Straffan
Encyclopedia
Sruthán was mistakenly cited by Thomas O'Connor in the Ordnance Survey
Letters in 1837, and adopted as the Irish form of Straffan. Seosamh Laoide used it in his list of Irish names of post-offices published in Post-Sheanchas (1905). An Sruthán gained currency among those involved in the Irish revival and was promoted as name in the local schools. Recent research by Domhnall mac Giolla Easpaig declares it “completely at odds with the written evidence cited above and with local pronunciation and appears to be no more than an ad hoc explanation of the name by O'Connor's informant.” Sruthán is anglicised struffaun in some parts of the country. One would not expect to find it rendered thus in the Straffan area.”
The village Post Office, opened c. 1845, was closed in April 1924. A separate office had been opened at Straffan Station in May 1872, this adjacent to the former Station, 1.5 mi (2.5 km) from the village. On the adoption of Irish language names by the Irish Post Office in 1922 the name of Cluainíní was adopted for the Station office, this being the Irish version of Clownings, the townland in which the Post Office and former station were situated. That office was closed c. 1977 at which date the office in the village was reopened and the Irish name of Teach Srafáin was adopted, this name appearing in the 1982 Post Office Guide.
and Church of Ireland
churches, a newsagent
, a butchers', two pubs, the Straffan Inn and Friel's, a gaelic football
club, a soccer club and a primary school, Scoil Bhríde (present building constructed in 1963). The heritage of the area is reflected in the fact that fifty sites of archaeological and cultural interest in the locality have been identified and listed for preservation by Kildare
County Council, ranging from an ancient hill fort and round tower to the 1913 Lych Gate to the graveyard which has been adopted as the symbol of the village. Local commercial visitor attractions include the Steam Museum at Lodge Park, and a Butterfly farm.
passed to the de Hereford and Rochford families (1359) until it too fell into disrepair – now only the foundations remain.
A Wogan family tower house “in the north part of Richardstown townland” described as “a square building about 60 feet (18.3 m) in height' by Thomas O'Conor in 1837 is now reduced to a pile of stones and mortar which has obviously been moved from its original location.
Barberstown Castle was more fortunate. Its battlemented keep is a prominent landmark on the Celbridge
to Clane
road, 50 feet (15.2 m) at its greatest height with walls four and a half feet thick, two small towers, a 53 step staircase and some evidence of damage in the war of 1641. Originally built by Nicholas Barby in the13th century, it passed to the Penkistons in the 14th century, Suttons in the 15th century, the Gaynors who built the Elizabethan House in the 16th century, to Katherine Dillon and Lord Kingston in the 17th century, Bartholomew Van Homrigh in the 18th century and Hugh Barton who built the castle roof and added the Victorian House in the 19th century. It is now a hotel and wedding venue.
Lyons
Castle mentioned in the 1332 Book of Howth when it was burned by the O'Tooles, passed to the Tyrrell in the 13th century, the Aylmer family in 1271 and to the Lawless family, Barons Cloncurry in 1796 after which they built the nearby house, substantially rebuilt and refurbished by Valentine Lawless, the second Baron Cloncurry 1803-10...
Lodge Park was designed by Nathaniel Clements
for Hugh Henry, a Palladian house unusual for its four wings. The story was already current in the early 19th century that when Henry married the daughter of Earl of Milltown he promised her frontage as long as Russborough.
The townland known variously in the calendar Rolls as Surning, Twinings, Surnyng and eventually known as Turnings passed in to the ownership of Thomas Hall (1406), William Preston (1508), Patrick Sarsfield (ancestor of Patrick Sarsfield of siege of Limerick fame) (1560), Theophilus Jones (1641) and eventually passed to the Mills family.
Straffan Lodge, described by Samuel Lewis in 1837 as “the neat residence of Mrs Whitelaw” is noted for its dining room decorated Tudor style with oak panels. Its single storey wing was added later.
, and east by Killadoon and Castledillon
. Ecclesiastical sources refer to Straphan Register of the Hospital of St. John the Baptist 1245, the Calendar of Justiciary Rolls 1306 and the Regal Visitation 1530 which describes Straffan as 'a church of the deanery of Saltu Salmonis. In 1541 Straffan was united with Castledillon, Donacumper and Kildrought.
The last Catholic Parish Priest of Castledillon
died in 1707 after which the parish was joined with Straffan. Straffan parish is now joined to Celbridge.
Straffan’s ruined parish church in the graveyard at the centre of the village can be dated to the 15th century from its distinctive bell cote, and defensive living quarters over the main building in the manner of Oughterard and other local churches. The Church of Ireland (1833) has stained glass windows by Alfred Child and Catherine O'Brien and several monuments to the Barton family. It was modelled on churches in France. The Catholic Church (1787, rebuilt 1987) was also the site of the national school until 1963. It is part of Straffan’s proud ecumenical tradition that the Catholic community used the Church of Ireland while their own church was undergoing reconstruction.
A well and stone roofed chapel at Ardrass (restored 1898) are associated with St Patrick. The hill was a place of pilgrimage until the 19th century.
Castledillon
, situated on the south bank of the River Liffey opposite Straffan, is an ancient monastic site in its own right founded by Iollathan of the desert (feast day is listed as 2nd Feb in the Martyrology of Tallaght) and accorded a genealogy which indicated close kinship with the Ui Dunglainge kings of Leinster
. By 1294 the church of Tristeyldelane was described as “not worth the services of chaplains” in the Calendar of Christ Church deeds. The site is now identified by a pile of stones and one headstone, erected in 1758 to the Spellissy family. The Castledillon Friars Stone, probably erected for a 15th century abbot of St Wolstan’s (four miles to the east), remained on the site until removed to the Visitor centre in Kildare town.
. It was the third worst accident in rail history to that date.
