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Recorded monument · KD022-029002 · Co. Kildare

Ecclesiastical site at Kildare, Co. Kildare (KD022-029002)

On the Sites and Monuments Record.

143 planning applications in the last 10 years fall inside this monument’s zone of notification, and 17 An Coimisiún Pleanála cases touch it.

143
in the zone, 10 years
143
in the zone, all years
17
ACP cases in the zone
30
within 100 m, 10 years

Zone of notification 38.38 ha

A zone of notification is the area around a recorded monument where the council normally refers a planning application to the National Monuments Service, which can ask for an archaeological assessment or conditions before permission is granted. Recorded monuments and planning permission: the guide.

Planning applications in the zone of notification 143 applications in the last 10 years

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Showing the newest 100 of 143. The full list is in the free report.

Appeals in the zone of notification 17 with An Coimisiún Pleanála

Building work started in the zone of notification 26 commencement notices

The record KD022-029002

SMR number
KD022-029002
Class
Ecclesiastical site
Townland
Kildare, Co. Kildare
Named on the OS map
Indicated
National record
National Monuments Service record for KD022-029002

According to Bradley et al. (1986 vol. 3, 196-265), the name Kildare is derived from Cill Dara, ‘the church of the oak’, a tree which, according to the 7th century writer Cogitosus, stood beside St. Brigid’s early-6th century monastery. Originally founded for nuns, it became a ‘double monastery’, with nuns under an abbess and monks under an abbot or bishop (Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 319-20). The first bishop recorded was Conleth, who died in 520 (Annals of Ulster). Cogitosus’ Life of Brigid, written c. 680, describes a large church with many windows, and formal, decorated doors for the nuns and monks, who were separated by a screen running down the centre of the church. The altar was also cut off from the rest of the church by a screen covered with paintings and hangings, and was flanked by the richly ornamented shrines of Brigid and Conleth. The shrines were reputedly carried off by Viking raiders in 835. The monastery was burned on a number of occasions between 710 and 1089, (not always maliciously): after one burning, in 1012, The Annals of Clonmacnoise record, ‘all the Towen of Kildare was burnt by a thunderbolt but one house’, suggesting a secular, urban-type settlement had developed around the monastery, while after another burning, in 1050, it was noted that both the wooden church (durthech) and the stone church (damhlaig) were destroyed. Kildare’s importance was recognised in 1111 at the Synod of Rathbreasil, when it became one of the five episcopal sees of Leinster. The precise location of the early monastery is uncertain, but it almost certainly stood on, or near, the surviving cathedral (KD022-029005-), high cross (KD022-029021-) and round tower (KD022-029020-) in the graveyard (KD022-029003-); while the curvilinear nature of some streets may reflect the lines of early monastic enclosures (KD022-029058-). Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy Date of upload: 19 January 2011

Other records in the same zone

Buildings of Ireland (NIAH) within 100 m

  • 11817007 Saint Brigid's Cathedral · National rating · 8 m
  • 11817006 Verger's House · Regional rating · 59 m
  • 11817014 Fitzpatrick · Regional rating · 63 m
  • 11817005 house · Regional rating · 71 m
  • 11817015 gates/railings/walls · Regional rating · 74 m
  • 11817010 house · Regional rating · 78 m
  • 11817008 water pump · Regional rating · 79 m
  • 11817016 house · Regional rating · 79 m
  • 11817073 gates/railings/walls · Regional rating · 82 m
  • 11817019 house · Regional rating · 86 m

Source: National Monuments Service, Sites and Monuments Record · fetched 27 Sept 2026

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