Maynooth (Maigh Nuad)

A university town home to Ireland's national seminary and a Norman castle.

Maynooth grew around the great Fitzgerald castle and, since 1795, St Patrick's College, Ireland's national seminary, which now stands beside Maynooth University. Its tree-lined main street and college squares give it a distinctive campus air.

At a glance

• St Patrick's College, founded 1795
• Ruins of the Fitzgerald castle
• A busy university town

In County Kildare

Maynooth is in County Kildare, Cill Dara in Irish, which means “church of the oak”.

More in Kildare

• The Hill of Allen (Almhain): A lone hill rising from the Bog of Allen. In legend it was the seat of the warrior Fionn mac Cumhaill.
• The Curragh (An Currach): A great open plain of grassland, the historic home of Irish horse racing.

Other places of this kind

• The Cliffs of Moher (Aillte an Mhothair): Sea cliffs located at the southwestern edge of the Burren region.
• Newgrange (Sí an Bhrú): A prehistoric monument in County Meath, older than Stonehenge and the Pyramids.
• The Giant's Causeway (Clochán an Aifir): Around 40,000 interlocking basalt columns on the Antrim coast, a UNESCO site wrapped in the legend of Finn McCool.
• Glendalough (Gleann Dá Loch): A beautiful glacial valley of two lakes, home to one of Ireland's most important early monastic settlements.
• The Rock of Cashel (Carraig Phádraig): A dramatic outcrop crowned with medieval buildings, once the seat of the kings of Munster.
• Clonmacnoise (Cluain Mhic Nóis): A great early monastery on the banks of the Shannon, once a renowned centre of learning.

The Irish name

The Irish form of Maynooth is Maigh Nuad. You can hear it spoken, and take apart names like it, in the Placename Explorer. The authoritative record for any Irish place-name is logainm.ie.