Maynooth

Maynooth 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. Maynooth is also on the Dublin-Sligo railway line and is served by the Commuter and InterCity train services.

Maynooth comes {{Irish derived place name|Maigh Nuadhat}} or Maigh Nuadhad, meaning "plain of Nuadha".{{cite book|first=David|last=Mills|title=A Dictionary of British Place-Names|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tXucAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA322|date=20 October 2011|publisher=OUP Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-960908-6|pages=322–|access-date=21 December 2019}} Maigh Nuad is the modern spelling. Nuadha was one of the gods of the ancient Irish, corresponding to Nudd of Wales and Nodens of ancient Britain and Gaul.

File:Maynooth Castle 1885.jpg, 1885]]

Maynooth was a long-term centre for the Geraldine or FitzGerald family, which dominated Irish affairs during the Anglo-Norman and Tudor periods.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}}

From 1932 to 1937, the town was the unofficial home to the King's representative in Ireland, Governor General 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.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}}

File:Крепост Мейнут 281240773 99d7b9a7ed o.jpg

The town is just inside the western edge of The Pale. It has, at either end of the main street, 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 who was better known as Silken Thomas. The castle was overrun in 1535,{{cite book|first=Finbar|last=Madden|title=Understand Irish History: Teach Yourself|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vm1b_ta2EB8C&q=maynooth+castle+overrun+1535&pg=PT25|date=27 August 2010|publisher=John Murray Press|isbn=978-1-4441-3198-7|pages=25–|access-date=23 December 2019}} after the rebellion of the Earl.

The most important historical buildings in the town are those of St. Patrick's College and some 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 College Chapel was designed and completed by James Joseph McCarthy during the presidency of Robert Browne in 1894.

Conolly's Folly is within Maynooth's extensive town boundaries.

There are three old monastic settlements in the vicinity of Maynooth, including Laraghbryan and its cemetery, Taghadoe and its Round Tower and Grangewilliam (Donaghmore).

Maynooth Pound is a rare example of a surviving pound which has existed since the 18th century. The existing walls were built in 1822 although the pound is older than that. Historically, stray animals were impounded here to be returned to their owners for a fee or sold at auction if not claimed. More recently{{when|date=January 2020}} the pound was renovated and is now a place of recreation by the Lyreen River.{{cite web|url=https://telescoper.wordpress.com/2018/06/02/the-maynooth-pound/|title=The Maynooth Pound|work=In the Dark|first=Peter|last=Coles|date=2 June 2018|access-date=17 January 2020|archive-date=26 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210926214137/https://telescoper.wordpress.com/2018/06/02/the-maynooth-pound/|url-status=live}}{{Self-published source|date=January 2020|expert=Peter Coles}}{{cite web|url=http://www.hidden-gems.eu/kildare-maymoothpound.pdf|title=Maynooth Pound|publisher=Maynooth Local History Group|access-date=17 January 2020|archive-date=29 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201229170613/http://www.hidden-gems.eu/kildare-maymoothpound.pdf|url-status=live}}

