Lewis Topographical Dictionary - OSi Online Shop

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dermot possessed a priory for Regular canons, a house
of Crouched friars, and a Franciscan abbey, the ruins
of which still serve to attest its former magnificence.
The ruins of another Franciscan abbey are to be seen at
Clane, where there was also a house of Regular canons.
At Graney are the ruins of an Augustinian nunnery. A
gateway and some other remains of a monastic building,
said to have belonged to the Knights Templars, are still
shown there. The ruins of Great Connell abbey are on
the banks of the Liffey, near Newbridge. In Kildare
was a nunnery and abbey united, founded by St. Brigid,
and of which the ruins are still pointed out; also an
abbey of Grey friars, situated south of the town, and a
house of Carmelites or White friars. At Old Kilcullen
is a monastery as old as the time of St. Patrick, which
in 1115 was elevated to the dignity of an episcopal see,
but it does not appear that it long retained that rank.
Near the ruins of the old church are the remains of two
crosses, one of which still retains some very curious
specimens of ancient sculpture. Maynooth had a con-
vent of Black nuns, and a college of priests founded by
the Earl of Kildare; the abbey of Killossy has been
converted into the parish church, and is remarkable for
the singularity of the architecture of its steeple tower;
the monastery of Kilrush was surrounded by a broad
ditch faced with masonry ten feet high; the abbey of
Monastereven has been converted into the residence of
the Moore family, the representative of which is the
Marquess of Drogheda. At Moone was a Franciscan
friary, the brotherhood of which retained possession of
it subsequently to the Reformation. Here is a fragment
of a very old cross, one of the most curious in Ireland,
covered with numerous grotesque figures. In Naas were
three religious establishments, namely, a convent of
Augustinians, another of Dominicans, and one for friars
eremites of the order of St. Augustine. Some remains
of the buildings of New Abbey, on the banks of the
Liffey, are still to be seen; and of St. Wolstan’s, also on
the Liffey, near Celbridge, two towers and two gateways
yet exist. Timolin had a monastery of Regular canons,
and also a nunnery; at Tully, a mile south of Kildare,
was a commandery of the Knights Templars, the pos-
sessions of which are held in commendam with the bish-
oprick of Kildare; the abbeys of Clonagh, Cloncurry,
Disert-Fulertagh, Glasnaoidhun, Grangenolvin, Kilbeggs,
Knocknacrioth, Leixlip, and Tulachfobhair, are known
only by name.
The remains of many castles are scattered through
the county: the principal were Kilkea, Athy, Castle-
dermot, Rheban, Kilberry, Woodstock, Timolin, Cas-
tle Carbery, Ballyteague, Clane, Rathcoffy, Donadea,
Lackagh, Kildare, Leixlip, Corifig, Morrestown-Ne-
nagh, Cloncurry, and Maynooth. The modern man-
sions of the nobility and gentry are noticed in the
parishes in which they are respectively situated. The
farm-houses in general consist of a long thatched build-
ing of one story, containing in the centre a large kitchen,
with lodging-rooms at each end: the front door opens
into a yard, here called a bawn, on the sides of which
are the out-buildings. The cottiers’ cabins exhibit a
mode of construction different from that of the more
northern districts; the lower half being built of stone
and clay mortar, and the upper of clay or sods, topped
with a thick covering of straw thatch. Oatmeal, pota-
toes, herrings, and some milk and butter, constitute the
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food of the poorer class; their fuel is turf; their cloth-
ing principally home-made frieze. Even in the midst of
summer a heavy frieze loose coat, called a “trusty,” is
worn over the rest of the garments. The dress of the
women is much better than it formerly was. The cir-
cumstances and appearance of the population located on
the bogs, or their immediate vicinity, are very unfavour-
able. On each side of those parts of the canal that
pass through the bog, the land is let in small lots to
turf-cutters, who take up their residence on the spot,
however dreary and uncomfortable. Their first care is
to excavate a site for a habitation on the driest bank
that can be selected, which is sunk so deep that little
more than the roof is visible; this is covered with scanty
thatch, or, more frequently, with turf pared from the
bog, laid with the herbage upwards, which so perfectly
assimilates with the aspect of the surrounding scenery
that the eye would pass it over unnoticed, were it not
undeceived by the appearance of children and domestic
animals sallying from a hole in one side, and by the
occasional gush of smoke from the numerous chinks in.
the roof. The English language is everywhere spoken.
The customs of gossipred and fosterage are closely ad-
hered to. Gossips will fight most pertinaciously for
each other; in all conversations they call each other by
the endearing name; and not to have gossips at baptism
would cast a deep reflection on the parents.
KILDARE, an incorporated market and post-town,
a parish, and the seat of a diocese, in the barony of
EAST OPHALY, county of KILDARE, and province of
LEINSTER, 9¼ miles (W. S. W.) from Naas, and 25 miles
(W.S.W.) from Dublin, on the mail coach road to Limer-
ick; containing 2541 inhabitants, of which number,
1753 are in the town. This place derived its name
either from Chille-dara, “the wood of oaks,” or from
Kill-dara, “the cell or church of the oaks,” from the
situation of the first Christian church founded here
among trees of that kind. The source of its ancient
importance appears to have been the foundation of a
monastery by St. Bridget, the daughter of a native Irish
chieftain, who in the fifth century is said to have re-
ceived the veil from the hands of St. Patrick. This
monastery, which was both for monks and nuns under
the same roof, and had only one church, soon caused
other habitations to be erected in the neighbourhood,
which, on its being subsequently made the seat of an
episcopal see, became a town of importance. It is re-
corded that, in 638, Aed Dubh, or Black Hugh, King of
Leinster, resigned his authority, and took the habit of
the Augustine order in this monastery, of which be
afterwards became abbot and bishop. The town and
monastery were consumed by fire in 770, and again
about four years after; and in 830 they suffered greatly
from the depredation of Ceallach Mac Brann, who slew
many of the clergy in their own house. Farannan,
abbot of Armagh, attended by a retinue of his clergy,
visited the abbey in 835; and during his stay, Fethle-
mid, at the head of an armed force, seized the church
and carried off the clergy prisoners. In the following
year, a Danish fleet of thirty ships arrived in the river
Liffey, and another also in the Boyne, and, making an
irruption into the country, not only plundered every
church and abbey within the territories of Magh-Liffe
and Magh-Breagh, but also destroyed the town with fire
and sword, and carried away the shrines of St. Bridget