Straffan station was last used for scheduled services in 1947 and the last special train stopped at Straffan in 1963. Straffan railway station opened on 1 August 1848 and finally closed on 10 November 1947.
, a pumping engine employed in Jameson's distillery in Dublin, and a large beam engine installed in Smithwick's brewery, Kilkenny
, in 1847. The Museum is open to visitors from Wednesdays to Sundays during the summer, from 2pm to 6pm.
in 1642 included Nicholas Wogan of Rathcoffey
(member of the Council of War), Andrew Aylmer of Donadea, Nicholas Sutton of Barberstown, John Gaydon of lrishtown (whose estate included the present Straffan), Garret Sutton of Richardstown and James Eustace of Clongowes. In 1641 Lyons
Castle was taken and sacked on the orders of the new LJs William Parsons and John Borlase and two castles belonging to Edward Tipper of Tipperstown burned
When James Butler, 12th Earl of Ormond
marched into Kildare in 1642, he burned Lyons, Newcastle and Oughterard on February 1, 1642.
General George Monck landed in Dublin in February 1642 for the parliamentarians and camped in Straffan (the horses field at Ardrass is named as his camp). Rathcoffey
was besieged and taken by Monck in June 1642, 70 of the garrison made prisoners and later executed in Dublin. During the campaign Kildare county was burned “for 17 miles (27.4 km) in length and 25 in breadth.” William Petty
’s Census of 1659 recorded “Barbiestowne” with 36 people and Straffan with 23 people, surnames among them included Byrne, Kelly, Doyle, Malone and Murphy.
According to depositions taken after the battle of Ovidstown, a party of 1798 Rebels met at Straffan Bridge including Patrick O’Connor ‘a lawyer from Straffan’, and spent some time in stables of Straffan Lodge (June 18). In 1803 Straffan men marched to Dublin to join Emmet’s rebellion, while Barney Daly’s pub in Baronrath was used as a rendez-vous.
Local landowner Valentine Lawless, later the second Baron Cloncurry, was sworn in to United Irishmen by James O'Coigly. He was elected colonel of United Irishmen in Kildare, was the last proprietor of ‘The Press’ (United Irish newspaper) and became the United Irish organiser in London until his arrest and detention in the Tower of London. He was also related to Robert Emmet
and according to Emmet’s biographer Ruan O’Donnell provided a link between 1798 and 1803, waiting in Paris for word of success of the rebellion and was to be member of Emmet's government. O’Donnell describes as “disingenuous” Lawless’s 1857 account of how he had pleaded with Emmet not to return to Dublin. The Sammon family form Straffan and the Pitts family from Bishopscourt were listed among the rebels.
On 22 January 1812 100 persons assembled at night with carts for the purpose of retrieving hay which had been seized in lieu of rent. Leading to a confrontation during which Patrick King was shot dead. As a result of the incident, a request was made to have the military at Celbridge strengthened. Eventually in 1871 a neo-gothic RIC barracks was built in the village with distinctive gun turrets designed to repel invading Fenians. The barracks was vacated and passed in to private hands in March 1905.
branch for Celbridge and Straffan was established on Sept 24 1887. Bertram H Barton was a member of the Unionist party and instigator of a sedition charge against the Principal of Ardclough school in 1917. Straffan casualties in the First world war included James Cash, (died May 27, 1918.), D.A. Carden, (September 4, 1915), l Thomas Goucher, (January 22, 1918). Ronald B.C Kennedy (died of illness August 18, 1917), G Kinahan, (October 14, 1916), William Lawless (September 15, 1917), and Peter McLeish, (January 21, 1918). Francie Sammon was a civilian casualty in the Easter Rising of 1916.
A branch of the Irish National Volunteers was formed in Straffan in 1914. The St Anne's Brass Band from Ardclough
played at the Bodenstown
commemoration in 1914 at which Thomas Clarke spoke. In February 1917 a Company was reformed in Straffan and a branch of Sinn Féin
formed in 1918. Volunteers planned to bomb the bridge at Straffan but the plan was aborted. Telephone wires were destroyed at Bishopscourt
and Straffan volunteers took part in the ambush at Stacumny on 5 July 1921. Prominent local volunteers included John Logie, Tom Cornelia, James Travers and John McSweeney. During the Civil war the barnewall homesteasd near the 13th Lock in Lyons was the North Kildare brigade headquarters for the anti-treaty IRA.
On 22 June 1975 a local man Christopher Phelan was murdered when he delayed an attempt to derail a train passing on the main Dublin to Cork railway line by unidentified paramilitaries near Baronrath bridge. His intervention saved the lives of 200 people on the train as it delayed the detonation of the bomb which blew a 3 foot (0.9144 m) gap in the track. The incident is the subject of an ongoing investigation into “deniable” British army activities in conjunction with Northern Ireland based paramilitaries.
On March 31, 1976 the biggest train robbery in Irish history took place at Wheatfield. Eight men in fluorescent jackets used emergency signals to stop the mail train bound from Cork to Dublin and escaped with £600,000 in small denomination notes. The incident became the centre of a celebrated miscarriage of justice case, known mistakenly as the Sallins Train Robbery
case after the nearest rail station then open, when three men were wrongly convicted of the robbery.
(Strongbow). In c1185 -1189 Gerald Fitzgerald was accorded “Trachstraphli” in the Red Book of the Earls of Kildare (Ed. G. Mac Niocaill, Dublin, 1964).
