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Coordinates: 53°19′07″N 6°24′33″W / 53.31866°N 6.40919°W Clondalkin (Irish: Cluain Dolcáin, meaning "Dolcan's meadow") is situated 10 km west of Dublin City, Ireland, situated in the administrative County of South Dublin. The name is also used in relation to the area's religious parishes.
Clondalkin is home to an eighth-century round tower that acts as a focal point for the area. Acknowledged as one of the oldest and best preserved[2] in the country (despite numerous storms and an explosion which destroyed the local mill in 1856),[citation needed] it is 25.6 metres high and has its original conical cap.[2]
[edit] History Clondalkin is believed to have been founded by Saint Mochua as a monastic settlement on the River Camac over 1,400 years ago; the round tower was built around a century later (circa 600 AD) as part of the monastery. By the eighth century, Saint Fugillus was Bishop of Clondalkin and noted gospel manuscripts were produced - the most famous of these being the Clondalkin mass book which is on display in Karlsruhe Liburg, Germany.[citation needed] Clondalkin was sacked by Vikings from Denmark in 832 AD, and the monastery was burned to the ground. One of the early Norse kings of Dublin, Amlaíb Conung, built a fortress on the site in the middle of the 9th century. In 867 a force led by Cennétig mac Gaíthéne, king of Loígis, burned the fortress at Clondalkin and killed 100 of Amlaíb's followers. The district remained under Danish control until the Viking defeat by Brian Boru at the famous Battle of Clontarf in 1014. Clondalkin witnessed another historic event during the Norman invasion in 1171 when there was a battle there between Richard de Clare (Strongbow) and the last High King of Ireland Ruairi O Conchúir. Centuries later, Clondalkin was the scene for some of the fighting in the 1641 Rebellion, when the Gaelic Irish in Ulster, and later in the rest of the kingdom, and the Old English in the Pale of Leinster rebelled against rule from Westminster.[3][4] (Ireland had its own parliament at this time, but it was severely limited in its powers, e.g. by Poynings' Law.) The rebels had taken hold of the town, but it was quickly seized and burned by English soldiers, who then massacred the civilian population.[citation needed] [edit] TodayModern Clondalkin is a busy satellite town of Dublin, with a population of 43,929 in 2006. There are three Irish-speaking schools in the area, Tesco Ireland and Dunnes Stores shopping centres, and Aldi and Lidl stores on the Fonthill Road and New Nangor Road respectively. The village is a base for small businesses including solicitors, restaurants, pubs, hairdressers, pharmacies and others. Clondalkin has a branch of South Dublin Library in a building which used to house a Carnegie library.[5] It also has a post office. [edit] TransportClondalkin is served by public transport to Dublin city centre, to nearby suburbs, and to neighbouring towns. Dublin Bus provide bus routes including the 51b, 51c, 68, 69, 76, 78a and 151. Many of these run from areas near Clondalkin, such as Rathcoole, into the city centre via Clondalkin. Some services, such as the 210, do not service the city centre. The Luas Red Line runs from the Red Cow Roundabout park and ride station providing links to the town square in Tallaght and Dublin City Centre. However, the Luas station is approximately half an hour's walk from Clondalkin village. Clondalkin railway station opened on 4 August 1846 and was closed for goods traffic on 9 June 1947.[6] Commuter trains are operated by Iarnród Éireann (Irish Rail) and run between Heuston station in Dublin and Kildare Town in County Kildare.[7] A new station, to replace rather than supplement the previous station, has been built at Fonthill, north of Bawnogue.[8] Bus Éireann services stop to collect and set down passengers at Newlands Cross, on the N7 road near Clondalkin. These services have destinations all over the west and south of the country; services to the north do not pass Newlands Cross. Clondalkin is on the preferred route for the proposed Dublin Metro West line, as of the announcement of the preferred route in 2007.[9] The Metro is intended to provide a transport link from Dublin city centre to Dublin Airport which will not have to go through street traffic. It is proposed that the Metro will have stations near Luas and train stations in some cases, including at Clondalkin train station. [edit] RepresentationClondalkin is in the Dublin Mid West Dáil Éireann constituency, and mostly in the Clondalkin Local Electoral Area for county council elections (with Rathcoole, Newcastle and Saggart), with parts in the Tallaght Central Local Electoral Area. [edit] MediaThe area is served by two local newspapers, the Clondalkin Echo and Clondalkin Gazette. The latter is published by Gazette Group Newspapers (part-owned by the Irish Times), and was launched in October 2005.[10] [edit] SportThe town's oldest sports club is the Round Towers GAA Club, which was founded in December 1884 and is located on Convent Road. Club members have represented Dublin in inter-county competition since the nineteenth century, when Tom Errity won All-Ireland Senior Football medals in 1892, 1894, 1898, 1899 and 1902. Rugby union is played at Clondalkin Rugby Club, Kingswood,[11] who were winners of the 2006 Spencer Cup and 2006 Under-18 Premier League. The club was formed in 1974 and fields three senior teams and under 20s, 18s, 16s, 14s, 12s, and 8s. The town's two main association football teams are Moyle Park Past Pupils FC,[12] and Neilstown Rangers (past winners of the FAI Junior Cup), with Booth Road Celtic[13] emerging in the Sruleen community. In basketball, Clondalkin Lakers has teams playing in Division 1 and 3 of the Dublin Men Basketball League, and is based in Clondalkin Sports and Leisure Complex. Leinster Lions basketball team is located in Moyle Park College and Colaiste Bride (U18s boys only). The National Baseball Facility in Ireland, O'Malley Field, is located in Corkagh Demesne Park, in southwest Clondalkin. This is the home of the Irish national baseball team.[14] Bernard Dunne the current WBA Super Bantamweight World Champion is from Neilstown in Clondalkin. Kenny Egan, winner of a silver medal for boxing in the 2008 Olympics, comes from Clondalkin, originally Neilstown too.[15] There are also a large number of Majorettes groups operating in the area, mainly over the bridge which is often forgotten about in texts written about clondalkin. It is probobly the biggest sport amongst girls in the area, with four large groups, all consisting of girls from under 4 to over 21, all teams being front runners in the Irish majorette association with literally hundreds of members. These teams often win overall group and individual prizes. It is a well adored past time in the area. [edit] EducationClondalkin has a number of schools from many different denominations, including St. Joseph's Boys National School, Scoil Ide, Scoil Aine, St John's, Scoil Mhuire, Moyle Park College, Colaiste Bride and three Irish-language schools, Colaiste Chillian, Gaelscoil Chluain Dolcáin, and Gaelscoil na Camóige. [edit] Local organisationsCommunity organisations include a unit of Toastmasters International,[16] an Order of Malta branch and several youth groups - including Clondalkin Youth Theatre (associated with the Irish National Association for Youth Drama). The town is also home to St Joseph's Pipe band (established in 1937). The Clondalkin Youth Band was founded in 1986. A marching band, CYB participates in marching, concert and field-show championships, and is consistently ranked among the top bands in Ireland. In 2009, the band won the All-Ireland concert band championships in Cork. The band has numerous European gold medals under its belt, and in 2005 they gained a World Silver Standard Award at the WMC, Kerkrade. Then, at the WMC 2009, the band picked up a gold standard award, and finished 7th out of 20 bands in their category, ranking them the highest out of the Irish bands to participate in the competition. Áras Chrónáin, which promotes Irish language and culture (e.g. music and dancing), operates in the village. [edit] See also[edit] References
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