County Kildare Travel Guide — Things to Do, Food & Hotels
county in Ireland
About County Kildare
This low-lying, fertile area has been settled since prehistory, but traces of its earliest years have been built or farmed over, or carted off to museums. Ptolemy's map of 100 AD marks a settlement of Rheban hereabouts, but the area only starts to come into focus around 490 AD, when the monastery was founded at Kildare, and its abbess St Brigid acquired all the legends and supernatural attributes that previously cloaked the pagan goddess Brigid. Her church by an oak grove -Cill Dara- lay in the Gaelic kingdom of Leinster, which the Normans made sure to grab and subdue when they arrived from the 12th century. The Normans carved their conquest into shires or counties - County Kildare was originally much larger and included Laois and Offaly until Tudor times. They battled with the kings of Le
County Kildare Travel Guide Sections
Our comprehensive guide covers 9 sections including: