Castlewarden, County Kildare
Encyclopedia
Castlewarden is a townland
Townland
A townland or bally is a small geographical division of land used in Ireland. The townland system is of Gaelic origin—most townlands are believed to pre-date the Norman invasion and most have names derived from the Irish language...

, monastic site and former parish situated between Ardclough
Ardclough
Ardclough, officially Ardclogh , is a village and community in the parish of Kill County Kildare, Ireland, two miles off the N7 national primary road. Amongst its buildings today are a national school, a church, Ardclough GAA Club, and one shop "Buggys". Ardclough also contains the historic round...

 and Kill, County Kildare
Kill, County Kildare
Kill is a village and parish in County Kildare, Ireland near the county's border with Dublin beside the N7. Its population of 2,510 makes it the 13th largest town in County Kildare. Kill is the birthpace of the Fenian John Devoy, sometimes regarded as the "grandfather of the modern Irish state"...

 just off the N7 in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

. The district is home to a golf club and a riding school today.

Etymology and History

After the Anglo-Norman invasion some time before 1173, Leinster was inherited by Strongbow Richard Fitz Gilbert de Clare "Strongbow", 2nd Earl of Pembroke
Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke
Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke , Lord of Leinster, Justiciar of Ireland . Like his father, he was also commonly known as Strongbow...

, through his marriage to Aoife of Leinster, daughter of Diarmait MacMurrough, one of the Kings of Leinster
Kings of Leinster
The following is a provisional list of the kings of Leinster who ruled the Irish kingdom of Leinster up to 1632 with the death of Domhnall Spainnach MacMurrough-Kavanagh, the last legitimately inaugurated head of the MacMurrough Kavanagh royal line...

. The name Castlewarden appears to be derived from Warinus, Abbott of St Thomas’ Abbey in 1268 - Castellum Warin (Latin). Adam de Hereford had bestowed the lands on the Abbey of St Thomas, along with Wochtred (Oughter Ard
Oughter Ard
-Arthur Guinness and Other Notable Burials:Until the construction of the turnpike road in the adjoining valley in 1729, Oughterard was situated on the main road from Dublin to Limerick and Cork...

) after being given large territories of land by Strongow. In 1377 John Leche, nephew of Hugh de Warin, and physician to Edward III, was grantee by patent of Castle Warin and other lands in Kildare. The church was vacated by the early 17th century. The castle remained in good repair until the 18th century.

Medieval Landmarks

Castlewarden House, which now forms the main building of Castlewarden Golf Club http://www.CastlewardenGolfClub.com, its medieval earthwork complex a motte and bailey and a rectangular enclosure are all listed monuments under the Kildare development plan. The earliest evidence of human habitation in the area was the discovery of a flint dated to 4800-3600BC, at Castlewarden below Oughter Ard
Oughter Ard
-Arthur Guinness and Other Notable Burials:Until the construction of the turnpike road in the adjoining valley in 1729, Oughterard was situated on the main road from Dublin to Limerick and Cork...

 Hill, a rare find on a dryland location. Castlewarden hill is an ancient site associated with the 10 Uí Dúnchada kings of Leinster
Kings of Leinster
The following is a provisional list of the kings of Leinster who ruled the Irish kingdom of Leinster up to 1632 with the death of Domhnall Spainnach MacMurrough-Kavanagh, the last legitimately inaugurated head of the MacMurrough Kavanagh royal line...

 between 750 and 1050, whose inauguration took place on nearby Lyons Hill
Lyons Hill
Lyons Hill is a restored village, and former parish with church, now part of the community of Ardclough in north County Kildare. At a time when canal passenger boats travelled at Lyons was the nearest overnight stop to Dublin on the Grand Canal. On the hilltop is a trigonometrical point used by...

.

Calendar and Civil Paper References

Stephen Creman was Vicar of Uachtar Árd and Castlewarden in 1541, where the church chancel was said to be “in need of repair.”The church had disappeared by the early 17th century although the site and that of a holy well can still be identified. The Castle was burned by order of LJs William Parsons and John Borlase in 1641.

External links

  • http://castlewardengolfclub.com
  • http://www.archive.org/stream/genealogicaldata00mann/genealogicaldata00mann_djvu.txt
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