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Monasterevin (), sometimes Monasterevan, is a town in
County Kildare County Kildare () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the Local gove ...
, Ireland. It lies on the
River Barrow The Barrow () is a river in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is one of The Three Sisters (Ireland), The Three Sisters; the other two being the River Suir and the River Nore. The Barrow is the longest of the three rivers and, at 192 km (12 ...
and the Barrowline, a canal branch of the Grand Canal. In the 20 years between the 2002 and 2022 censuses, the population more than doubled, from 2,583 to 5,307 inhabitants. The town is in a
townland A townland (; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a traditional small land division used in Ireland and in the Western Isles of Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of medieval Gaelic origin, predating the Norman invasion, and mo ...
and
civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
of the same name.


Location and access

Situated 63 km from
Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
on the R445 road, Monasterevin has been relieved of much through-traffic by the opening in 2004 of a section of the M7 motorway bypassing the town on the N7 Dublin-to-
Limerick Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...
route. Monasterevin railway station is on InterCity rail lines for trains from Dublin to the southwest (Cork, Limerick and Tralee) and west (Galway and Mayo). The town is also on Ireland's canal network, linking the Grand Canal and the River Barrow.


History

Monasterevin is situated on the border of
County Kildare County Kildare () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the Local gove ...
and
County Laois County Laois ( ; ) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and in the province of Leinster. It was known as Queen's County from 1556 to 1922. The modern county takes its name from Loígis, a medieval kingdom. Hist ...
. The towns and districts of Rathangan,
Kildare Kildare () is a town in County Kildare, Ireland. , its population was 10,302, making it the 7th largest town in County Kildare. It is home to Kildare Cathedral, historically the site of an important abbey said to have been founded by Saint ...
, Portarlington and
Athy Athy ( ; ) is a market town at the meeting of the River Barrow and the Grand Canal in south-west County Kildare, Ireland, 72 kilometres southwest of Dublin. A population of 11,035 (as of the 2022 census) made it the sixth largest town in Kil ...
surround the parish. The main geographical features of the countryside are the
River Barrow The Barrow () is a river in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is one of The Three Sisters (Ireland), The Three Sisters; the other two being the River Suir and the River Nore. The Barrow is the longest of the three rivers and, at 192 km (12 ...
, its tributaries, the extensive bogland and the limestone outcrop of Moore Abbey Hill.


Prehistoric times

In prehistoric times, glacial activity shaped the landscape. The meltwater from the retreating ice sheet formed outwash plains of gravel to the east and west. These are, of course, the Curragh and Heath. The land between is mainly limestone and proved an ideal path for the River Barrow, fed by its tributaries the Black and the Figile. Evidence of the early Stone Age is sketchy but there are traces of Neolithic man in the area. A dolmen, now collapsed, once marked the burial of some important tribal potentate in a local townland. During the Barrow drainage, hundreds of stone axe heads were found on the river-bed at each of the three major crossing points that occur within the town. Their presence may indicate the importance of Monasterevin as a fording point on the mystical Baru. Neolithic travellers may have sacrificed the valuable axe heads to the spirit of the Barrow or Baru. Or they may have been placed in the shallow water to mark the significance of crossing the boundary between two peoples. The Bronze Age in Monasterevin was the age of the small farmer, as evidenced by several earthwork enclosures. One such is the earthwork enclosure just above the town referred to as the Aquafort, resting as it does on the spit of land where the River Figile joins the River Barrow. At the time, it would have been in use the water level was much higher, meaning that approaching the defences was more difficult. The pattern of fortified settlement continues into the Iron Age. We also know that by this time, the bogland around Monasterevin was fully formed. Traversing these areas would have been difficult, but the importance of the fords on the Barrow meant that some solution had to be found. The equivalent of the M7 motorway was needed, and indeed it was provided by what is known as "The Danes Road". It was built by laying large, rough-hewn planks and a foundation of brushwood on boggy ground. This base spread the weight of the gravel layer on top, allowing the roads to be used by chariots. St. Brigid is said to have ordered the construction of such a road.


