Naas Tourist Attractions

7mi/11km north of Naas lies Clane, with a Jesuit school, Clongowes Wood College, opened in 1814. The old chapel is a good example of neo-classical architecture; the new one has fine stained glass by Evie Hone and Michael Healy.

8mi/13km northeast of Clane, which lies 11km to the north of Naas, on the Royal Canal, is Maynooth, a little town (15mi/25km from Dublin on the N4) best known for its seminary, St Patrick's College, now part of the National University of Ireland. It was established by the English in 1795, on the site of an earlier college, to enable Roman Catholic priests to be trained in Ireland. It is now the largest seminary for priests in Ireland and in the British Isles, and in recent years has also admitted laymen and women. The handsome college buildings, grouped round grassed inner courtyards, are mostly 19th C. They include a church and a small museum with antiquities and works of art illustrating the history of the Church in Ireland and its missionary activity. To the right of the college gates can be seen the remains of Maynooth Castle (13th-17th C: National Monument) - a large keep, a gatehouse and part of the curtain walls.At the east end of the main street lies the large demesne of Carton House, a classical style mansion (not open to the public) built by Richard Cassels in 1739.

Leixlipis situated 4.5mi/7km east of Maynooth on the N4. The name is of Danish origin and means "salmon leap." Leixlip Castle dominates the town, which in recent years has been developing into a dormitory for Dublin.One mile/1.5km southwest of the town (on private property) stands the "Wonderful Barn," a conical structure of brick and stone built in 1743 for Lady Connolly of Castletown House. Each story has a vaulted ceiling and a circular hole in the floor through which goods stored in the barn were hauled up. A spiral stone staircase winds up on the outside of the building.

Southwest of Leixlip, on the Liffey, we come to Celbridge, upstream from which is Castletown House.

Southwest of Leixlip, on the Liffey, we come to Celbridge, 2.5mi/4km upstream from which is Castletown House, a spacious and architecturally important mansion built by the Italian architect Alessandro Galilei in 1722 for the Irish parliamentarian, William Connolly. It consists of a finely proportioned central building of three storys and 13 axes, approached by a broad flight of steps, with side wings connected to it by means of quadrant-shaped colonnades. The interior has superb stucco decorations; the staircase and the Pompeian Gallery are particularly fine.The House was transferred to State care on January 1, 1994 and managed by the Department of Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht.

Straffan, 4mi/6km southwest of Celbridge, boasts a railroad museum with a collection of rare models.The Straffan Butterfly Farm is Ireland's first live Tropical Exhibit, an indoor display of butterflies and plants.

From Maynooth the N4 and T41 runs west to Johnstown, with a large 19th C. mansion, and Carbury, with the extensive remains, commandingly situated on a hill, of Carbury Castle (14th-16th C.), an imposing pile with its pointed gables, chimneys and towers. 0.75mile/1km north, also on a hill, can be seen the remains of Carrick Castle (14th C.) and a 13th C. church.

Northeast of Naas is Kilteel, with the ruins of a fine Romanesque church and a castle (National Monument). The church (12th C.) has a richly decorated chancel arch, with figures of Adam and Eve, David and Goliath, Samson with the lion, an acrobat, a man with a drinking horn and an abbot with his crosier.

3mi/5km southeast of Naas we come to Punchestown. Near the racecourse, on the Woolpack Road (the medieval road from Dublin to Kilkenny), stands the Long Stone of Punchestown (National Monument), a huge tapering granite monolith 23ft/7m high. When it was re-erected after collapsing in 1931 a Bronze Age burial place was discovered at the foot of the stone.

1mi/2km southwest of Naas on the N7 are the massive remains of Jigginstown House (National Monument), begun by the Earl of Strafford in 1633 as a summer residence for himself and for the entertainment of Charles I, but left unfinished after Strafford's execution in 1641. It was one of the first houses to be built entirely in red brick, and, with a frontage of 374ft/114m, it would have been one of the largest mansions in Ireland. In its present state the most notable features are the groin-vaulted basement and a series of handsome rooms on the ground floor.

9mi/15km northwest of Naas the R409 reaches Robertstown. Here, at the highest point on the Grand Canal is the old Canal Hotel, built in 1801 for passengers on the canal. The canal frontages of the village and the hotel have been restored to their early 19th C. appearance.