Naas
Town
Location:
Naas,
Co. Kildare
Naas
/ An Nás |
| The 'Castle of the Kings'
and its irish name translates, was at one time a centre of the kings
of Leinster who are said to have governed from a castle on the large
North Motte in the town. Naas became a fortified town under the
Anglo-Normans in the early 14th century and was later put to the
torch by Edward Bruce. But gradually it gained prominence again
and it is now the county town of Kildare, a bustling place full
of shops, with a healty commercial life and a smattering of interesting
buildings and ruins. a signposted walk tour of the town takes in
the reamins of a 13th-century castle in the grounds of St. David's
Protestant church. |
| The town's commercial
success is fulled, like so much of kildare's business life, by one
aspect or another of the racehorse business. There are regular meetings
at two local racecourses, Naas and Punchestown. In part of the grounds
at Punchestown is a 23ft granite standing stone, the Long Stone
of Punchestown, discovered in the 1930's to have a Bronze Age buriel
site at its base. |
| Just a mile to
the south-west of Naas is the unfinished Jigginstown House, which
was to have been a place for King Charles I. The buliding work stopped
in 1641 and now only the cellars and ground floor remain, but they
have been vandalised leaving a dangerous ruin. |
|