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KILDARE TOWN |
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KILDARE town is a delight: a solid, respectable place centred on a
sloping triangular square, dominated by the massive, squat Church of
Ireland Cathedral of St Brigid , who founded a religious house here in
490. The present structure dates originally from the thirteenth century,
though the north transept and choir were burned to the ground in the
Confederate War of 1641, and the Victorian reconstruction of 1875 is
pseudo-medieval. Its round tower, probably twelfth century, has a
particularly elaborate doorway twelve feet up; nineteenth-century
battlements conceal the original conical roof - which you find yourself
standing on once you've climbed to the top. The views from here are fine
- rolling farmland to the south, the Bog of Allen to the north and the
Curragh race course to the east.
The tourist office (May Mon-Fri 10am-1pm & 2-5.30pm; June-Sept Mon-Sat
10am-1pm & 2-5.30pm; tel 045/522696) is sited in the nineteenth-century
Market House right in the middle of the main square. Accommodation is
limited to a hotel, the Curragh Lodge , Dublin Street (tel 045/522144,
fax 045/521247; £90-110/¬114.28-139.67), and a handful of B&Bs - good
central options include the comfortable Singleton's at 1 Dara Park,
Station Road (tel 045/521964; £33-40/¬41.90-50.79), and Fremont , Tully
Road (tel 045/521604; £33-40/¬41.90-50.79). For eating : Jimmy Bean's
café on the square serves decent lunches and open sandwiches; Georgio's
, a few doors down, serves moderately priced pizza and pasta, and the
Silken Thomas does good bar food and has a restaurant alongside. The
Silken Thomas takes its name from a member of the ruling Fitzgerald
family, whom the growing powers of the Tudor monarchy provoked into
rebellion in 1536, the uprising was unsuccessful, and a bloody massacre
followed at Maynooth, later known, ironically, as "the pardon of
Maynooth". In the square beside the cathedral, you'll find Nolan's , an
old bar with cosy snugs; it hosts traditional music three or four nights
a week.
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