In 1288 Sir John Fannyn conveyed Straffan and Ballespaddagh (Irishtown) to Richard Le Penkiston on a deed witnessed by Richard de la Salle, John Posswick and Nicholas Barby, each of whom gave their names to surrounding townlands, Sealstown (de la Salle), Possextown (Posswick) and Barberstown (Barby). In 1473 Suttons held the land as tenants and the land passed to John Gaydon (1490), Thomas Boules (1653), Richard Talbot
(1679), John White (1691), Robert Delap (1717) and Dublin Banker Hugh Henry who purchased the house for £2,200 in 1731.
and on display in the National Gallery of Ireland
. His son John Joseph Henry gave the site for Straffan Catholic church in 1787. At the request of Valentine Lawless, Henry subscribed £500 for defence of Armagh rebel priest James O'Coigly. In 1801 he married Lady Emily Fitzgerald a daughter of the Duke of Leinster. According to a commentator of the time “owing to his extravagance from one of the richest commoners in Ireland he became so embarrassed that he was obliged to sell Straffan and live abroad. Among other foolish things he built an underground passage from Straffan House to the stables.” A Benjamin Hallam design for proposed extension to house from 1808 survives, but the house accidentally burned and the Henry family settled in France.
.
Hugh Barton (1766–1854) was in turn succeeded by Nathaniel Barton (1799–1867), Hugh Lyndoch Barton (1824–1899), Bertram Francis Barton (1830–1904), Bertram Hugh Barton (1858–1927) and Capt Frederick (Derick) Barton (1900–1993). The first five generations of Bartons owned both the estate at Straffan and the family’s 37-hectacre vineyard in St Julien near the Gironde north of Bordeaux, producers of Chateau Leoville-Barton
and Chateau Langoa-Barton
. On his death Bertram Barton left the Straffan estate to his eldest son Derrick and the Bordeaux estate to his second son Ronald Barton. Anthony Barton moved to St Julien
in 1951 and took over the vineyard on the death of Ronald in 1986. The Barton dynasty is believed to be the longest period of single family ownership of any vineyard in Bordeaux.
(1960), film producer Kevin McClory
(1973), Iranian air force founder and minister in the Shah’s government Nadar Djhanbani (1977, shortly before the downfall of the Shah’s government and his execution), developer Patrick Gallagher
(1979) and property magnate Alan Ferguson
(1981) who invested £6m in Straffan House but never lived there.
Entrepreneur Michael Smurfit
who was searching for a suitable old house and estate to develop as a country club recruited Ray Carroll
, former manager at the Grosvenor Hotel in London to help with the task. Carroll recommended Straffan above seven other estates he had examined. In 1988 Straffan house was sold for £7m to the Jefferson Smurfit company for use as a golf course and hotel. A further £35m was spent developing the house as a hotel under a scheme negotiated with the government to produce 200 jobs in return for tax breaks for investors. In 1991 Straffan was opened as a 31-bedroom hotel. In 2004 a wing was added to double the size of the hotel and a granite porch from Ballynegal Co Westmeath used to bring the two wings together.
Straffan put in its first bid to host the Ryder Cup in 1988, before the course had even been built, for the 1993 event. In 1990 the north course, designed by Arnold Palmer
, was completed. Straffan staged the PGA cup in 1991 and Irish professional Championship in 1992. As a result of a £1 million sponsorship offer form the Smurfit Group, the European Open
moved its annual home from Walton Heath to Straffan in 1995. In 1999 Straffan’s bid for the Ryder Cup was eventually accepted by the European PGA. The tournament, staged in September 2006, proved to be the most profitable in the history of the tournament. The south course was completed in 2003 and used for the European Open of 2004.
In 2002 Madison Dearborm took over the Jefferson Smurfit corporation and divested itself of the K Club. Michael Smurfit purchased the hotel and estate and acquired a further 80 acres (323,748.8 m²) on the opposite side of the river for €115m in 2004, with the support of property developer Gerry Gannon
. To fund this expansion 81 housing units were developed on the course and sold for €2.5m each.
Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey , an executive agency and non-ministerial government department of the Government of the United Kingdom, is the national mapping agency for Great Britain, producing maps of Great Britain , and one of the world's largest producers of maps.The name reflects its creation together with...
Letters in 1837, and adopted as the Irish form of Straffan. Seosamh Laoide used it in his list of Irish names of post-offices published in Post-Sheanchas (1905). An Sruthán gained currency among those involved in the Irish revival and was promoted as name in the local schools. Recent research by Domhnall mac Giolla Easpaig declares it “completely at odds with the written evidence cited above and with local pronunciation and appears to be no more than an ad hoc explanation of the name by O'Connor's informant.” Sruthán is anglicised struffaun in some parts of the country. One would not expect to find it rendered thus in the Straffan area.”
The village Post Office, opened c. 1845, was closed in April 1924. A separate office had been opened at Straffan Station in May 1872, this adjacent to the former Station, 1.5 mi (2.5 km) from the village. On the adoption of Irish language names by the Irish Post Office in 1922 the name of Cluainíní was adopted for the Station office, this being the Irish version of Clownings, the townland in which the Post Office and former station were situated. That office was closed c. 1977 at which date the office in the village was reopened and the Irish name of Teach Srafáin was adopted, this name appearing in the 1982 Post Office Guide.
Places of interest
Today Straffan contains CatholicCatholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
and Church of Ireland
Church of Ireland
The Church of Ireland is an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. The church operates in all parts of Ireland and is the second largest religious body on the island after the Roman Catholic Church...
churches, a newsagent
Newsagent
A newsagent's shop , newsagency or newsstand is a business that sells newspapers, magazines, cigarettes, snacks and often items of local interest. In Britain and Australia, these businesses are termed newsagents...
, a butchers', two pubs, the Straffan Inn and Friel's, a gaelic football
Gaelic football
Gaelic football , commonly referred to as "football" or "Gaelic", or "Gah" is a form of football played mainly in Ireland...
club, a soccer club and a primary school, Scoil Bhríde (present building constructed in 1963). The heritage of the area is reflected in the fact that fifty sites of archaeological and cultural interest in the locality have been identified and listed for preservation by Kildare
County Kildare
County Kildare is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Mid-East Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the local authority for the county...
