Kilcock

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Kilcock
Cill Choca
Town
Kilcock is located in Ireland
Kilcock
Kilcock
Location in Ireland
Coordinates: Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Country Ireland
Province Leinster
County County Kildare
Population (2011)[1]
 • Town 6,893
 • Urban 6,568
 • Rural 465
Time zone WET (UTC+0)
 • Summer (DST) IST (WEST) (UTC-1)
Irish Grid Reference O003360
Website ourkilcock.ie

Kilcock or Killcock (from Irish Cill Choca, meaning "Coca's Church")[2] is a town and townland in the north of County Kildare, Ireland, on the border with County Meath. Kilcock is a dormitory town for many of those who work in Dublin. Its population of 5,533[1] makes it the ninth largest town in Kildare and 87th largest in Ireland.

Local industries include a large distribution centre( Musgraves) which supplies SuperValu and Centra stores across the country. The town lies on the Royal Canal. The town also has a Lidl store which opened on the 28th of February 2013.

History

Kilcock takes its name from the 6th century Saint Coca who founded a church beside the Rye River, and who is traditionally said to have been a sister of St. Kevin of Glendalough; by occupation she was an embroiderer of church vestments, including those for St. Colmcille. A holy well dedicated to Coca, formerly thought to be lost in the back-yards of Kilcock, is known locally to be in the area behind the Ulster Bank, and her feast is remembered on 6 June. However, this commemoration is a modern revival as when the Ordnance Survey of the area was being made in 1837 it was recorded that "there is no old church in ruins in this parish nor is any patron saint or day remembered ... the meaning of the name Cille Choc is not remembered." When the present parish church was dedicated in 1867 it was named for St. Coca, and it had cost £10,000 to build to the design of architect J.J. McCarthy.

In the 8th century there was a battle between rival kings near the church of St. Coca, then in the territory of Carbury and close to the border between Leinster and Meath. There is a gap of several hundred years until the next reference to Kilcock when, in 1303, it belonged to the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem at Kilmainham.

St Coca's Church is erected in her honour in the centre of town. A recently commissioned[by whom?] icon of Saint Coca can be viewed there.[3]

Transport

The railway arrived in Kilcock on 28 June 1847, but the station closed on 1 July 1848,[9] as it was sited on a 1 in 100 gradient, which the locomotives of the day found difficult to start off from. This site was slightly east of the current Kilcock station. A replacement station opened in 1850 west of the town, where the old N4 crosses the canal and railway, but closed in 1963. The current Kilcock railway station, under Shaw Bridge, opened in 1998. The M4 motorway opened in 1994 and bypasses Kilcock to the south of the town. The motorway connects Dublin to the west of the country. There is an NRA plan to create an outer orbital motorway, which would extend 80 km from Naas to Drogheda, via Kilcock.[10]

It is also the only place in Europe where a road, a canal (royal canal) and a railway and a river (the Rye river also known as The Rye water) run side-by-side. Bus Éireann has route 115 running from Dublin to Mullingar passing through Kilcock.

Education

Kilcock at present has three primary schools: Scoil Choca Naofa (an all-girls convent), St. Joseph's BNS (an all-boys school) and Gaelscoil Uí Riada (an all-Irish school). The latter recently was given a brand new location beside the Bánóg on the outskirts of the village.

Kilcock is also home to secondary school Scoil Dara.

Places of interest

The town's library features mementos of the poet Teresa Brayton who was born in Kilbrook. The Old Bog Road, 4.5 km west of the town, was the subject of her most successful verse. It was set to music by Madeline King O'Farrelly and recorded by Eileen Donaghy, Josef Locke, Johnny McEvoy, Hank Locklin, Finbar Furey, Anthony Kearns, Daniel O'Donnell, Finbar Wright and many other artists up to the present day.[11]

There is also the old manor where Lady Catherine McCormack was born in the 1800s.[12]

Also found locally in Mulhussey, Co Meath are "Bridestream" (an 18th-century house with rare-breed farm open to the public), and "Larchill, an 18th-century Ferme Ornée (Ornamental Farm) which is the only surviving complete garden of its type in Europe.[citation needed] Larchill was restored from the mid-1990s, and scenic walks through beech avenues link several classical and gothic follies. There is also a 8-acre (32,000 m2) lake with two island follies, a formal walled garden with shell-lined tower and a model gothic farmyard.