Middle Ages

Saint Abban of New Ross, a contemporary of
Saint Patrick Saint Patrick (; or ; ) was a fifth-century Romano-British culture, Romano-British Christian missionary and Archbishop of Armagh, bishop in Gaelic Ireland, Ireland. Known as the "Apostle of Ireland", he is the primary patron saint of Irelan ...
, established a monastic settlement by the banks of the River Barrow at Rosglas and gave it into the charge of his protégé Evin (''Éimhín''; the name is a diminutive of the adjective ''eimh'' "swift, active", Latinized ''Eminus''). Saint Evin brought a number of monks with him from his native Munster. This gained the settlement the name Rosglos-na-Moinneach (the greenwood of the Munstermen). Saint Evin was politically astute; today, he would be called a spin doctor. He secured special status for the Monasterevin area, placing it outside the common law, making it a sanctuary. His famous bell was used for swearing oaths and was much in demand by tribes of the region for guaranteeing peace treaties. St. Evin also co-authored the "Tripartite Life of St. Patrick". Other writing by Evin survives, including the "Cain Emhin". Although St. Evin's monastery died out about the time of the Viking raids in Ireland, its importance continued. In 903 AD, the Battle of Ballaghmoon was fought for the ownership of the church. The next religious establishment on the site was in the 12th century when the Cistercian Abbey was founded under the patronage of Dermot O’Dempsey. This began a long connection with Mellifont in
County Louth County Louth ( ; ) is a coastal Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Louth is bordered by the counties of County Meath, Meath to the ...
, the Cistercian motherhouse over all Ireland and Baltinglass in
County Wicklow County Wicklow ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The last of the traditional 32 counties, having been formed as late as 1606 in Ireland, 1606, it is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the Provinces ...
, the motherhouse of Monasterevin. At this time, the O’Dempseys were the rulers of the area, which was part of the territory of Clanmaliere. The O’Dempseys remained involved with the Abbey, providing the last abbot in Monasterevin, Hugh O’Dempsey. Once again, the importance of Monasterevin as a crossing point on the Barrow asserted itself and the town came under the opposing influences of the O’Mores of Laois, the Hiberno-Norman Earls of Kildare and the English Pale. Abbots of Monasterevin, therefore, had to inherit St. Evin's talent for politics. Abbots of Monasterevin held a seat in the Irish Parliament while assisting outlaws and rebels against the crown of England. By 1427, Rosglas had fallen on hard times and in 1541, the Abbey was handed over to Henry VIII of England as part of his reformation. He, in turn, leased it to his nobles. During the Elizabethan period, there were several occupants, including Sir Robert Devereaux, Earl of Essex, after whom Essex Bridge is named (commonly called the Pass Bridge because he passed over it on his way to his disastrous campaign against the native Irish in Munster). It is not recorded whether he passed that way again on his way to be beheaded at the Tower of London.


Early Modern Era

King James I granted the Abbey and demesne of Rosglas at Monasterevin to Sir Adam Loftus in 1613. The Earls of Drogheda married into the Loftus family. Charles Lord Moore, Earl of Drogheda, married Jane Loftus in 1699. Their son Edward became the Fourth Earl, who sold the Mellifont estates and transferred the family seat to Monasterevin. The coming of the Moores marks an important point in the history of Monasterevin. Its rise as the "Venice of Ireland" was encouraged by the many improvement works undertaken by the family and the influx of a mixed Protestant and Catholic merchant class. The First Earl had laid out the streets at the centre of Dublin, Drogheda Street (
O'Connell Street O'Connell Street () is a street in the centre of Dublin, Ireland, running north from the River Liffey. It connects the O'Connell Bridge to the south with Parnell Street to the north and is roughly split into two sections bisected by Henry ...
),
Moore Street Moore Street (; ) is a street in central Dublin, Ireland, off Henry Street (Dublin), Henry Street, one of Ireland's main shopping streets. The famous Moore Street open-air fruit and vegetable market is Dublin's oldest food market. The market t ...
, Henry Street, and Mary Street. His descendants continued this tradition of town planning by laying out the grid-pattern of the town with the parallel Main Street and Drogheda Street, which were connected by several crossing streets and lanes, some of which have disappeared. Monasterevin has an unusual number of bridges, giving rise to its nickname of the Venice of Ireland. Arriving in 1786, the Grand Canal lends support to this name. Originally, the spur connecting the mainline to the Barrow in Athy was carried down the bank by locks into Barrow and up the other side. The Grand Canal allowed the local distilling industry to flourish. The captains of this industry were the Cassidy Family, whose
whisky Whisky or whiskey is a type of liquor made from Fermentation in food processing, fermented grain mashing, mash. Various grains (which may be Malting, malted) are used for different varieties, including barley, Maize, corn, rye, and wheat. Whisky ...
and their St. Patrick Cross Pale Ale became world-famous. The wealth they acquired gave them considerable influence in the locality. In 1798, Cassidy was the local magistrate. On 25 May 1798, insurgents from the surrounding countryside marched on the town of Monasterevin in an attempt to capture it. The Battle of Monasterevin took place in the Main Street opposite St. John's church, which had been fortified by local yeomanry and militiamen. A charge by the Monasterevin Yeomanry Cavalry routed the insurgents. Later in the year, Fr. Edward Prendergast was arrested and condemned to death for ministering to the insurgents in their camp in Iron Hill near Nurney. He was hanged in the garden of Monasterevin House and buried there. Captain Padraig O’Bierne and a group of Derryoughter boatmen stole into the town under the cover of darkness and removed the body to his home place of Harristown.