County Council, ranging from an ancient hill fort and round tower to the 1913 Lych Gate to the graveyard which has been adopted as the symbol of the village. Local commercial visitor attractions include the Steam Museum at Lodge Park, and a Butterfly farm.
Castles and Houses
The nearby tower house of CastledillonCastledillon, County Kildare
Castledillon is a townland and former parish on the River Liffey near Straffan situated on the banks of the River Liffey 25 km upstream from the Irish capital Dublin.-Etymology:...
passed to the de Hereford and Rochford families (1359) until it too fell into disrepair – now only the foundations remain.
A Wogan family tower house “in the north part of Richardstown townland” described as “a square building about 60 feet (18.3 m) in height' by Thomas O'Conor in 1837 is now reduced to a pile of stones and mortar which has obviously been moved from its original location.
Barberstown Castle was more fortunate. Its battlemented keep is a prominent landmark on the Celbridge
Celbridge
Celbridge is a town and townland on the River Liffey in County Kildare, Ireland. It is west of Dublin. As a town within the Dublin Metropolitan Area and the Greater Dublin Area, it is located at the intersection of the R403 and R405 regional roads....
to Clane
Clane
Clane is a town on the River Liffey and in the barony of Clane in County Kildare, Ireland, from Dublin.Its population of 4,968 makes it the eighth largest town in Kildare and the 78th largest in the Republic of Ireland....
road, 50 feet (15.2 m) at its greatest height with walls four and a half feet thick, two small towers, a 53 step staircase and some evidence of damage in the war of 1641. Originally built by Nicholas Barby in the13th century, it passed to the Penkistons in the 14th century, Suttons in the 15th century, the Gaynors who built the Elizabethan House in the 16th century, to Katherine Dillon and Lord Kingston in the 17th century, Bartholomew Van Homrigh in the 18th century and Hugh Barton who built the castle roof and added the Victorian House in the 19th century. It is now a hotel and wedding venue.
Lyons
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...
Castle mentioned in the 1332 Book of Howth when it was burned by the O'Tooles, passed to the Tyrrell in the 13th century, the Aylmer family in 1271 and to the Lawless family, Barons Cloncurry in 1796 after which they built the nearby house, substantially rebuilt and refurbished by Valentine Lawless, the second Baron Cloncurry 1803-10...
Lodge Park was designed by Nathaniel Clements
Nathaniel Clements
Nathaniel Clements was an Irish politician and financial figure, important in the political and financial administration of Ireland in the mid-18th century.-Early history:Clements was the fifth son of Robert Clements...
for Hugh Henry, a Palladian house unusual for its four wings. The story was already current in the early 19th century that when Henry married the daughter of Earl of Milltown he promised her frontage as long as Russborough.
The townland known variously in the calendar Rolls as Surning, Twinings, Surnyng and eventually known as Turnings passed in to the ownership of Thomas Hall (1406), William Preston (1508), Patrick Sarsfield (ancestor of Patrick Sarsfield of siege of Limerick fame) (1560), Theophilus Jones (1641) and eventually passed to the Mills family.
Straffan Lodge, described by Samuel Lewis in 1837 as “the neat residence of Mrs Whitelaw” is noted for its dining room decorated Tudor style with oak panels. Its single storey wing was added later.
Religion
Local ecclesiastical sites prospered at different times, The medieval parish of Straffan lies on the border of the Diocese of Dublin (boundaries established 1111), to the south of Tagahdoe Parish (Teach Tua), bounded on the west by Mainham, south by Bodenstown and WhitechurchWhitechurch, County Kildare
Whitechurch is a townland, monastic site, and former parish situated between Straffan and Kill county Kildare near the M7 motorway in Ireland.-Etymology and history:...
, and east by Killadoon and Castledillon
Castledillon, County Kildare
Castledillon is a townland and former parish on the River Liffey near Straffan situated on the banks of the River Liffey 25 km upstream from the Irish capital Dublin.-Etymology:...
. Ecclesiastical sources refer to Straphan Register of the Hospital of St. John the Baptist 1245, the Calendar of Justiciary Rolls 1306 and the Regal Visitation 1530 which describes Straffan as 'a church of the deanery of Saltu Salmonis. In 1541 Straffan was united with Castledillon, Donacumper and Kildrought.
Castledillon, County Kildare
Castledillon is a townland and former parish on the River Liffey near Straffan situated on the banks of the River Liffey 25 km upstream from the Irish capital Dublin.-Etymology:...
died in 1707 after which the parish was joined with Straffan. Straffan parish is now joined to Celbridge.
Straffan’s ruined parish church in the graveyard at the centre of the village can be dated to the 15th century from its distinctive bell cote, and defensive living quarters over the main building in the manner of Oughterard and other local churches. The Church of Ireland (1833) has stained glass windows by Alfred Child and Catherine O'Brien and several monuments to the Barton family. It was modelled on churches in France. The Catholic Church (1787, rebuilt 1987) was also the site of the national school until 1963. It is part of Straffan’s proud ecumenical tradition that the Catholic community used the Church of Ireland while their own church was undergoing reconstruction.
A well and stone roofed chapel at Ardrass (restored 1898) are associated with St Patrick. The hill was a place of pilgrimage until the 19th century.
Castledillon
Castledillon, County Kildare
Castledillon is a townland and former parish on the River Liffey near Straffan situated on the banks of the River Liffey 25 km upstream from the Irish capital Dublin.-Etymology:...
, situated on the south bank of the River Liffey opposite Straffan, is an ancient monastic site in its own right founded by Iollathan of the desert (feast day is listed as 2nd Feb in the Martyrology of Tallaght) and accorded a genealogy which indicated close kinship with the Ui Dunglainge 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...
. By 1294 the church of Tristeyldelane was described as “not worth the services of chaplains” in the Calendar of Christ Church deeds. The site is now identified by a pile of stones and one headstone, erected in 1758 to the Spellissy family. The Castledillon Friars Stone, probably erected for a 15th century abbot of St Wolstan’s (four miles to the east), remained on the site until removed to the Visitor centre in Kildare town.
