts’ (Guild Publishing, London. 1989)
Macalister, R. A. S., ‘Studies in Irish Epigraphy. A Collection of Revised Readings of the Ancient Inscriptions of Ireland, with Introduction and Notes’.
(Part I. London: David Nutt. (1897)
McManus, D., ‘A Guide to Ogam’ (Maynooth Monographs 4. Maynooth: An Sagart. 1991)
Raftery, Joseph, - ‘Prehistoric Ireland’ (London. 1951)
Wailes, Bernard, - Knockaulin Excavations, 1960-1970
Ziegler, S., ‘Die Sprache der altirischen Ogam-Inschriften’. (Gottingen: Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht. 1994)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Ptolemy’s map of Ireland: Creative Commons
Image of Maurice Fitzgerald, Lord Lanstephan as shown in a manuscript of the
Expugnatio Hibernica, written in 1189 by his nephew, Gerald of Wales, courtesy of the
National Library of Ireland
All other images copyright of Author
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