Modern times

The 19th century was marked by further improvements to the town infrastructure, including the building of a new Town Bridge in 1832 and the arrival of the railway. The area was largely unaffected by the widespread mass evictions of the era, the Droghedas being generally regarded as good landlords. An aqueduct built in 1826 carries the Grand Canal over the River Barrow, preceded by a lift drawbridge where the R424 main road crosses the Barrowline branch of the Grand Canal, the only such main road bridge to do so on the Grand Canal. Monasterevin is noted for its unusually high number of bridges in such a small semi-rural area, earning it the name of the Venice of Ireland. The Great Famines of the 1840s also left the area relatively unscathed. The poet
Gerard Manley Hopkins Gerard Manley Hopkins (28 July 1844 – 8 June 1889) was an English poet and Society of Jesus, Jesuit priest, whose posthumous fame places him among the leading English poets. His Prosody (linguistics), prosody – notably his concept of sprung ...
visited the town on seven occasions. In late May 2017, Monasterevin made the national news. Local people in the town on a Friday afternoon used
social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...
to form a mob and ran a civil servant out of the town.


Birth of motor racing

On 2 July 1903, the Gordon Bennett Cup ran through Monsterevin. It was the first international motor race to be held in either Ireland or Great Britain. The Automobile Club of Great Britain and Ireland wanted the race to be hosted in Britain or Ireland, and Ireland was suggested as the venue because racing was illegal on British public roads. After some lobbying, Kildare was chosen, partly because the straightness of the roads was seen as a safety benefit. As a compliment to Ireland, the British team chose to race in Shamrock green, which thus became known as British racing green. The route consisted of several loops of a circuit that passed-through
Kilcullen Kilcullen (), formally Kilcullen Bridge, is a small town on the River Liffey in County Kildare, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Its population of 3,815 at the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census made it the 13th largest settlement in County Kilda ...
,
Kildare Kildare () is a town in County Kildare, Ireland. , its population was 10,302, making it the 7th largest town in County Kildare. It is home to Kildare Cathedral, historically the site of an important abbey said to have been founded by Saint ...
, Monasterevin, Stradbally,
Athy Athy ( ; ) is a market town at the meeting of the River Barrow and the Grand Canal in south-west County Kildare, Ireland, 72 kilometres southwest of Dublin. A population of 11,035 (as of the 2022 census) made it the sixth largest town in Kil ...
,
Castledermot Castledermot () is an inland town in the south-east of Republic of Ireland, Ireland in County Kildare, about from Dublin, and from the town of Carlow. The N9 road (Ireland), N9 road from Dublin to Waterford previously passed through the villa ...
, and
Carlow Carlow ( ; ) is the county town of County Carlow, in the south-east of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, from Dublin. At the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census, it had a population of 27,351, the List of urban areas in the Republic of Ireland, ...
. The race started at the Ballyshannon crossroads near Calverstown. The race was won by the Belgian Camille Jenatzy, driving a Mercedes.