Straffan Rail Tragedy
Straffan was the scene of a railway accident on October 5, 1853 in which 18 people died including four children. It occurred in heavy fog when a goods train ran in to the back of a stalled passenger train at a point 974 yards (890.6 m) south of Straffan Station. The goods train smashed the first class carriage, which was driven a quarter of a mile through station. The tragedy was the subject of a poem by Donegal-born poet William AllinghamWilliam Allingham
William Allingham was an Irish man of letters and a poet.-Biography:He was born in Ballyshannon, County Donegal, Ireland and was the son of the manager of a local bank who was of English descent...
. It was the third worst accident in rail history to that date.
Straffan station was last used for scheduled services in 1947 and the last special train stopped at Straffan in 1963. Straffan railway station opened on 1 August 1848 and finally closed on 10 November 1947.
Straffan Steam Museum
The Straffan Steam Museum is now housed in a church which once stood in the Inchicore railway works in Dublin. The Museum has a fine collection of models of steam locomotives, including two used in the late 19th century by the Great Northern Railway. It also displays a large selection of steam engines used for industrial propulsion, including a huge beam engine used in the Midleton whiskey distilleryNew Midleton Distillery
The Midleton distilleries complex is situated outside Midleton, Co. Cork, Ireland. It is owned by Pernod-Ricard. Located alongside is the Old Midleton Distillery which was established in the early 17th century.-History:...
, a pumping engine employed in Jameson's distillery in Dublin, and a large beam engine installed in Smithwick's brewery, Kilkenny
Kilkenny
Kilkenny is a city and is the county town of the eponymous County Kilkenny in Ireland. It is situated on both banks of the River Nore in the province of Leinster, in the south-east of Ireland...
, in 1847. The Museum is open to visitors from Wednesdays to Sundays during the summer, from 2pm to 6pm.
History
The area was ravaged in the wars of 1641-2. The Lords of the Pale who allied with Rory O'MoreRory O'More
Rory O'More, also known as Rory Oge O'More , was an Irish rebel.-Early life:He was the second son of Ruairí Ó Mórdha, captain of Leix, and Margaret, daughter of Thomas Butler, and granddaughter of Pierce or Piers Butler, eighth earl of Ormonde...
in 1642 included Nicholas Wogan of Rathcoffey
Rathcoffey
Rathcoffey or Rathcoffy is a village in County Kildare, Ireland.- Churches :Rathcoffey church is part of the Clane & Rathcoffey Parish. The church was built in 1710.- Education :...
(member of the Council of War), Andrew Aylmer of Donadea, Nicholas Sutton of Barberstown, John Gaydon of lrishtown (whose estate included the present Straffan), Garret Sutton of Richardstown and James Eustace of Clongowes. In 1641 Lyons
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...
Castle was taken and sacked on the orders of the new LJs William Parsons and John Borlase and two castles belonging to Edward Tipper of Tipperstown burned
When James Butler, 12th Earl of Ormond
James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde
James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde PC was an Irish statesman and soldier. He was the second of the Kilcash branch of the family to inherit the earldom. He was the friend of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, who appointeed him commander of the Cavalier forces in Ireland. From 1641 to 1647, he...
marched into Kildare in 1642, he burned Lyons, Newcastle and Oughterard on February 1, 1642.
General George Monck landed in Dublin in February 1642 for the parliamentarians and camped in Straffan (the horses field at Ardrass is named as his camp). Rathcoffey
Rathcoffey
Rathcoffey or Rathcoffy is a village in County Kildare, Ireland.- Churches :Rathcoffey church is part of the Clane & Rathcoffey Parish. The church was built in 1710.- Education :...
was besieged and taken by Monck in June 1642, 70 of the garrison made prisoners and later executed in Dublin. During the campaign Kildare county was burned “for 17 miles (27.4 km) in length and 25 in breadth.” William Petty
William Petty
Sir William Petty FRS was an English economist, scientist and philosopher. He first became prominent serving Oliver Cromwell and Commonwealth in Ireland. He developed efficient methods to survey the land that was to be confiscated and given to Cromwell's soldiers...
’s Census of 1659 recorded “Barbiestowne” with 36 people and Straffan with 23 people, surnames among them included Byrne, Kelly, Doyle, Malone and Murphy.
According to depositions taken after the battle of Ovidstown, a party of 1798 Rebels met at Straffan Bridge including Patrick O’Connor ‘a lawyer from Straffan’, and spent some time in stables of Straffan Lodge (June 18). In 1803 Straffan men marched to Dublin to join Emmet’s rebellion, while Barney Daly’s pub in Baronrath was used as a rendez-vous.
Local landowner Valentine Lawless, later the second Baron Cloncurry, was sworn in to United Irishmen by James O'Coigly. He was elected colonel of United Irishmen in Kildare, was the last proprietor of ‘The Press’ (United Irish newspaper) and became the United Irish organiser in London until his arrest and detention in the Tower of London. He was also related to Robert Emmet
Robert Emmet
Robert Emmet was an Irish nationalist and Republican, orator and rebel leader born in Dublin, Ireland...
and according to Emmet’s biographer Ruan O’Donnell provided a link between 1798 and 1803, waiting in Paris for word of success of the rebellion and was to be member of Emmet's government. O’Donnell describes as “disingenuous” Lawless’s 1857 account of how he had pleaded with Emmet not to return to Dublin. The Sammon family form Straffan and the Pitts family from Bishopscourt were listed among the rebels.
On 22 January 1812 100 persons assembled at night with carts for the purpose of retrieving hay which had been seized in lieu of rent. Leading to a confrontation during which Patrick King was shot dead. As a result of the incident, a request was made to have the military at Celbridge strengthened. Eventually in 1871 a neo-gothic RIC barracks was built in the village with distinctive gun turrets designed to repel invading Fenians. The barracks was vacated and passed in to private hands in March 1905.
