placenamesKildare
Cill Dara
Lewis describes visitors drawn to the Curragh races alongside a town serving its surrounding district.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- Cill Dara · Irish · main form · non-validated name
- Kildare · English · main form
Place & story
Visitors for the races
Kildare town drew large numbers of visitors during the Curragh race meetings, according to Samuel Lewis in 1837. He recorded meetings in April, June and October, and a jockey-club house in the town for members attending the races. George IV had attended a meeting in 1821. These details place the town within the social and commercial life of the racing district. [2]
A market serving the neighbourhood
Lewis described Kildare’s trade as chiefly meeting local needs and reported no manufacturing in the town. A Thursday market and several annual fairs formed part of that economy. This description of the town’s trade does not measure employment across the whole civil parish. [2]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Civil parish
- County
- Kildare
- Barony
- Offaly East
- Barony
- Connell
- Coordinates
- 53.15838, -6.89433
- Mapped area
- 37.27 km²
- Logainm ID
- 1187 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Kildare. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Kildare town: A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837) · Samuel Lewis
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-08-27. How this page was prepared.