Naas
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Template:Infobox Place Ireland Naas (/ˈneɪs/; Irish: Nás na Ríogh, pronounced [nɑːs nə riː], or An Nás [ən nɑːs]) is the county town of County Kildare in Ireland. With a population of just over twenty thousand, it is also the largest town in the county. Naas is a major commuter suburb, with many people residing there and working in Dublin. The nearby N7 dual carriageway and M7 motorway connect it with Dublin and the south and southwest.
History
The Irish language name for Naas, Nás na Ríogh literally means Meeting Place of the Kings, as the place historically hosted meetings of pre-Norman Irish kings from the Kingdom of Leinster.[citation needed] After the Norman invasion in 1169-71, some meetings of the Irish parliament were held in the town.[citation needed] Many of the earlier settlers in Kildare were Cambro-Normans from Wales, and so the medieval church was dedicated to Saint David.[citation needed]
In the Middle Ages, Naas became a walled market town which was occasionally raided by the O'Byrne and O'Toole clans based in the nearby area which became County Wicklow. Naas features on the 1598 map "A Modern Depiction of Ireland, One of the British Isles" by Abraham Ortelius as "Nosse". (It is worth noticing the "O Byrne" and "O Tolo" (O'Toole) names appearing prominently on the map).
A mayor and council were selected by the richer merchants and landowners; the mayor was titled the "Sovereign of Naas" and carried a ceremonial mace until the post was abolished in 1840. Because of its importance as a place for trading, public meetings and local administration, with its law courts, racecourse and army barracks, it became known as the "county town" of County Kildare.[citation needed]
In the former Parliament of Ireland that was established in 1297 and ended in 1800, the constituency of Naas had 2 seats.
One of the first battles of the rebellion of 1798 took place in Naas on 24 May 1798 when a force of about 1,000 rebels were defeated in an unsuccessful attack on the town. A leader of the United Irishmen, Theobald Wolfe Tone, is buried just outside Naas, at Bodenstown.
In 1898 the Local Government Act established Naas Urban District Council (now Naas Town Council). Its jurisdiction had a circular boundary with a 2.4 km (1.5 mi) radius from the new town hall on the main street. Most of the rest of County Kildare is managed directly by Kildare County Council which has also been based in Naas since 1898, and which oversees the work of the Town Council.
Today, Naas is the 15th largest town in the Republic of Ireland. The town is planning new housing developments during the next five years with a projected population of 30,000.
Media
- County Kildare's local Radio Station KFM 97.3FM - 97.6FM is located in the suburbs of the town.
- The regional newspaper, Leinster Leader, is published in Naas.
- Kildare County's local TV Station Kildare TV or KTV is located in Naas West based in the Osprey Hotel Complex off the Limerick Road.
Places of interest
Amenities in the town include: a library, tax office, a new Gaelic Athletic Association club, athletics club, a range of schools, Naas General Hospital, horse racecourse,[1] soccer club, tennis club, soccer club, hockey club, rugby club, two major nightclubs including the famous 'Time' nightclub, five-screen 3D cinema, several pubs, five supermarkets, county council offices, a number of hotels and the new Moat Theatre.
A large new public swimming pool and leisure centre opened on Carragh Avenue in 2009 and the old swimming pool site is now a public car park.
The town has two Roman Catholic Churches, one Church of Ireland Church, and one Presbyterian Church. The Church of Our Lady & St. David is a Roman Catholic Parish Church dating from 1827. The original parish church, St. David's Church, is held by the Church of Ireland. In 1997, the second Catholic Church opened in Ballycane on the east side of town and is dedicated to the Irish Martyrs.
There are two racecourses near Naas. Punchestown Racecourse is just to the south east of the town, in the parish of Eadestown, and Naas Racecourse is about 1 km from the town centre.[1] The annual Punchestown Race Festival is a major event for a whole week in April. The Oxegen music festival is also held at Punchestown in the second weekend of July.
Naas has one of the largest scouting groups in Ireland, with 2 Beaver nights, 3 cub nights, 3 Scout nights and also a very large Venture group as well as a proposed rover group.