20th century

The rise of Nationalism at the turn of the 20th century was well supported in the area. In 1900, a
Celtic Cross upright 0.75 , A Celtic cross symbol The Celtic cross is a form of ringed cross, a Christian cross featuring a nimbus or ring, that emerged in the British Isles and Western Europe in the Early Middle Ages. It became widespread through its u ...
style Monument in honour of Fr. Prendergast was erected by popular subscription of the Nationalists of the town and surrounding districts. During the
Great War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, many young men from the town and surrounding areas joined the
Leinster Regiment The Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians) was an infantry regiment of the line in the British Army, formed in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 100th (Prince of Wales's Royal Canadian) Regiment of Foot and the 109th Regiment of Foo ...
and
Connaught Rangers The Connaught Rangers ("The Devil's Own") was an Ireland, Irish line infantry regiment of the British Army formed by the amalgamation of the 88th Regiment of Foot (Connaught Rangers) (which formed the ''1st Battalion'') and the 94th Regiment of Fo ...
. Many died on the Western Front, and of those who returned, many were physically or physiological scarred. During the War of Independence, the rail lines around Monasterevin and Kildangan were the chief targets of IRA action. The population suffered the attentions of the
Black and Tans The Black and Tans () were constables recruited into the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) as reinforcements during the Irish War of Independence. Recruitment began in Great Britain in January 1920, and about 10,000 men enlisted during the conflic ...
on their way down the country. From 1925,
Count John McCormack Papal Count, Count John Francis McCormack (14 June 1884 – 16 September 1945), was an Republic of Ireland, Irish lyric tenor celebrated for his performances of the operatic and popular song repertoires, and renowned for his diction and breath ...
was the tenant of Moore Abbey. The world-famous tenor entertained many famous guests during his years in the house. As well as recording his albums in the Great Hall, one of the scenes from his film Song of My Heart was filmed on the grounds. During the Emergency of 1939–45, Monasterevin prepared to defend itself against any aggressor by raising its own Local Defence Force, preparing its bridges for demolition, and building a pillbox to defend the town. The engineering works of Samuel E. Holmes produced grenades for the army. In 1975, Monasterevin made international headlines. On the morning of 21 October, Gardaí surrounded a house in St. Evin's Park. Inside were the kidnappers of Dr.
Tiede Herrema In October 1975, Dutch businessman Tiede Herrema (21 April 1921 – 24 April 2020) was kidnapped by the Provisional IRA in Castletroy, near Limerick. This triggered a large police investigation and a two-week siege, after which Herrema was rele ...
The "Siege at Monasterevin" lasted 17 days, ending on 7 November with the surrender of the kidnappers and the freedom of Dr. Herrema. On 26 May 2017, an angry mob formed to run a
Civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...
out of the town. The mob was formed using
social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...
tools and claimed to believe that the man was a known
paedophile Pedophilia ( alternatively spelled paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of pube ...
, Anthony Luckwill (an older man with different coloured hair). Despite repeated Gardai assurances that it was mistaken identity, the civil servant was chased from a local business into a
pub A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...
by 30 or so locals. The gardai then rescued him from the locals and sent him back to
Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
.


Culture

From 1987 to 2015, a
Gerard Manley Hopkins Gerard Manley Hopkins (28 July 1844 – 8 June 1889) was an English poet and Society of Jesus, Jesuit priest, whose posthumous fame places him among the leading English poets. His Prosody (linguistics), prosody – notably his concept of sprung ...
Literary Festival was held annually in the town, which the poet described as "one of the props and struts of my existence" whilst he was teaching in Dublin. It then moved to neighbouring Newbridge.


Sport

Monasterevin G.F.C. is one of the local
Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sports, amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional Irish sports o ...
football clubs, the others including
Ballykelly GAA Ballykelly Gaelic Football Club is a Gaelic football based Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) club in County Kildare, Ireland, north of Monasterevin. They field teams from U6 to senior in both ladies' and men's football. History Football Club ...
and Ros Glas hurling club. Monasterevin is the birthplace of Wimbledon Tennis Champion Willoughby Hamilton.


See also

* List of abbeys and priories in (County Kildare) * List of towns and villages in Ireland * Market Houses in Ireland


Notes

:a. According t
''Leinster Leader'', Saturday, 11 April 1903
Britain had to choose a different colour to its usual national colours of red, white and blue, as these had already been taken by Italy, Germany and France respectively. It also stated red as the color for ''American'' cars in the 1903 Gordon Bennett Cup.


References


External links

*
Monasterevin website
Monasterevin Community Council
Monasterevin Historical Society

Monasterevin Hopkins Society and Annual Festival
{{County Kildare Towns and villages in County Kildare Townlands of County Kildare Civil parishes of County Kildare