Kilcock Art Gallery was established in 1978 by Breda Smyth and opened by George Campbell, R.H.A..

Kilcock Canoe Polo Club (KCPC) occupies a site in the harbour at Kilcock on the Royal Canal with regular training sessions for boys and girls for canoe polo. This site is the only place in Ireland where there are two international sized pitches available for the sport, The European Canoe Polo Open Championship was held there in 2005 and the Irish Open in 2013

People

  • Ciarán Kilduff, footballer currently with St Patrick's Athletic
  • Brian Murray, an Donegal man who won an All-Ireland medal with the Donegal senior football team in 1992. Currently lives in Kilcock.
  • Paul Robinson, Irish Athlete and Olympic hopeful for 2016. Cousins also with Ciaran Kilduff
  • Davy Dalton, former Kildare Gaelic footballer, All Star in 1997.
  • Mick O'Brien, former Irish International footballer. Capped 14 times between the years 1921-27.

Community sport & Business

Kilcock Musical & Dramatic Society

K.M.D.S is an amateur musical society[13] affiliated to the Association of Irish Musical Societies (AIMS), in existence since 1970.

The society has produced many successful productions, both musical and non-musical over the past 40 years. They include Grease, The King and I, Oliver!, Finian's Rainbow, Godspell, My Fair Lady, Jesus Christ Superstar, Man of La Mancha, a multi award-winning Sweeney Todd, The Pirates of Penzance, Carousel, The Witches of Eastwick, Billy, Sweet Charity, Guys and Dolls and Zorba. They also have recently presented pantomime productions of Treasure Island, Aladdin, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Sinbad, Robin Hood, Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. Plays include Da, Juno and the Paycock, The Memory of Water, The Plough and the Stars, Allo, Allo, Dancing at Lughnasa, and The Beauty Queen of Leenane. The Society will present the musical Oklahoma! in April 2012.

Sport

GAA Kilcock GAA is situated in Branganstown Kilcock and plays an integral role in the town, and boasts a proud tradition. Kilcock GAA has won 5 Senior Championships.It was one of the first GAA clubs in Kildare and promotes the Gaelic culture in the community. It has had many distinguished members such as Larry McCormack, Davy Dalton Jnr. & Snr., and Fred and Paddy Gibbons who have all represented club and county with distinction. The club now boasts some of the finest facilities in the county and caters for over 60 different teams. Underage football has thrived in recent years with the u16 A championship being won in 2010 and the county Féile A being won in 2012.

Rugby North Kildare RFC is situated about 1.5 km from Kilcock on the Maynooth road, recently renovated and a regular host to major area finals (2006 Towns Cup Wicklow vs Tullamore attracted 3500+) and schools cup matches. North Kildare RFC boasts youth teams from Under 8's to under 18's, and field 3 men's senior teams. The 1st XV were promoted in 2006 to the Leinster League Div 2, after an extended period in division 3. Also in 2006, the 2nd XV won the Div 3 league undefeated and reached the semi finals of the 2nds towns cup. 2007-8 saw the 2nd XV reach the provincial towns cup final.

Kilcock's proximity to the canal makes it a prominent spot for canoeing. Kilcock Canoe Polo Club is a leading canoe polo club in Ireland.[citation needed] It recently celebrated 10 years of canoe polo in Kilcock.

Business

With easy access to the N4, Kilcock is emerging a business hub for north Kildare. The The Kilcock Business Association now has in excess of 50 members. The committee works on behalf of the businesses in the area to promote Kilcock as the place to shop locally and encourage people to employ local trades people. They also try to promote all businesses that are in the area.

Estates Kilcock have various estates the biggest being rye bridge with over 400 houses followed by chambers park which has 311 houses there are many more in kilcock.

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Placenames Database of Ireland
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Census for post 1821 figures.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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