Economy
Local industrial enterprises include Intel, Xilinx, Hewlett Packard. Other economic activities include local government, Aldi's national headquarters, and indigenous manufacturers such as Green Isle Foods, Dawn Farm Foods, Readymix, Dennison Trailers, Omos Street Furniture, Amvic Ireland, Pasta Concepts, Phamapac, QK Meats, Redlen, Simply Soups, Taravale Foods, Granning Axles and Irish Commercials. The town also includes law offices, hotels and a livestock mart. Naas is also home to the most expensive boutique in Ireland the Emporium Kalu in the centre of the town. Naas also enjoys a wide range of supermarkets, Superquinn, Eurospar, Weatherbys GSB Ireland, Marks and Spencers, Aldi, 2 Lidl stores one in the Naas suburb of Sallins and the other on the Limerick Road in the town. The Town also has two tesco stores, one on the Blessington Road in the centre of the town. Naas also boasts the largest Tesco Extra hypermarket in Ireland located on the Monread Road in the northside of the town. The Tesco Extra site will be further developed into a shopping centre with 18 more retail units planned for summer 2011. (http://www.insideireland.ie/index.cfm/section/news/ext/tescoextra266jobsnaas001/category/1107)
Recently[when?] a lot of proposed stores and retail have been announced for Naas such as, Superquinn will be moving onto the Limerick Road along with plans for an Eight-Screen Cinema and leisure centre. A new Penney's (Primark) superstore will be located on the old Superquinn site in the town centre. Under construction is the new Naas Shopping Mall at Corbans Avenue which has seen work postponed due to the economic downturn and lack of funding.[citation needed] Naas is considered[by whom?] now to be the largest Retail Centre in County Kildare, largely as a result of its critical mass of bulky goods floorspace located in Large Modern Retail Parks in the Town's suburbs.[2]
The town of Naas is surrounded by commercial parks with stores such as Harvey Norman, Smyths Toy's, Clery's, PC World, Halfords and Heatons. The largest commercial park is located near the Newhall Interchange. A major business park is under construction at Osberstown.[3]
Transport
Naas railway station opened on 22 June 1855, closed for passenger traffic on 27 January 1947 and for goods traffic on 10 March 1947, and finally closed altogether on 1 April 1959.[4] The railway station at Sallins is now used by many residents of Naas and the surrounding area for the daily commute to Dublin, with frequent trains throughout the day and travel times less than 30 minutes to Downtown Dublin.
The N7 Naas Road, which connects Naas to Dublin, was upgraded in 2006 with a six-lane carriageway with grade-separated interchanges. Plans have been laid out to construct a large interchange at the Osberstown-Millenium Park as part of the M7 upgrade.[5] An orbital ring road is also being built; several phases have already been opened.[6]
Education
Naas has three secondary schools, St. Mary's, a girls convent school, the Christian Brothers School, for boys, and Pipers Hill (formerly St. Patrick's Community College), a mixed school.
It also has primary schools, including the Convent of Mercy, a girl's school, St. Corban's B.N.S., a school for boys, Scoil Bhride, a mixed school and Ballycane, another mixed school teaching classes from Junior Infants to 2nd class and St. David's, a mixed school.
Naas also has a large public library which is located in the canal harbour area. It can be accessed via Basin Street or the Newbridge Road. Books, CDs, DVDs, computer games, magazines and language packs are among the items that can be borrowed. It also offers free Internet access to library members. Art exhibitions, activities and meetings are held in the library throughout the year. The library is open Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday & Saturday.[7]
People
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|---|---|
| 1813 | 2,018 | — |
| 1821 | 3,073 | +52.3% |
| 1831 | 3,808 | +23.9% |
| 1841 | 3,571 | −6.2% |
| 1851 | 3,010 | −15.7% |
| 1861 | 2,966 | −1.5% |
| 1871 | 3,660 | +23.4% |
| 1881 | 3,808 | +4.0% |
| 1891 | 3,735 | −1.9% |
| 1901 | 3,836 | +2.7% |
| 1911 | 3,842 | +0.2% |
| 1926 | 3,442 | −10.4% |
| 1936 | 3,290 | −4.4% |
| 1946 | 3,774 | +14.7% |
| 1951 | 3,731 | −1.1% |
| 1956 | 3,915 | +4.9% |
| 1961 | 4,023 | +2.8% |
| 1966 | 4,529 | +12.6% |
| 1971 | 5,078 | +12.1% |
| 1979 | 7,739 | +52.4% |
| 1981 | 8,345 | +7.8% |
| 1986 | 10,017 | +20.0% |
| 1991 | 11,141 | +11.2% |
| 1996 | 14,074 | +26.3% |
| 2002 | 18,312 | +30.1% |
| 2006 | 20,044 | +9.5% |
| [8] | ||
- Gormflaith, (c. 960-1030) third wife of Brian Ború.