War of Independence & The Troubles
A National LeagueNational League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
branch for Celbridge and Straffan was established on Sept 24 1887. Bertram H Barton was a member of the Unionist party and instigator of a sedition charge against the Principal of Ardclough school in 1917. Straffan casualties in the First world war included James Cash, (died May 27, 1918.), D.A. Carden, (September 4, 1915), l Thomas Goucher, (January 22, 1918). Ronald B.C Kennedy (died of illness August 18, 1917), G Kinahan, (October 14, 1916), William Lawless (September 15, 1917), and Peter McLeish, (January 21, 1918). Francie Sammon was a civilian casualty in the Easter Rising of 1916.
A branch of the Irish National Volunteers was formed in Straffan in 1914. The St Anne's Brass Band from 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...
played at the Bodenstown
Bodenstown
Bodenstown is a townland on the outskirts of Sallins in County Kildare, Ireland.The most notable local features are a golf club and the parish cemetery for Sallins. The cemetery is best known as the gravesite of Theobald Wolfe Tone, the eighteenth century Irish revolutionary and leader of the...
commemoration in 1914 at which Thomas Clarke spoke. In February 1917 a Company was reformed in Straffan and a branch of Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...
formed in 1918. Volunteers planned to bomb the bridge at Straffan but the plan was aborted. Telephone wires were destroyed at Bishopscourt
Bishopscourt
Bishopscourt can relate to:*Bishopscourt, a southern suburb of Cape Town, South Africa*Bishopscourt, a gothic architecture building in East Melbourne, Victoria*Bishopscourt, a historic house in Sydney, Australia....
and Straffan volunteers took part in the ambush at Stacumny on 5 July 1921. Prominent local volunteers included John Logie, Tom Cornelia, James Travers and John McSweeney. During the Civil war the barnewall homesteasd near the 13th Lock in Lyons was the North Kildare brigade headquarters for the anti-treaty IRA.
On 22 June 1975 a local man Christopher Phelan was murdered when he delayed an attempt to derail a train passing on the main Dublin to Cork railway line by unidentified paramilitaries near Baronrath bridge. His intervention saved the lives of 200 people on the train as it delayed the detonation of the bomb which blew a 3 foot (0.9144 m) gap in the track. The incident is the subject of an ongoing investigation into “deniable” British army activities in conjunction with Northern Ireland based paramilitaries.
On March 31, 1976 the biggest train robbery in Irish history took place at Wheatfield. Eight men in fluorescent jackets used emergency signals to stop the mail train bound from Cork to Dublin and escaped with £600,000 in small denomination notes. The incident became the centre of a celebrated miscarriage of justice case, known mistakenly as the Sallins Train Robbery
Sallins Train Robbery
The Sallins Train Robbery occurred on 31 March 1976 when the Cork to Dublin mail train was robbed near Sallins in County Kildare, Republic of Ireland. Approximately IR£ 200,000 was stolen...
case after the nearest rail station then open, when three men were wrongly convicted of the robbery.
Straffan Estate and Its Owners
In 1171 Trachstraphli was granted to Maurice Fitzgerald by Richard de ClareRichard de Clare
Richard de Clare may refer to:*Richard fitz Gilbert , lord of Clare and of Tonbridge, ancestor of the Clare family.*Richard fitz Gilbert de Clare Richard de Clare may refer to:*Richard fitz Gilbert (died 1090), lord of Clare and of Tonbridge, ancestor of the Clare family.*Richard fitz Gilbert de...
(Strongbow). In c1185 -1189 Gerald Fitzgerald was accorded “Trachstraphli” in the Red Book of the Earls of Kildare (Ed. G. Mac Niocaill, Dublin, 1964).
In 1288 Sir John Fannyn conveyed Straffan and Ballespaddagh (Irishtown) to Richard Le Penkiston on a deed witnessed by Richard de la Salle, John Posswick and Nicholas Barby, each of whom gave their names to surrounding townlands, Sealstown (de la Salle), Possextown (Posswick) and Barberstown (Barby). In 1473 Suttons held the land as tenants and the land passed to John Gaydon (1490), Thomas Boules (1653), Richard Talbot
Richard Talbot
Richard Talbot may refer to:*Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell *Richard Talbot , leading ecclesiastical and political figures in Ireland...
(1679), John White (1691), Robert Delap (1717) and Dublin Banker Hugh Henry who purchased the house for £2,200 in 1731.
The Henry Family
Hugh Henry who was MP for Limavady 1713 and Antrim 1727-43 built a house which resembled Oakley Park in Celbridge. Another Hugh Henry (a nephew) built Lodge Park in 1775. His son Joseph Henry matriculated from Trinity College at 13, inherited the house in 1749, and became MP for Longford 1761-68, Joseph Henry is featured in many of the caricatures painted by William HogarthWilliam Hogarth
William Hogarth was an English painter, printmaker, pictorial satirist, social critic and editorial cartoonist who has been credited with pioneering western sequential art. His work ranged from realistic portraiture to comic strip-like series of pictures called "modern moral subjects"...
and on display in the National Gallery of Ireland
National Gallery of Ireland
The National Gallery of Ireland houses the Irish national collection of Irish and European art. It is located in the centre of Dublin with one entrance on Merrion Square, beside Leinster House, and another on Clare Street. It was founded in 1854 and opened its doors ten years later...
. His son John Joseph Henry gave the site for Straffan Catholic church in 1787. At the request of Valentine Lawless, Henry subscribed £500 for defence of Armagh rebel priest James O'Coigly. In 1801 he married Lady Emily Fitzgerald a daughter of the Duke of Leinster. According to a commentator of the time “owing to his extravagance from one of the richest commoners in Ireland he became so embarrassed that he was obliged to sell Straffan and live abroad. Among other foolish things he built an underground passage from Straffan House to the stables.” A Benjamin Hallam design for proposed extension to house from 1808 survives, but the house accidentally burned and the Henry family settled in France.
