Leighlinbridge
| Leighlinbridge Irish: Leithghlinn an Droichid | |
| County Carlow | |
|---|---|
 The Black Castle on the River Barrow in Leighlinbridge | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | S694654 |
| Location: | 52°44’11"N, 6°58’21"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 646 (2002) |
| Local Government | |
Leighlinbridge is a small town on the River Barrow in County Carlow, bypassed since the 1980s by the N9 road.
The name Leithghlinn an Droichid means "Half-glen (or grey glen) of the Bridge".[1]
It covers the townlands of Leighlin (east bank of the river) and Ballyknockan (west bank). The village features narrow winding streets, grey limestone malthouses and castle ruins overlooking a 14th-century bridge across the River Barrow.
Places of interest
Leighlinbridge Castle, also called Black Castle, was one of Ireland's earliest Norman castles. A 50 foot tall broken castle tower and bawn wall are all that can be seen today.
Below the castle lies the ruin of the first Carmelite priory in Ireland which was built by the Norman, Carew in 1270.
At the northern entrance to the village is a sculpture by Michael Warren, depicting the thrones of the ancient seat of the Kings of South Leinster at Dinn Righ (The hill of the Kings). The Kings of Leinster lived near the village.
Leighlinbridge meteorite
On the night of 28 November 1999, a brilliant exploding fireball was observed over Carlow town, which lasted for several seconds before fading and was accompanied by a loud detonation. An elderly lady in Leighlinbridge recovered a fusion crusted individual meteoritic rock on 12 December 1999, and later two more specimens were found. It is now officially called the "Leighlinbridge" by the International Meteorite Nomenclature Committee.[2][3] The meteorites, totalling 271.4 grams in weight,[2] were at the time the first recovered in Ireland since 1865 and are the first fallen rocks found anywhere in Ireland or Britain since 1991.[4] The previous find in Ireland was the Dundrum meteorite which was found near Dundrum, County Tipperary.
Sports
- Football: Vale Wanderers
- Gaelic sports:
- Naomh Bríd: a hurling club
- Leighlinbridge: Gaelic football
- Micheal Davitts: Gaelic football
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Leighlinbridge) |
References
- ↑ Leighlinbridge Placenames Database of Ireland
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Meteoritical Bulletin Database: Leighlinbridge
- ↑ "Leighlinbridge". Fernlea Meteorites UK. http://fernlea.tripod.com/leighlinbridge.html. Retrieved 2007-12-10.
- ↑ Damian Carrington (2000-01-31). "Woman finds space fireball debris". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/622499.stm. Retrieved 2007-12-10.