{{Historical populations|state=collapsed

|1813|1468

|1821|1364

|1831|2053

|1841|2129

|1851|1696

|1861|1497

|1871|1414

|1881|1278

|1891|958

|1901|948

|1911|886

|1926|846

|1936|632

|1946|573

|1951|581

|1956|1722

|1961|1753

|1966|1254

|1971|1296

|1981|3388

|1986|6893

|1991|6027

|1996|8528

|2002|10845

|2006|10715

|2011|12510

|2016|14585

|2022|17259

}}

The population of 17,259 (according to the census in 2022){{cite web|title=Census 2022 - F1015 Population|work=Central Statistics Office Census 2022 Reports |publisher=Central Statistics Office Ireland |date=August 2023 |url=https://data.cso.ie/table/F1015 |access-date=16 September 2023 }} makes Maynooth the fourth largest settlement in County Kildare and the 29th largest settlement in Ireland. However, during the academic year the population of Maynooth nearly doubles in size.{{cite web|title=Getting To Know Maynooth|publisher=Maynooth University|url=https://www.maynoothuniversity.ie/student-engagement/getting-know-maynooth|access-date=20 September 2023 }} Measurement can be difficult as much of the population is transient – students at Maynooth University (above 12,000) or St. Patrick's College, or temporary employees at the nearby Intel and Hewlett Packard Enterprise facilities (both located in Leixlip).{{cite web|title=Intel Leixlip|publisher=Intel|url=https://www.intel.ie/content/www/ie/en/company-overview/intel-leixlip.html|access-date=20 September 2023 }}

File:St Patrick's College Maynooth.jpg

There are two third-level educational institutions – St Patrick's College, founded under King George III in 1795 to train Ireland's Roman Catholic clergy, and Maynooth University, separated from St. Patrick's College in 1997 – located in the town. They share campus space and many facilities.

There are two secondary schools (Maynooth Post Primary & Maynooth Community College, run from the same premises by Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board), and five primary schools: a Presentation Sisters girls-only school, a Dublin Archdiocese boys-only school (St. Mary's BNS), an Educate Together school, a Dublin Archdiocese Irish-language school and an An Foras Pátrúnachta multi-denominational Irish-language primary school, currently co-located with the other Irish-language school.

A KWETB Irish-language secondary school opened in September 2020.{{cite web|url=https://kfmradio.com/news/30062019-1545/new-maynooth-gaelchol%C3%A1iste-expected-open-september-2020|title=New Maynooth Gaelcholáiste Expected To Open In September 2020.|first=Róisin|last=Power|work=Kfm|date=30 June 2019|access-date=21 December 2019}}{{update inline|date=October 2020}}

The town contains a fire station, in addition to the area's part-time Garda station, a health centre, a public library, and a credit union as well as various restaurants, including Romayo's which was voted to be the best Take-Away in Leinster in 2014.{{cite web|url=http://www.joe.ie/life-style/did-your-favourite-takeaway-make-the-list-of-irelands-best-takeaways/472968|title=Did your favourite takeaway make the list of Ireland's best takeaways? {{!}}|website=JOE|year=2014|access-date=2 December 2016|archive-date=7 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160607041807/http://www.joe.ie/life-style/did-your-favourite-takeaway-make-the-list-of-irelands-best-takeaways/472968|url-status=live}}

Maynooth Community Library hosts regular public events, including book clubs, a film club, children's storytime, and author visits. It also offers services and events relating to National Healthy Ireland and Work Matters initiatives.

Maynooth is served by two churches named St. Mary's, one St. Mary's Church of Ireland (Anglican) which is incorporated into the walls of St. Patrick's College, and St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, where the Kilcock Road turns into Maynooth Village, serving the Maynooth Parish of St. Mary's and Lady chapel. Also close by is the former Moyglare Church which is used as the Church of Ireland, Meath & Kildare Diocesan Centre. Maynooth Community Church, a congregation linked to the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, has applied for planning permission to construct a church.

The town is the main retail and service centre for North Kildare and South Meath, with several supermarkets 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.{{cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/business/commercial-property/growing-retail-market-in-maynooth-attracts-the-big-players-1.504677|title=Growing retail market in Maynooth attracts the big players|first=Jack|last=Fagan|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=12 October 2005|access-date=21 December 2019|archive-date=26 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210926214138/https://www.irishtimes.com/business/commercial-property/growing-retail-market-in-maynooth-attracts-the-big-players-1.504677|url-status=live}} This centre contains a number of other high street shops.

