Newtownmountkennedy () is a small town in

County Wicklow County Wicklow ( ; ga, Contae Chill Mhantáin ) is a county in Ireland. The last of the traditional 32 counties, having been formed as late as 1606, it is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is bordered by ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

. It developed within the historic townland of Ballygarny () (now Mount Kennedy Demesne), although all that remains is a motte where a church, graveyard and a castle or tower house once stood just north of the town. It acquired its present name in the mid-seventeenth-century, when Sir Robert Kennedy, M.P. for

Kildare Kildare () is a town in County Kildare, Ireland. , its population was 8,634 making it the 7th largest town in County Kildare. The town lies on the R445, some west of Dublin – near enough for it to have become, despite being a regional ce ...

, made it his principal residence. It is just off the N11 road to

Wexford Wexford () is the county town of County Wexford, Ireland. Wexford lies on the south side of Wexford Harbour, the estuary of the River Slaney near the southeastern corner of the island of Ireland. The town is linked to Dublin by the M11/N11 ...

, just south of

Kilpedder Kilpedder (, meaning "Peter's church") is a village in County Wicklow, Ireland, located off the N11 road between Kilmacanogue and Newtownmountkennedy, just south of the Glen of the Downs Nature Reserve. It had a population of 1,255 as of th ...

and south-west of

Greystones Greystones () is a coastal town and seaside resort in County Wicklow, Ireland. It lies on Ireland's east coast, south of Bray and south of Dublin city centre and has a population of 18,140 (2016). The town is bordered by the Irish Sea to ...

. It is about north of Wicklow town, south of Bray and approximately from

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

. The R772 regional road passes through the village. This was the main

route, the N11, but the village was bypassed by the new N11 dual carriageway in 1990. This town has one of the longest place names in Ireland. Between the 2011 and 2016 census, the population of the town increased by 17.6% (from 2,410 to 2,835 inhabitants), one of the highest growth rates in County Wicklow on the period. The area is a

dormitory town A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...

for some workers commuting to Bray and

. The headquarters of

Coillte Coillte (; meaning "forests"/"woods") is a state-owned commercial forestry business in Ireland based in Newtownmountkennedy. Coillte manage approximately 7% of the country’s land, and operates three businesses - their core forestry business, ...

, the Irish Forestry Board, are situated in the village forest. Newtownmountkennedy is in the

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

parish of

Kilquade Kilquade, historically ''Killcowade'' (), is a townland and a Roman Catholic parish in north County Wicklow, Ireland. It lies between Kilpedder and Kilcoole, about one kilometre east of Junction 12 (Kilpedder) of the N11 national primary ...

and one of the Kilquade parish's two chapels of ease is located in the village at the junction with the Roundwood Road.

Education

Newtownmountkennedy Primary School (St. Joseph's Boys National School and St. Bridget's Girls National School) is located just west of the village. It was formerly split into three buildings, one for male students, and one for female students, while the third building was reserved for the ''Centre for Autism''. The boys' school was known as St Joseph's, while the girls' school was known as St Bridget's. In 2007, the two schools were merged, leaving the lower classes (Junior infants, Senior infants and First class) in the former girls' school, while the remaining classes (Second class, Third class, Fourth class, Fifth class and Sixth class) took residence in the former boys' school. The autism centre stayed in the third building. The name given to the new school is Newtownmountkennedy Primary School. The majority of secondary school students travel to the nearby Coláiste Chroabh Abhann in neighbouring

Kilcoole Kilcoole () is a village in County Wicklow, Ireland. It is three kilometres (2 miles) south of Greystones, 14 kilometres (9 miles) north of Wicklow, and about 28 kilometres (17 miles) south of Dublin. It was used as the set for the Irish tel ...

Transport

The area is served by the 184 bus route connecting the town with

and Bray.

