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Leixlip (Irish: Léim an Bhradáin, meaning 'Salmon's leap') is a civil parish and a townland located in the north-eastern corner of County Kildare, Ireland. The civil parish is mainly in the ancient barony of Salt North with a small part in the neighbouring barony of Newcastle. It is centred on the town of Leixlip. In geology, the parish rests on a substratum of limestone, and contains chalybeate springs. It lies at the confluence of the River Liffey and the Rye Water.

History

According to Lewis' Topography of Ireland (1837), the parish contained 1624 inhabitants, of which 1159 were in the town and it comprised 7974 statute acres. The soil was recorded as "good" with a considerable portion of the land being "in pasture for fattening stock for the Dublin, Liverpool, and Bristol markets, and the remainder is under tillage". Lewis recorded that the living was a rectory and vicarage in the patronage of the Archbishop. The tithes of the parish amounted to £600. The glebe house was built in 1822 by a loan of £562 from the Board of First Fruits. The building stills stands and the National Register notes that:

"It is a fine and imposing house that, despite a subsequent change of ownership and use, retains most of its original form and character."

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The parish's eponymous "salmon leap" was a 5-metre waterfall on the Liffey, upstream from the village. In 1945, a hydroelectric dam was built on the site and its reservoir flooded the waterfall. The dam generates 4 Megawatts of electricity.

Ecclesiastical parishes

Like all civil parishes, this civil parish is derived from, and co-extensive with a pre-existing ecclesiastical parish of the same name, as used in the Church of Ireland. In the Archdiocese of Dublin, the parish is today united with Lucan in the "Leixlip Union of Parishes". St. Mary's church is located off the Main Street. The building - a listed national monument - was constructed between 1780 and 1820.

In the Catholic Church, the civil parish is divided between the ecclesiastical parishes of Leixlip and Confey in the Archdiocese of Dublin. The church building in Leixlip parish, "Our Lady's Nativity", is located on Pound Street, Old Hill. It was constructed between 1830 and 1840 and is named in honour of the Nativity of Our Lady. The church building in Confey parish, "St. Charles Borromeo", is located on "Captain's Hill". The parish was constituted in 1984 from Leixlip under the care of the Redemptorists and the church was named in honour of St. Charles Borromeo

Townlands

There are thirteen townlands in the parish. Six of these are located in the barony of Newcastle. While this barony is mostly situated in South Dublin, a small part north of the River Liffey lies in the modern county of Fingal. The remaining seven townlands are located in the barony of Salt North which is situated in County Kildare. For convenience, the table below groups the parish's townlands by barony. The barony also indicates the townlands' location in one of the modern local authority areas.

Note: There are three adjacent townlands of the same name - Saint Catherine's Park; two are located in Salt North (one in the parish of Leixlip and the other in the parish of Confey); the remaining townland is also in the parish of Leixlip but in the barony of Newcastle.

Features

The River Liffey, flowing from west to east, forms the southern boundary of the parish. From the north-western corner of the parish, the Rye Water flows in a south-easterly direction until its confluence with the Liffey at the western edge of the village's Main Street. Near Louisa Bridge railway station, the Rye Water receives water from the Leixlip Spa. It also receives an overflow from the Royal Canal. The Rye then flows under the canal, which is carried in the Leixlip aqueduct almost 100 feet (30m) above. The aqueduct, an earth embankment, took six years to construct in the 1790s. Before entering the village, in the 18th and 19th centuries the river powered some mills. In 1758, the site was used as a linen printing mill. Later it powered the Rye Vale Distillery which produced more than 20,000 gallons of whiskey in 1837.

Louisa Bridge is linked to a series of stations by the "Royal Canal Way" which is a 144-kilometre (89-mile) long-distance trail that follows the towpath of the canal from Ashtown, Dublin to Cloondara, County Longford. Two kilometres to the east of Louisa Bridge, the canal is crossed by Cope Bridge. In 1990, a new railway station - Leixlip Confey - was constructed here in the townland of Newtown.

In the most westerly townland of the parish - Collinstown - is found Deey Bridge and the 13th lock of the canal. Intel Ireland is located in a large industrial estate in the townland.

On a prominence above the Liffey / Rye confluence stands "Leixlip Castle", one of the oldest continuously inhabited castles in Ireland. It is downstream of the salmon leap waterfall, now flooded. The castle is currently the residence of members of the Guinness family.

References

From "List of Parishes of the Archdiocese of Dublin". Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin. Archdiocese of Dublin. Retrieved 13 December 2020.

1. Leixlip parish
2. Confey parish

From official parish websites

1. Church of Ireland - Leixlip Union of Parishes
2. Catholic Church - Leixlip parish
3. Catholic Church - Confey parish

From "Buildings of Ireland". Search Building & Garden Surveys. National Inventory of Architectural Heritage. Retrieved 13 December 2020.

1. Leixlip Glebe House (former), Pound Street, Leixlip - Register number 11804040
2. Saint Mary's Church, Main Street, Leixlip - Register number 11804017
3. Our Lady's Nativity Catholic Church, Pound Street, Old Hill, Leixlip - Register number 11804033

From "Placenames Database of Ireland". Logainm. Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. Retrieved 15 March 2020.

1. "Leixlip civil parish | logainm.ie". logainm.ie. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
2. "Allenswood | logainm.ie". logainm.ie. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
3. "Coldblow | logainm.ie". logainm.ie. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
4. "Laraghcon | logainm.ie". logainm.ie. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
5. "Pass-If-You-Can | logainm.ie". logainm.ie. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
6. "Saint Catherine's Park | logainm.ie". logainm.ie. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
7. "Westmanstown | logainm.ie". logainm.ie. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
8. "Barnhall | logainm.ie". logainm.ie. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
9. "Collinstown | logainm.ie". logainm.ie. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
10. "Easton | logainm.ie". logainm.ie. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
11. "Leixlip Demesne | logainm.ie". logainm.ie. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
12. "Leixlip | logainm.ie". logainm.ie. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
13. "Newtown | logainm.ie". logainm.ie. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
14. "Saint Catherine's Park | logainm.ie". logainm.ie. Retrieved 13 December 2020.

Other sources

1. "Leixlip civil parish, Kildare". www.johngrenham.com. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
2. "Leixlip & Guinness: The Brewing Legend Begins!" (PDF). www.intokildare.ie. Leixlip Town Council. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
3. "Liffey Stations – Power Stations – About ESB – Electricity Supply Board". Archived from the original on 14 May 2012. Retrieved 18 April 2012.
4. John Caillard Erck, The ecclesiastical register: containing the names of the dignitaries and parochial clergy of Ireland: as also of the parishes and their respective patrons and an account of monies granted for building churches and glebe-houses with ecclesiastical annals annexed to each diocese and appendixes: containing among other things several cases of quare impedit, (1927), page 113
5. Redemptorists in Ireland - Confey parish
6. Leixlip around 1798
7. The Royal Canal Route: Leixlip to Kilcock
8. Leixlip Chronology 1750-80
9. A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, 1837
10. "Royal Canal Way". IrishTrails. Irish Sports Council. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
11. Intel - location at Collinstown, Leixlip

• Civil parishes of County Kildare