Kildaretown

Kildare (town), a town of Co. Kildare, 30 miles S.W. of Dublin. The original bishopric is said to have been instituted in the time of St. Bridget, who founded a monastery and nunnery here in the 6th century. The Protestant see is now merged in that of Dublin, whilst Kildare and Leighlin together form a single Roman Catholic diocese. "St. Bridget's Fire," after being kept alight for several centuries without intermission, was finally extinguished in the reign of Henry VIII. A portion of the abbey church or cathedral has recently been restored. In the churchyard there is a fine round tower (103 feet), with a modern superstructure, consisting of an embattled parapet.