Page 136 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Ireland

134  IRELAND REGION B Y REGION

2 Robertstown
Road map D4. Co Kildare. * 650. @
Ten locks west along the Grand
Canal from Dublin, Robertstown
is a characteristic 19th-century
canalside village, with ware-
houses and cottages flanking
the waterfront. Freight barges
plied the route until about 1960,
but pleasure boats have since
replaced them. Visitors can take
barge cruises from the quay.
Another landmark is the The Robertstown Hotel in Robertstown
Robertstown Hotel, built in
1801 for canal passengers. walks across the peat lands much to Victorian remodelling.
Near Sallins, about 8 km introduce visitors to the bog’s Once the ancestral seat of the
(5 miles) east of Robertstown, delicate ecosystem. Earls of Drogheda, in the 1920s
the canal is carried over the Moore Abbey became the
River Liffey along the Leinster home of the celebrated tenor,
Aqueduct, an impressive John McCormack (see p28).
structure built in 1783 and fine It is now a hospital.
example of engineering.
5 Kildare
3 Bog of Allen
Nature Centre Road map D4. Co Kildare. * 7,500.
£ @ n Market House 045 521240.
Road map D4. Lullymore, Co Kildare. ( Thu. ∑ kildare.ie
Tel 045 860133. £ to Newbridge.
@ to Allenwood. Open 9am–5pm Stacking peat for use as fuel The charming and tidy town
Mon–Fri, special weekends May–Sep. of Kildare is dominated by
& 7 limited. ∑ ipcc.ie 4 Monasterevin St Brigid’s Cathedral, which
commemorates the saint who
Road map D4. Co Kildare.
Housed in an old farmhouse * 3,000. @ ∑ monasterevin.ie founded a religious community
at Lullymore, 9 km (6 miles) on this site in 480. Unusually,
northeast of Rathangan, the This Georgian market town monks and nuns lived here
Nature Centre lies at the heart lies west of Kildare, where the under the same roof, but this
of the Bog of Allen, a vast Grand Canal crosses the River was not the only unorthodox
expanse of raised bogland (see Barrow. Waterborne trade practice associated with the
p256) that extends across the brought prosperity to Monast- community. Curious pagan
counties of Offaly, Meath, erevin in the 18th cen tury, but rituals, including the burning of
Westmeath, Laois and Kildare. the locks now see little traffic. a perpetual fire, continued until
An exhibition of flora, fauna and However, you can still admire the 16th century. The fire pit is
archaeological finds explores the aqueduct, which is a superb still visible, as is the
the history and ecology of the example of canal engineering. highest round tower
bog, while pre-booked guided Moore Abbey, next to the that can be climbed
church, was built in the 18th in Ireland, which was
century on the site of a probably built in
monastic foundation, but the the 12th century
grand Gothic mansion owes and has a Roman-
esque doorway. The
cathedral was rebuilt
in the Victorian era,

St Brigid’s Cathedral and roofless round tower in Kildare town
For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp297–8 and pp311–13

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Eyewitness Travel LAYERS PRINTED:
Catalogue template “UK” LAYER
(Source v2.1)
Date 5th December 2012
Size 125mm x 217mm