Carton House is a five-star hotel located on the outskirts of Maynooth. In 2020, it was announced that the hotel would be managed by the Fairmont hospitality group.{{Cite web |title=Carton House to be rebranded and refurbished in new management deal |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/business/transport-and-tourism/carton-house-to-be-rebranded-and-refurbished-in-new-management-deal-1.4190269 |access-date=2022-11-26 |website=The Irish Times |language=en}}

File:Royal Canal harbour, Maynooth 2023.jpg

When the Royal Canal was designed in 1790, with a planned length of 175 km, with 76 locks, 65 aqueducts and 85 bridges, it was intended to pass north of the town of Maynooth. However the Duke of Leinster contributed £1,000 towards the cost of the £200,000 undertaking and insisted that his town would be served by the canal.Ruth Delany, "Ireland's Royal Canal 1789-1992" Maynooth has a canal harbour, and the canal is navigable from central Dublin to this point and onwards to Clondara, County Longford. It is now mostly used mostly for leisure and drainage purposes but historically was used for passengers and freight (grain, potatoes, coal and coke, manure, turf, bricks, stone, sand, timber, and general merchandise) and Maynooth's canal harbour provided a stopping point before Dublin. When the railways arrived, passengers transferred to the quicker rail service.

The harbour, known locally as Duke's Harbour, is roughly triangular in shape and on the north side of the canal, opposite the railway station, is a popular fishing area.

Maynooth railway station is one of the busiest in the Dublin / Kildare region, as it serves two major educational institutions and is a major commuter town for people working in Dublin. The town is the terminus of most Iarnród Éireann Western Commuter trains, as well as being served by the Dublin-Sligo InterCity service.

In December 2019, Iarnród Éireann awarded a contract for Multi-Disciplinary Consultancy Team{{cite web|url=https://www.leinsterleader.ie/news/news/503450/irish-rail-appoint-team-to-prepare-dart-line-for-maynooth-and-leixlip.html|title=Irish Rail appoint team to prepare Dart line for Maynooth and Leixlip|work=Leinster Leader|first=Henry|last=Bauress|date=20 December 2019|access-date=31 December 2019|archive-date=31 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191231020429/https://www.leinsterleader.ie/news/news/503450/irish-rail-appoint-team-to-prepare-dart-line-for-maynooth-and-leixlip.html|url-status=live}}{{subscription required}} for the expansion of the Dublin Area Rapid Transit on the Maynooth Line which will lead to electrification of the line to Maynooth and increase capacity on the line.

Dublin Bus operates routes C3, C4 and the night buses C5 and C6, from Maynooth to Ringsend in Dublin.{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.ie/regionals/dublin/goodbye-no25-and-66-hello-c-spine-what-dublins-latest-busconnects-changes-mean-for-your-daily-commute-41077869.html|title=Goodbye No.25 and 66, hello C-Spine. What Dublin's latest BusConnects changes mean for your daily commute|website=Independent.ie|access-date=18 December 2021|date=22 November 2021}} Go-Ahead Ireland operates the W61, which links Maynooth to the Hazelhatch and Celbridge Railway Station.{{Cite web |date=February 2024 |title=Phase 5a: W-Orbital |url=https://www.transportforireland.ie/getting-around/by-bus/phase-5a-w-orbital/ |access-date=1 March 2024 |website=Transport for Ireland |language=en-US}} Bus Éireann services 22 (Ballina to Dublin Airport), 23 (Sligo to Dublin Airport) and 115 (Mullingar/Kilcock to Dublin) serve the town, as well as Aircoach's route 706/706X (Galway to Dublin Airport).{{cite web|url=https://www.aircoach.ie/plan-journey/timetables/706%20706X|title=Route 706 706X timetable|website=Aircoach|access-date=18 December 2021}}{{cite web|url=https://www.buseireann.ie/inner.php?id=406&form-view-timetables-from=&form-view-timetables-to=&form-view-timetables-route=22&form-view-timetables-submit=1|title=Expressway Route 22, Dublin – Ballina|website=Bus Éireann|access-date=23 December 2019|archive-date=18 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210718005100/https://www.buseireann.ie/inner.php?id=406&form-view-timetables-from=&form-view-timetables-to=&form-view-timetables-route=22&form-view-timetables-submit=1|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://www.buseireann.ie/inner.php?id=406&form-view-timetables-from=&form-view-timetables-to=&form-view-timetables-route=23&form-view-timetables-submit=1|title=Expressway Route 23, Dublin – Sligo|website=Bus Éireann|access-date=23 December 2019|archive-date=26 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210926214140/https://www.buseireann.ie/inner.php?id=406&form-view-timetables-from=&form-view-timetables-to=&form-view-timetables-route=23&form-view-timetables-submit=1|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://www.buseireann.ie/inner.php?id=406&form-view-timetables-from=&form-view-timetables-to=&form-view-timetables-route=115&form-view-timetables-submit=1|title=View Timetables – 115|website=Bus Éireann|access-date=23 December 2019|archive-date=14 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201214180808/https://www.buseireann.ie/inner.php?id=406&form-view-timetables-from=&form-view-timetables-to=&form-view-timetables-route=115&form-view-timetables-submit=1|url-status=live}} Passengers may travel from Maynooth westbound or to Dublin Airport. Airport Hopper route 767 provides an additional higher frequency link to Dublin Airport.{{cite web|url=https://airporthopper.ie/maynooth-timetable/|title=Maynooth timetable|website=Airport Hopper|access-date=23 December 2019|archive-date=18 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191018194010/https://airporthopper.ie/maynooth-timetable/|url-status=live}}

