NEWBRIDGE

Samuel Lewis

A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland

1837

NEWBRIDGE, a market and post-town, in the parish of GREAT CONNELL, barony of CONNELL, county of KILDARE, and province of LEINSTER, 5 ¼ miles (S. W. by W.) from Naas, and 21 (S. W.) from Dublin; containing 577 inhabitants. This place is of very recent origin, and appears to have arisen since the erection of extensive barracks for cavalry, in 1816, on the property of Thomas Eyre Powell, Esq. It is situated on the river Liffey, over which there is a handsome stone bridge of five arches, but so narrow that two carriages cannot drive abreast on it, from which it derives its name, and on the mail coach road from Dublin to Limerick.

The town at present consists only of one street, on the western bank of the river; but it is yet in its infancy, and there is every prospect of its increase. The barracks are spacious and handsome, consisting of two parallel ranges of building, connected by a central range at right angles; and are capable of accommodating two regiments, with apartments for their officers, and an hospital for 100 patients. A patent has been obtained for two free markets, which are held on Tuesday and Friday in every week, and for two fairs, on the 3rd of May and 15th of August. Here are also a constabulary police station, a dispensary, and a R. C. chapel, with a friary.

Search Topographical Dictionary of Ireland »

Featured Books

An American widow’s account of her travels in Ireland in 1844–45 on the eve of the Great Famine:

Ireland’s Welcome to the Stranger

Sailing from New York, she set out to determine the condition of the Irish poor and discover why so many were emigrating to her home country.

Mrs Nicholson’s recollections of her tour among the peasantry are still revealing and gripping today.

The author returned to Ireland in 1847–49 to help with famine relief and recorded those experiences in the rather harrowing: Annals of the Famine in Ireland.

See more of our books »

The Ocean Plague: or, A Voyage to Quebec in an Irish Emigrant Vessel is based upon the diary of Robert Whyte who, in 1847, crossed the Atlantic from Dublin to Quebec in an Irish emigrant ship. His account of the journey provides invaluable eyewitness testimony to the trauma and tragedy that many emigrants had to face en route to their new lives in Canada and America. The book is also available in Kindle.

The Irish in America by John F. Maguire provides a substantial and invaluable account of the extreme difficulties faced by pioneer Irish immigrants in North America during the 19th Century. The book is also available in Kindle.

The Scotch-Irish in America tells the story of how the hardy breed of men and women, who in America came to be known as the ‘Scotch-Irish’, was forged in the north of Ireland during the seventeenth century. It relates the circumstances under which the great exodus to the New World began, the trials and tribulations faced by these tough American pioneers and the enduring influence they came to exert on the politics, education and religion of the country.

Show fewer titles