The Barton Family
Hugh Barton purchased and built a new house (1828–31, designed by Frederick Darley) slightly downriver from the Henry’s burned out home. Twenty years later an attic added and a distinctive mansard roof, the stacks raised and embellished in French style. An Italian style campanile tower with gilded vane was added later. The refurbished house was based on a chateau at LouveciennesLouveciennes
Louveciennes is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris, between Versailles and Saint-Germain-en-Laye, and adjacent to Marly-le-Roi.-Sights:...
.
Hugh Barton (1766–1854) was in turn succeeded by Nathaniel Barton (1799–1867), Hugh Lyndoch Barton (1824–1899), Bertram Francis Barton (1830–1904), Bertram Hugh Barton (1858–1927) and Capt Frederick (Derick) Barton (1900–1993). The first five generations of Bartons owned both the estate at Straffan and the family’s 37-hectacre vineyard in St Julien near the Gironde north of Bordeaux, producers of Chateau Leoville-Barton
Château Léoville-Barton
Château Léoville-Barton is a vineyard in the Saint-Julien appellation of the Bordeaux region of France. Château Léoville-Barton is also the name of the red wine produced by this property...
and Chateau Langoa-Barton
Château Langoa-Barton
Château Langoa-Barton is a winery in the Saint-Julien appellation of the Bordeaux region of France. Château Langoa-Barton is also the name of the red wine produced by this property...
. On his death Bertram Barton left the Straffan estate to his eldest son Derrick and the Bordeaux estate to his second son Ronald Barton. Anthony Barton moved to St Julien
Saint-Julien-Beychevelle
Saint-Julien-Beychevelle is a commune on the left bank of the Garonne estuary in the Gironde department in Aquitaine in southwestern France.-Population:-Wine:...
in 1951 and took over the vineyard on the death of Ronald in 1986. The Barton dynasty is believed to be the longest period of single family ownership of any vineyard in Bordeaux.
The K Club
On the death of Bertram Barton in a hunting accident in 1927 the scale of the losses on the estate, £4,000 per year, became apparent. The staff of 50 outdoor and 16 indoor employees was unsustainable. Derrick Barton laid off most of the staff and demolished part of the house before selling the house and estate for £15,000 to motorcycle manufacturer John Ellis in 1949. Derrick Barton moved to Straffan Glebe House for a time. The last five private owners of Straffan House followed in quick succession: car importer Stephen O'FlahertyStephen O'Flaherty
Stephen O'Flaherty is an Irish slalom canoer who competed in the mid 1990s. He finished 25th in the C-1 event at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.-References:*...
(1960), film producer Kevin McClory
Kevin McClory
Kevin O'Donovan McClory was an Irish screenwriter, producer, and director. McClory was best known for the 1983 James Bond film Never Say Never Again, which was the result of a long legal battle between McClory and Ian Fleming over the writing credits and later the film rights to...
(1973), Iranian air force founder and minister in the Shah’s government Nadar Djhanbani (1977, shortly before the downfall of the Shah’s government and his execution), developer Patrick Gallagher
Patrick Gallagher
Patrick Gallagher may refer to:*Patrick Gallagher , Canadian actor*Patrick Gallagher , soccer player*Patrick Gallagher , former Irish politician with Sinn Féin the Workers' Party, Workers Party of Ireland and Democratic Left*Patrick J...
(1979) and property magnate Alan Ferguson
Alan Ferguson
The Hon. Alan Baird Ferguson , Australian politician, has been a Liberal member of the Australian Senate since May 1992, representing South Australia. On 14 August 2007 Senator Ferguson became the 22nd President of the Australian Senate, succeeding Senator Paul Calvert of Tasmania...
(1981) who invested £6m in Straffan House but never lived there.
Entrepreneur Michael Smurfit
Michael Smurfit
Sir Michael Smurfit, KBE , is a businessman holding Irish citizenship. In the 2010 Irish Independent Rich List, he was listed at 25th, with a €368 million personal fortune.-Early life:...
who was searching for a suitable old house and estate to develop as a country club recruited Ray Carroll
Ray Carroll
Ray Carroll, Irish sportsperson, born 1977.A native of Salthill, Galway city, Carroll was part of a four-man crew that set a new record for trans-Atlantic rowing in August 2010. His crewmates were skipper Leven Brown , Don Lennox , and Livar Nysted , their ship the Artemis Investments...
, former manager at the Grosvenor Hotel in London to help with the task. Carroll recommended Straffan above seven other estates he had examined. In 1988 Straffan house was sold for £7m to the Jefferson Smurfit company for use as a golf course and hotel. A further £35m was spent developing the house as a hotel under a scheme negotiated with the government to produce 200 jobs in return for tax breaks for investors. In 1991 Straffan was opened as a 31-bedroom hotel. In 2004 a wing was added to double the size of the hotel and a granite porch from Ballynegal Co Westmeath used to bring the two wings together.
Straffan put in its first bid to host the Ryder Cup in 1988, before the course had even been built, for the 1993 event. In 1990 the north course, designed by Arnold Palmer
Arnold Palmer
Arnold Daniel Palmer is an American professional golfer, who is generally regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of men's professional golf. He has won numerous events on both the PGA Tour and Champions Tour, dating back to 1955...
, was completed. Straffan staged the PGA cup in 1991 and Irish professional Championship in 1992. As a result of a £1 million sponsorship offer form the Smurfit Group, the European Open
European Open (golf)
The European Open was a European Tour golf tournament. Founded in 1978, up to 1994 it was played at various courses in England, including Sunningdale and Walton Heath, except for the 1979 event, which was held at Turnberry in Scotland...
moved its annual home from Walton Heath to Straffan in 1995. In 1999 Straffan’s bid for the Ryder Cup was eventually accepted by the European PGA. The tournament, staged in September 2006, proved to be the most profitable in the history of the tournament. The south course was completed in 2003 and used for the European Open of 2004.
