County Kildare Walking Routes Project - Kildare.ie

County Kildare Walking Routes Project
Comments
1. The route passes through two landscape character areas defined in the County
Development Plans as the Southern Lowlands and the Eastern Transition. The route is
a combination of mixed woodland, quiet country road and the well maintained grounds
of the twelfth century Kilkea Castle. The wood surrounds a ringfort with a viewing
point that provides a panoramic view of the Southern Lowlands with its open fields of
oats and barley and the Eastern Transition to the upland area of Wicklow with the Rath
of Mullaghmast, Ardscull Moate and Corballis Hill. The edge of the Castlecomer
Plateau, the town of Athy and the round tower of Kildare Cathedral can be seen from
the summit.
2. The walk is through mixed forest of ash beech and sycamore with conifers. There are
stretches of open woodland with abundant wildflowers and shrubs such as hazel,
bramble and elder. There is a limestone outcrop in the wood and a road cutting
through the glacial boulder clay showing the soil profile. The land use along the road
section is dominantly tillage with barley and oats and well maintained hedgerows with
crab apples. Within the Castle there is a well maintained seventeenth century walled
garden. Surrounding the castle is an 18 hole golf course with parkland trees, remnants
of the original demesne forest. The river Griese, a source of trout, meanders through
the estate. The range of habitats supports a diversity of wildflowers, trees, shrubs,
insects, mammals, fish and birds.
3. There are no public transport services to Kilkea. It is 40 minutes by car from Dublin
and 15 minutes from Naas. The location is popular with the people of Castledermot
and Athy as a picnic spot. The route links the natural woodland heritage with the built
heritage of the Kilkea Demesne and its rich social history and legend and the
pilgrim/ecclesiastical heritage of St. Laurence O’Toole who was born here and is
commemorated with a memorial that links the spot to the town of Eu in France where
he died.
4. Along the route are a single storey cut stone foresters cottage (1820), the iron age ring
fort with its viewing point, two memorials on the roadside commemorating rural
workers of the 1940s, the impressive Fitzgerald Norman Castle (1180), which is now a
hotel, is the oldest continuously inhabited castle in Ireland., the medieval church and
graveyard of the Fitzgerald family, a granite memorial to St. Laurence O’Toole, a
detached four bay single storey former national school (1863), a detached four bay
double height rubble stone Gothic style Church of Ireland (1850), a detached five bay
two storey rubble stone Tudor style former rectory (1852) and a free standing cast iron
water pump (1905). There is a unique horse powered water pump used in the 1840s to
pump water from a well to a cistern on the roof of the castle. There is a pets cemetery
for faithful hunting dogs with interesting headstones. All of the sites are accessible
from the route.
5. The route is along Coillte forest path, public road and hotel access roads. To fully develop
the route the hotel owner will need to work with Coillte to upgrade sections of it.
6. There are no Natural Heritage Areas or Special Areas of Conservation adjacent to the
route but the picturesque meandering River Barrow SAC is visible from the ring fort
viewing point.
7. The underfoot conditions are muddy and wet and partly overgrown over a short distance at
one end of the walk. Most of the route is firm along forest path and single track. Some of
the route is along quiet country road and access roads within the hotel grounds.
8. There is limited signage at present at the start of the walk in the car park and picnic area.
Arrow marks and information boards would enhance the walk.