placenamesDonadea
Domhnach Dheá
Saint Peter’s, the roofless castle and a nineteenth-century avenue preserve different parts of Donadea’s estate landscape.
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
- Domhnach Dheá · Irish · main form · validated name
- Donadea · English · main form
Place & story
Saint Peter’s of 1813
Saint Peter’s was built in 1813 as the Donadea estate church. Its Gothic design includes a western entrance tower with a circular corner turret and battlemented parapets. Stone-mullioned windows light the nave, while the southern transept contains Aylmer family tombs. The church shares its grounds with Donadea Castle. [2]
The castle after occupation
An Taisce’s assessment describes the castle as a castellated Aylmer house of around 1773, with additions around 1827 attributed to Richard Morrison. It records the removal of the roof in the 1950s. In its 2019 review, the organisation identified structural problems in the surviving castle and entrance gateway and recommended conservation. [3]
An avenue into the estate
Coillte identifies the lime-tree avenue as the estate’s original entrance, planted in the nineteenth century. The forest park also preserves the walled gardens, ice house and boat house. These structures recall the practical organisation of the former Aylmer home, whose family occupation continued until 1935. [4]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Kildare
- Barony
- Ikeathy and Oughterany
- Civil parish
- Donadea
- Within
- Donadea
- Coordinates
- 53.34956, -6.73847 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 1412373 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Donadea. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Saint Peter’s Church, Donadea — NIAH 11900905 · National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
- Donadea Castle and Gate: buildings-at-risk assessment · An Taisce
- Donadea Forest Park · Coillte
- Donadea Castle ruins illustration: based on a Castles of Leinster: Donadea, Kildare (1) by Mike Searle. 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 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.