In 2002 Madison Dearborm took over the Jefferson Smurfit corporation and divested itself of the K Club. Michael Smurfit purchased the hotel and estate and acquired a further 80 acres (323,748.8 m²) on the opposite side of the river for €115m in 2004, with the support of property developer Gerry Gannon
Gerry Gannon
Gerry Gannon, so-called 'man in the hat', is an Irish builder and property developer since the 1980s. Gannon plays a significant and leading role in the build-up and demise of the Irish property bubble...
. To fund this expansion 81 housing units were developed on the course and sold for €2.5m each.
Sport
- Horse breeding and training has an honourable history in the area. The TetrarchThe TetrarchThe Tetrarch was an undefeated Irish Thoroughbred racehorse and an influential sire, who was voted Britain's Two-Year-Old of the 20th Century.-Breeding:...
, bred by Edward “Cub” Kennedy in 1908, never competed as a three year old but is still remembered in folklore as one of the best two year olds of all time. - Christopher BartonChristopher BartonChristopher "Chris" Bertram Ronald Barton is a former British rower who competed in the 1948 Summer Olympics.Barton was born at Celbridge, Kildare, Ireland, the son of Captain Frederick Bertram Barton and Joan Aileen Lecky. He was educated at St. Columba's and Jesus College, Cambridge...
won an Olympic silver medal in 1948 as part of an all-CambridgeUniversity of CambridgeThe University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
eight which represented Britain in the Olympic Games. His father Derrick Barton was a member of the British Modern PentathlonModern pentathlonThe modern pentathlon is a sports contest that includes five events: pistol shooting, épée fencing, 200 m freestyle swimming, show jumping, and a 3 km cross-country run...
team which finished seventh in the team event at the 1924 Olympics.
- A Straffan resident David Ritchie laid out Ireland’s first golf course in the CurraghCurraghThe Curragh is a flat open plain of almost 5,000 acres of common land in County Kildare, Ireland, between Newbridge and Kildare. This area is well-known for Irish horse breeding and training. The Irish National Stud is located on the edge of Kildare town, beside the famous Japanese Gardens. Also...
in 1852. There were estate cricket teams in both Straffan and Bishopscourt in 1880.
- Straffan AFC (Soccer Club) was founded in 1978 and played on lands owned by racehorse trainer Mr Michael Vance at Whitechurch Straffan. In 1979 the club reached the Counties Cup semi-final but were beaten. They decided to move to the Dublin section of the Leinster Junior League in 1981 and the change seemed to suit as the club won its first league title in 1981’82, the manager at the time was Pat McKenna and Tommy Stanley was the team captain.
- Straffan GAA club was described in 1934 as the cradle of the GAA in Kildare Straffan. JL Carews played SallinsSallinsSallins is a suburban town in County Kildare, Ireland, situated 3.5 km north of the town centre of Naas, from which it is separated by the M7 motorway. Sallins is the anglicised name of Na Solláin which means "The Willows"....
In their first match on the same day, February 15, 1885, that Maurice DavinMaurice DavinMaurice Davin was an Irish farmer who became co-founder of the Gaelic Athletic Association. He was also the first President of the GAA and the only man ever to serve two terms as president.He was born in Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary...
’s first rules of Gaelic football were being agreed by GAA Central Council in Cork. The club’s best period followed their success in the 1966 Intermediate championship when they competed in the Kildare senior championship 1967-79. In that period Thomas WalshThomas Walsh- In politics :* Thomas Walsh , Fianna Fáil politician and Minister for Agriculture* Thomas J. Walsh , American lawyer and Senator* Thomas Walsh , Massachusetts politician...
played senior football for Kildare having won an All-Ireland Under 21 medal in 1965. Most recently ,2009, Straffan won the Junior football championship ,with a last minute goal by Andy O'Neill, against Two Mile House. That year was somewhat of a revival of success for the club, since the last championship win. Currently Straffan has two teams competing in the KildareKildare GAAFor more information see Kildare Senior Club Football Championship or Kildare Senior Club Hurling Championship.The Kildare County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association , or Kildare GAA, is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games in County Kildare...
Senior division 2 and division 4 Football Leagues and at intermediate level in the championship.
- The annual Liffey DescentLiffey Descent Canoe RaceThe Liffey Descent Canoe Race canoe race is an annual down river canoe and kayak race, of some 18 miles in length, that has been held on the River Liffey in Ireland since 1960. It starts by the K Club above Straffan weir in County Kildare, and finishes by the Trinity Rowing Club in Dublin. It is...
canoe race, (first staged 1960) starts annually in Straffan and follows the river Liffey 17 miles (27.4 km) downstream to Islandbridge.
- Straffan has a remarkable tradition of success in under-age chess due to the interest of recently retired Scoil Bride school principal Jack Hennigan. Paul Dempsey, Eoin Spring, Robert KellyRobert Kelly-Media:* Robert Kelker-Kelly , American soap opera actor* Robert Kelly , American standup comedian* Robert Kelly , American poet...
and Colm D'Rosario have all represented Ireland in World Chess Championships.
See also
- List of towns and villages in Ireland
External links
- Straffan Butterfly Farm Website - http://www.straffanbutterflyfarm.com
- Straffan AFC - http://www.straffanafc.com
- Straffan Steam Museum Website - http://www.steam-museum.com/steam.html
- Development Plan http://kildare.ie/countycouncil/planning/developmentplans/localareaplans/straffan/...
- Local area plan http://kildare.ie/countycouncil/planning/localareaplans/straffan/index.html