Final Conservation Plan - Kildare.ie

2.0 Understanding the Site
2.1 Short description of Place
The Spa site is located in a valley cleft where the Royal Canal aqueduct crosses the Rye River valley
and is approximately two Km to the west of Leixlip. It is bounded to the south by the local R148
Leixlip-Maynooth road. The site itself covers an area of 4.9 Acres, with its eastern boundary
adjoining the Royal canal towpath and adjacent the Leixlip Train station (Louisa Bridge) which
provides local and national rail services. This serves the commuting population of Leixlip and there
is a large car parking area to the south of the R148.
The Rye water as seen in Map 1 of the appendix runs from Carton in Maynooth towards Dublin in a
linear North-west to East direction. The Royal canal with Linear Canal Park runs north-south to the
eastern side of the site. To the West, on the southern side of the river, Intel Ireland has its
manufacturing facility covering an area of 360 acres and over a mile long. The Intel sports grounds
are immediately adjacent to the western boundary.
The site south of the river contains the Spa well and Bath which are of historic importance linked
by a manmade aqueduct which carries the Royal Canal over the River Rye. The topography of the
site is a series of stepped terraces towards the river. The entrance is through a hard standing area
on the level of the towpath that in the past served as a car parking area. This was created in the
1980`s to facilitate access to the site. Misuse of this car park led to the introduction of vehicular
barriers in early 1990`s. Today there is also a second barrier on the towpath limiting its use to
pedestrians and banked earth and large stones defining the sites boundary to the towpath. Refer to
Map 2 in the appendix for the salient features of the site. This first terrace below the entrance
contains the two pond areas halfway between the well and the Bath which contain the Annex II plant
species which is part of the special area of conservation (cSAC). The Bath occurs on the second
terrace located centrally on axis with the waterfall on the northern side of the River. To the side of this
terrace there is located the rare priority habitat i.e. petrifying spring with tufa formation (which is
listed in Annex 1 of the EU habitats Directive). The Bath is accessed by the remains of a central
path; part of measures that were installed in the 1980 s after the Bath was first discovered. Recent
work to the site is the installation of a boardwalk to the northern side of the Rye Valley from the toll
collector‟s house to the base of the waterfall and a viewing point on the aqueduct over the Rye
Valley.
2.2 Chronological developments and events in reference to Spa site.
The discovery of a thermal spring when workmen were constructing the aqueduct for the Royal
Canal and the sites linkage to Thomas Connolly and Louisa Lennox important local historical figures
are outlined below, as well the background, to events relating to the site to present day.
1758
Louisa Lennox marries Tom Conolly, who was living in England at the time. He is convinced by his
brother in law the Earl of Kildare (later to become the Duke of Leinster) to take over his inherited
estate Castletown which adjoined his own demesne, Carton. James Fitzgerald the Earl of Kildare
was married to Emily Lennox.
1786
The second Duke of Leinster and an adjoining landowner lobbied to have the planned route of the
Royal Canal diverted around the southern boundary of their estates causing the expensive crossing
of the River Rye by the aqueduct we see today. At the time the aqueduct was built it was claimed as
being 5m higher than the bridge on the Clyde navigation in Scotland which claimed the title of
greatest in the world. The Valley adjoining the aqueduct would have been modified by quarrying to
obtain the large amount of earth banking necessary. Thousands worked on the construction of an
aqueduct – then the largest such project in Europe - to carry the canal across the river Rye at
Collinstown, West Leixlip. The labour force camped locally while brought great economic benefits for
the area.
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