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Maynooth
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Maynooth Maigh Nuad |
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| Crom Abu | ||
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| Location | ||
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| Irish Grid Reference N935378 |
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| Statistics | ||
| Province: | Leinster | |
| County: | County Kildare | |
| Elevation: | 48 m | |
| Population (2002) - Town: - Rural: |
10,151 10,837 |
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| Website: www.maynooth.ie | ||
Maynooth (Maigh Nuad in Irish) is a town located in north County Kildare, Ireland. It is located on the R148 road between Leixlip and Kilcock, with the M4 motorway bypassing the town. Other roads connect the town to Celbridge, Clane, and Dunboyne. The ancient name of Maynooth means the plain of Nuada. Nuada is referred to as the maternal grandfather of the legendary Fionn mac Cumhail in the Annals of the Four Masters.
Two third-level educational institutions -- St. Patrick's College, Maynooth founded by King George III in 1795 and the National University of Ireland, Maynooth founded in 1997 -- are located in the town. NUI Maynooth is the only university in the Republic of Ireland not situated in a city.
Despite the lower figures quoted by census results, the true population of the town is anywhere from 6,000 to 12,000. The difficulty in measurement is due to the fact that much of the town's population is transient - students at NUI Maynooth or temporary employees at the nearby Intel and Hewlett Packard facilities (both located in Leixlip).
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The town is a major historical centre, with Maynooth Castle and Carton House: two former seats of the Dukes of Leinster. The castle was a stronghold of the 16th century historical figure Thomas FitzGerald, 10th Earl of Kildare better known as Silken Thomas. The castle was taken by force in 1535, after the rebellion of the Earl. The town is just inside the western edge of The Pale.
The most important historical buildings in the town are those of St. Patrick's College some of which antedate the foundation of the college, while others are in the late Georgian and neo-Gothic revival style. The new range of buildings was erected by A.W.N. Pugin in 1850 under a commission from then college president Laurence F. Renehan, while the highly important College Chapel was designed and completed by J.J. McCarthy during the presidency of Dr. Robert Browne in 1894.
In the 1920s, the town was the unofficial home to the King's representative in Ireland, Domhnall Ua Buachalla, who declined to take up official residence in the Viceregal Lodge in the Phoenix Park, and whose family operated a hardware store in the town until 2005, the only store with an Irish language name in the town for many years.
The famed Connolly's Folly is also near the town, although it is arguably in Celbridge, as it is much closer to it, but is covered by Maynooth's very large town boundaries.
The town is the main retail and other service centre for North Kildare and South Meath, with branches of SuperValu, Tesco Ireland, Aldi and Lidl, as well as a wide variety of non-chain stores. In October 2005, Dunnes Stores opened a major shopping centre off the town's main street, Manor Mills. This centre contains a number of other high street names, such as Easons, Elvery's Sports and a Bank of Scotland (Ireland) branch due to open soon. Both Tesco and Dunnes Stores are open 24 hours. On 18 January 2007 Tesco Ireland announced plans to demolish its existing store in Maynooth (the same store having been demolished and rebuilt only seven years previously) and build a larger shopping centre, anchored by a Tesco Extra store, on the same site [1]. The new centre will be known as Carton Park, after nearby Carton House.
The town is the terminus of most Iarnród Éireann Western Commuter, as well as a being served by the Sligo InterCity service. Dublin Bus services also serve the town.
It contains a fire station, in addition to the area's Garda station, a health centre, a branch library and a Credit Union.
In the mid-1980s the town gained some minor fame for having the first callcard phones in Ireland.