Bus Éireann Bus Éireann (; "Irish Bus") is a state-owned bus and coach operator providing services throughout Ireland, with the exception of Dublin and the Greater Dublin Area, where bus services are provided by sister company Dublin Bus. It is a subsidi ...

route 133 connects the town with

, Bray and Wicklow. The closest train stations are

and

. Greystones and the further, bigger Bray Daly station are accessible by route 184. The nearest airport is

Dublin Airport Dublin Airport ( Irish: ''Aerfort Bhaile Átha Cliath'') is an international airport serving Dublin, Ireland. It is operated by DAA (formerly Dublin Airport Authority). The airport is located in Collinstown, north of Dublin, and south o ...

served by the 133X route three times a day and the nearest airfield is

Newcastle Aerodrome Newcastle Aerodrome is located on Sea Road in Newcastle ( ga, An Caisleán Nua), a village in County Wicklow (''Contae Chill Mhantáin''), Ireland. This aerodrome is licensed by the Aeronautical Services Department of the Irish Aviation Autho ...

. The closest ferry ports are

to the north and

Rosslare Europort Rosslare Europort ( ga, Europort Ros Láir) is a modern seaport located at Rosslare Harbour in County Wexford, Ireland, near the southeasternmost point of the island of Ireland. The port is the premier Irish port serving the European Contin ...

to the south.

Sports

Gaelic games

The

Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional ...

club of Newtown, known in Irish as Báile úi gCearnaigh, is one of the oldest clubs in the country, being founded in 1887. The club has two adult teams, one contesting the Senior League and Championship, and one contesting the Junior A League and Championship. There are also underage teams, ranging from Minor (U-18) down to "Super Sevens" (U-8 and younger). The club has a number of county championships to its name, including the County Senior Championship, won in 1964 and 1975. Newtown GAA Club plays in the colours Black and White, leading to some fans to dub them "The Magpies".

Association football

Newtown has two

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

(soccer) clubs, Newtown United and Newtown Juniors. Newtown Juniors are for players up until the age of 16. After that, they move on to the senior teams of Newtown United. Both teams use the same home ground, the Matt Kelly Community Grounds.

Golf

Druids Glen Golf Resort, which hosted the Irish open from 1996 to 1999, is located about a kilometre east of Newtown. Druids Heath Golf Course, another championship course, is also located in Druids Glen. Glen Mill Golf Club is located to the south of Newtown, past Killadreenan.

Economy

, the Irish Forestry operator, has its headquarters just north of the town. French company Procap had its Northern European plant in the town. There is also a small industrial estate located to the south of the town. The Parkview Hotel opened in the village centre in March 2007. The hotel has 60 bedrooms and conference facilities. Ecologic received planning permission to build a data centre in Newtownmountkennedy that has an area of 1.1 million square feet (100,000 square metres). This plan was approved by the Supreme Court in December 2013 after numerous appeals by

An Bord Pleanála (; meaning "The Planning Board"; ABP) is an independent, statutory, quasi-judicial body that decides on appeals from planning decisions made by local authorities in the Republic of Ireland. As of 2007, An Bord Pleanála directly decided majo ...

and quashing the High Court's refusal to approve the development. There is also a shopping centre in the town, which includes a Dunnes Stores, a pharmacy and a cafe. A major development was the creation, in 2015, of a new housing development "Wicklow Hills" which comprises a mix of two, three and four-bedroom houses.

People

Clive Clarke Clive Richard Luke Clarke (born 14 January 1980) is an Irish former footballer. He played primarily as a left back, but also as centre back, left midfielder or centre midfielder, notably for Stoke City and twice for the Ireland international ...

, former footballer. * Sonny Condell, Irish singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and graphic artist. * Leo Cullen, coach (and former captain) of

Leinster Rugby Leinster Rugby ( ga, Rugbaí Laighean) is one of the four professional provincial rugby union teams from the island of Ireland and the most successful Irish team domestically. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugb ...

. *

Paul Heffernan Paul Heffernan (born 29 December 1981) is an Irish former professional footballer, who played as a striker. Heffernan has played for several clubs in Great Britain which include Sheffield Wednesday, Doncaster Rovers, Notts County, Bristol Cit ...

, former professional footballer with several

English Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

and

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottis ...

sides. *

Sir Richard Kennedy, 2nd Baronet Sir Richard Kennedy, 2nd Baronet, of Newtownmountkennedy (c.1615-1685) was an Irish politician, landowner and judge who held the office of Baron of the Court of Exchequer (Ireland). He was the second of the Kennedy Baronets of Newtownmountkenned ...

, High Court judge and head of the Kennedy family who gave their name to the town. * Dean Odlum, sportsperson

References

External links

{{Authority control Towns and villages in County Wicklow