- Mother Teresa Ellen Dease (4 May 1820 - 1 July 1889), foundress of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Loretto Sisters) in North America (at Toronto).
- Major Leonard Greenham Star Molloy D.S.O., M.P. (1861–1937), Harley Street doctor and politician.
- Thomas Burgh (1670–1730), architect
- Hubert de Burgh, (16 February 1879 – 6 October 1960) cricketer.
- Michael Roe, (born August 8, 1955) racing driver.
- Larry Tompkins, (born 13 June 1963) Gaelic football manager.
- Andrew Strong (born 14 November 1973) Singer and actor, famous for his role in The Commitments was brought in Naas
- Geordan Murpy, (Born April 19, 1978) Rugby union player, Ireland and Leicster Tigers.
- Jamie Heaslip, (Born 15 December 1983) Rugby union player, Ireland, Naas and Leinster.
- Joseph Deane Bourke, 3rd Earl of Mayo, interred in the burying ground of his family near Naas
Sport
- Naas AFC Soccer Club [3] with over 500 players, from 5years of age, to Senior club.[9]
- Naas GAA is the local Gaelic Athletic Association club.[10]
- Naas Athletic Club on the Caragh Road.[11]
- Naas Rugby Club, Forenaughts, Naas.
- Naas Golf Club is one of three local golf clubs and is located in Sallins.
- Naas Lawn Tennis Club.[12] is one of Ireland's premium tennis clubs, with the recent edition of a 3 court indoor facility.
- Naas Racecourse.
- Punchestown, horse racing is frequently held, as well as other international events.
- KBowl 10 pin Bowling.
- Osborne Stables, Craddockstown, Naas.
Twinning
Naas is twinned with the following places:
- Allaire- France[13]
- Casalattico - Italy[13]
- Dillingen an der Donau - Germany[13]
- Omaha - Nebraska, United States[13]
- St David's - Wales[13]
See also
References
- ^ a b "Naas Racecourse". Naasracecourse.com. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
- ^ [1]
- ^ "Welcome to Osberstown - Co. Kildare". Osberstown.com. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
- ^ "Naas station" (PDF). Railscot - Irish Railways. Retrieved 2007-11-19.
- ^ ARUP Consulting Engineers (November 2008). "M7 Osbertown Interchange: Environmental Impact Statement". Kildare County Council & Naas Town Council. Retrieved 2009-02-27.
- ^ Kildare County Council (March 2008). "Naas Southern Ring Road Opens". Retrieved 2009-04-06.
- ^ http://www.kildare.ie/library
- ^ and www.histpop.org for post 1821 figures, 1813 estimate from Mason’s Statistical Survey For a discussion on the accuracy of pre-famine census returns see JJ Lee “On the accuracy of the Pre-famine Irish censuses Irish Population, Economy and Society edited by JM Goldstrom and LA Clarkson (1981) p54, in and also New Developments in Irish Population History, 1700-1850 by Joel Mokyr and Cormac O Grada in The Economic History Review, New Series, Vol. 37, No. 4 (Nov., 1984), pp. 473-488.
- ^ "Naas AFC". Naas AFC. Retrieved 2009-06-23.
- ^ Naas GAA website
- ^ Naas Athletic Club
- ^ [2]
- ^ a b c d e Naas Town Council - 2006 report - Page 4 - Twinning in Naas
Sources
- Nolan W. & McGrath T. (eds.) Kildare History and Society (Geography, Dublin 2006) ISBN 978-0-906602-57-7
