placenamesLeixlip
Léim an Bhradáin
Twentieth-century reporting and later conservation plans record efforts to recover historic places for community use.
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
- Léim an Bhradáin · Irish · main form
- Leixlip · English · main form
Place & story
A spa brought back into view
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 28 August 1975 documented the rediscovery and excavation of Leixlip’s spa remains. Mineral water had been diverted into part of the restored baths. The archive’s account connects the spring’s original discovery with Royal Canal construction in the 1790s, and records county architect Niall Meagher’s support for protecting the site as a public amenity. [2]
The buildings around the Wonderful Barn
The Wonderful Barn complex at Barnhall includes much more than its distinctive conical tower. Kildare County Council’s 2024 conservation proposals identify a house, two dovecotes, a walled garden and courtyards with stable buildings. The scheme treated these related structures as a group, linking repair of individual buildings with recovery of the historic working garden and landscape. [3]
Approval for a community role
The proposals envisaged community and cultural space in the barn, meeting rooms and a café in the stables, and renewed allotment facilities. Celbridge–Leixlip Municipal District members approved the scheme on 18 October 2024. That decision records an intended new chapter for the complex; approval alone does not establish that all the proposed work has been completed. [3] [4]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Leixlip. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Georgian Spa Experience1975: RTÉ News28August1975 · RTÉ Archives
- Wonderful Barn proposed redevelopment,8June2024 · Kildare County Council
- Wonderful Barn Part8 approval18October2024 · Kildare County Council
- The Wonderful Barn and associated courtyard buildings at Leixlip, County Kildare, as photographed in March 2011 illustration: based on a The Wonderful Barns by MBE21. AI-assisted watercolour and ink adaptation; cream paper margins added, incidental clutter omitted and fine details simplified. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2014-05-28. How this page was prepared.