JJ Kavanagh/National Transport Authority route 139 links Naas to Blanchardstown via Maynooth. A number of private operators also serve the town, linking it with nearby towns and cities; many in college term-time only.

Carton House Golf Club is located in Maynooth. The Golfing Union of Ireland, the longest established golf union in the world, have their national headquarters on the estate. This facility also comprises the GUI National Academy, a 22-acre (89,000 m{{sup|2}}) teaching facility. It has a driving range, putting green, and short game area, as well as lessons.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}}

Maynooth GAA is the local Gaelic Athletic Association club and has competed in the senior football championship in Kildare since 2009.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}}

Maynooth Town F.C. is the local soccer club. The senior men's team competes in co-operation with Maynooth University as Maynooth University Town F.C., a member of the Leinster Senior League. They won the FAI Intermediate Cup in 2018{{cite web|url=https://www.the42.ie/maynooth-university-town-fai-intermediate-cup-final-firhouse-clover-report-aviva-stadium-4009572-May2018/|title=Stunning comeback sees Maynooth University Town crowned Intermediate champions|first=Dave|last=Donnelly|work=TheJournal.ie|date=12 May 2018|access-date=9 August 2019|archive-date=9 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190809113524/https://www.the42.ie/maynooth-university-town-fai-intermediate-cup-final-firhouse-clover-report-aviva-stadium-4009572-May2018/|url-status=live}} and hence now compete in the senior FAI Cup. They progressed to the second round of the 2018 tournament. They reached the FAI Cup quarter-final in 2021 for the first time.{{cite web | url=https://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/soccer/arid-40368710.html | title=Cobh Ramblers suffer cup shock at hands of Leinster Senior League Maynooth | date=28 August 2021 }} They were beaten 4–0 in the quarter final by Bohemians F.C.{{Cite web |last=Dempsey |first=Andrew |title=Bohemians end Maynooth University Town's fairytale FAI Cup run |url=https://www.the42.ie/bohemians-maynooth-university-town-report-5552370-Sep2021/ |access-date=2022-05-10 |website=The42 |language=en}}

North Kildare RFC is the local rugby club and is situated about 3 km from Maynooth on the Kilcock road. Maynooth native Bob Casey (born 1978) was a professional rugby player and a senior Irish international.{{cite web|url=http://en.espn.co.uk/ireland/rugby/player/13255.html|title=Robert Edward Casey|website=ESPN scrum|access-date=23 November 2016|archive-date=23 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161123201446/http://en.espn.co.uk/ireland/rugby/player/13255.html|url-status=live}}

