Monasterevin

Monasterevin Irish: Mainistir Eimhín
County Kildare
Location
Grid reference:	N624102
Location:	53°8’19"N, 7°3’39"W
Data
Population:	5,307  (2022)
Local Government
Dáil constituency:	Kildare

Monasterevin sometimes Monasterevan, is a town in County Kildare, on the River Barrow and the Barrowline, a canal branch of the Grand Canal. In the 20 years between the 2002 and 2022 censuses, the population more than doubled, from 2,583 to 5,307 inhabitants. The town is in a townland of the same name.

The village is on the R445 road, relieved of much through-traffic by the opening in 2004 of a section of the M7 motorway bypassing the town on the N7 Dublin-to-Limerick route. Monasterevin railway station is on InterCity rail lines for trains from Dublin to the south-west and west. The town is also on Ireland's canal network, linking the Grand Canal and the River Barrow.

History

Town square

Monasterevin stands on the border of County Kildare and County Laois. The towns and districts of Rathangan, Kildare, Portarlington and Athy surround the parish. The main geographical features of the countryside are the River Barrow, its tributaries, the extensive bogland and the limestone outcrop of Moore Abbey Hill.

Traces of Neolithic people have been found in the area. A dolmen, now collapsed, once marked the burial of some important tribal potentate in a local townland. During the Barrow drainage, hundreds of stone axe heads were found on the river-bed at each of the three major crossing points that occur within the town. Of the Bronze Age, several earthwork enclosures are foynd. One such is the earthwork enclosure just above the town referred to as the Aquafort, resting as it does on the spit of land where the River Figile joins the River Barrow. At the time it would have been in use the water level was much higher meaning that approaching the defences was more difficult.

The pattern of fortified settlement continues into the Iron Age. We also know that by this time the bogland around Monasterevin was fully formed. Traversing these areas would have been difficult but the importance of the fords on the Barrow meant that some solution had to be found. The equivalent of the M7 motorway was needed and indeed it was provided by what is known as "The Danes Road". It was built by laying large rough-hewn planks and a foundation of brushwood on boggy ground. This base spread the weight of the gravel layer on top, allowing the roads to be used by chariots. St. Brigid is said to have ordered the construction of such a road.

Middle Ages

St Abban of New Ross, a contemporary of St Patrick, established a monastic settlement by the banks of the River Barrow at Rosglas and gave it into the charge of his protégé Evin. Evin brought a number of monks with him from his native Munster, which gave the settlement the name Rosglos-na-Moinneach ('Greenwood of the Munstermen'). St Evin was politically astute, securing special status for the Monasterevin area placing it outside the common law and making it a sanctuary. His famous bell was used for swearing oaths and was much in demand by tribes of the region for guaranteeing peace treaties. St Evin also co-authored the "Tripartite Life of St. Patrick". Other writing by Evin survives including the "Cain Emhin". His monastery died out about the time of the Viking raids, but the site remained of importance: in 903 AD, the Battle of Ballaghmoon was fought for the ownership of the church.

The next religious establishment on the site was in the 12th century when a Cistercian Abbey was founded under the patronage of Dermot O’Dempsey, the rulers of the area. The last abbot in Monasterevin was Hugh O’Dempsey.

As a key crossing point on the Barrow, Monasterevin was contested by the O’Mores of Laois, the Hiberno Norman Earls of Kildare and the English Pale. The Abbots of Monasterevin held a seat in the Irish Parliament, while still assisting outlaws and rebels against the Crown.

In 1541 under King Henry VIII the Abbey dissolved. During the Elizabethan period, tenants of the estates included Sir Robert Devereaux, Earl of Essex after whom Essex Bridge is named (commonly called the Pass Bridge because he passed over it on his way to his disastrous campaign against the native Irish in Munster).

Early Modern Era

King James I granted the Abbey and demesne of Rosglas at Monasterevin to Sir Adam Loftus in 1613. The Earls of Drogheda married into the Loftus family. Charles Lord Moore Earl of Drogheda married Jane Loftus in 1699. Their son Edward became the Fourth Earl who sold the Mellifont estates and transferred the family seat to Monasterevin.

The Moores developed Monasterevin as the "Venice of Ireland", with many improvement works here, and also in Dublin. The nickname 'the Venice of Ireland' arises from the unusual number of bridges. In 1786, the Grand Canal was built here too. The Grand Canal allowed the local distilling industry to flourish.

On 25 May 1798, insurgents from the surrounding countryside marched on the town and the Battle of Monasterevin was fought in the Main Street opposite St. John's church, which had been fortified by local yeomanry and militiamen. A charge by the Monasterevin Yeomanry Cavalry routed the insurgents. Later in the year, Edward Prendergast, a priest, was arrested and condemned to death for ministering to the insurgents in their camp in Iron Hill near Nurney. He was hanged in the garden of Monasterevin House.

Modernity

The 19th century was marked by further improvements to the town infrastructure including the building of a new Town Bridge in 1832 and the arrival of the railway. The area was largely unaffected by the widespread mass evictions of the era, the Droghedas being generally regarded as good landlords. An aqueduct built in 1826 carries the Grand Canal over the River Barrow, preceded by a lift drawbridge where the R424 main road crosses the Barrowline branch of the Grand Canal, the only such main road bridge to do so on the Grand Canal. Monasterevin is noted for its unusually high number of bridges in such a small semi-rural area, earning it the name of 'Venice of Ireland'. The Great Famines of the 1840s also left the area relatively un-ravaged.

On 2 July 1903, the Gordon Bennett Cup ran through Monsterevin. It was the first international motor race to be held in the United Kingdom.

Culture

From 1987 to 2015, a Gerard Manley Hopkins Literary Festival was held annually in the town: the poet had described Monsterevin as "one of the props and struts of my existence" whilst he was teaching in Dublin. It then moved to neighbouring Newbridge.

Sport

• Gaelic sports:
  • Monasterevin G.F.C.
  • Ballykelly GAA
  • Ros Glas Hurling Club

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Monasterevin)

• [http://www.kildare.ie/monasterevin Monasterevin Community Council
• Monasterevin Historical Society
• Monasterevin Hopkins Society and Annual Festival