Maynooth University and the Leixlip based Barnhall Rugby Club merged in 2010{{cite web|url=https://www.maynoothuniversity.ie/campus-life/student-life-sport/rugby|title=Rugby|website=Maynooth University|first=Tom|last=McKeown|access-date=31 December 2019|archive-date=31 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191231021505/https://www.maynoothuniversity.ie/campus-life/student-life-sport/rugby|url-status=live}} and renamed to MU Barnhall RFC in 2015, fielding 28 teams both male and female from U7 to Senior All-Ireland League.

Maynooth is home to the thoroughbred horse racing and breeding operation, Moyglare Stud Farm.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}}

North Kildare Eagles Basketball Club is based in Maynooth. The club runs an academy for kids aged 5-10, juvenile teams for girls and boys aged 11-18, and Basketball4All for children with disabilities. Juvenile teams compete in competitions run by the Midlands Area Basketball Board.

There are two cycling clubs based in Maynooth. Maynooth Cycling Club is sponsored by and runs out of Maynooth Cycles in Newtown Shopping Centre.{{cite web|url=https://www.maynoothcycles.ie/maynooth-cycling-club|title=Maynooth Cycling Club|language=en|website=Maynooth Cycles|access-date=3 January 2020|archive-date=3 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200103160353/https://www.maynoothcycles.ie/maynooth-cycling-club|url-status=live}} The other is Maynooth Students for Charity, also known as the Galway Cycle. This club runs out of Maynooth University, and from January to April culminating in a charity cycle to Galway and back over a weekend. The club has raised over 1 million euro for charity since its inception.{{cite web|url=http://www.galwaycycle.ie/about-the-galway-cycle/|title=About the Galway Cycle|language=en|website=Galway Cycle|access-date=3 January 2020|archive-date=3 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200103160357/http://www.galwaycycle.ie/about-the-galway-cycle/|url-status=live}}

The Maynooth Scout group has been in existence since 1975.{{cite web|url=https://maynoothscouts.ie/?page_id=8|title=Maynooth Scouts|language=en|access-date=23 March 2020|archive-date=10 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200810180049/https://maynoothscouts.ie/?page_id=8|url-status=live}} After many years operating out of the Maynooth Post Primary school they restored and redeveloped the Geraldine Hall,{{cite web|url=http://archiseek.com/2010/1860-geraldine-hall-maynooth-co-kildare/|title=1860 Geraldine Hall|access-date=23 March 2020|archive-date=29 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201029133736/https://archiseek.com/2010/1860-geraldine-hall-maynooth-co-kildare/|url-status=live}} a protected building, as their Den in 2013.{{cite web|url=https://maynoothscouts.ie/?page_id=2|title=About Maynooth Scouts|language=en|access-date=23 March 2020|archive-date=10 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200810183007/https://maynoothscouts.ie/?page_id=2|url-status=live}}=

{{See also|List of twin towns and sister cities in the Republic of Ireland}}

Maynooth has a town twinning agreement with Canet-en-Roussillon in France.{{cite web|url=http://www.kildaretwinning.ie/twinning/county-twinning-committees/maynooth-twinning-committee/|title=Maynooth Twinning Committee|publisher=Kildare Twinning|access-date=20 February 2021|archive-date=3 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210303181500/http://www.kildaretwinning.ie/twinning/county-twinning-committees/maynooth-twinning-committee/|url-status=live}}

• List of towns and villages in Ireland
• Maynooth Grant, a political issue during the premiership of Robert Peel

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category|Maynooth}}

• {{cite EB1911|wstitle=Maynooth |volume=17 |short=x}}
• [http://www.maynooth.ie/ Maynooth (County Council site)]

{{County Kildare}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Towns and villages in County Kildare