Kildare County Archives & Local Studies

21/08/2026

St. Mary’s Church, Maynooth open during Heritage Week

20/08/2026

Latest publication from a member of the County Archives & Local Studies team, James Durney, has just been released. Congratulations to James. Kildare Library Service

☀ OUT NOW - Boyhood's Fire: Na Fianna Éireann at War, 1916–1986

Historian James Durney delivers a compelling new history of Na Fianna Éireann, the youth wing of the Irish Volunteers, revealing how Ireland’s youngest revolutionaries shaped key events from the Easter Rising to the Troubles.

Available now in all good bookshops & online 📖

20/08/2026

To mark Heritage Week 2026 and its theme of Heritage at Risk, Kildare County Archives is pleased to make a collection of images of World War I gravestones and memorials located in County Kildare available online. The collection can be viewed at https://kildarecoco.ie/library/KildareCountyArchivesandLocalStudies/Archives/Collections/Photographs/WorldWarI/Gallery/ .en.169885

Between 2016-2020 the County Kildare Decade of Commemorations Committee commissioned photographer, Seán Sourke, Naas, Co. Kildare, to locate and photograph the World War I graves and memorials as a permanent memorial of the war dead in the county. County Kildare was an important centre of the British Army in Ireland, with barracks at Naas, Newbridge, Kildare Town and the Curragh Camp and its presence in the county for many generations ensured that enlistment in the county was above average.

The collection contains the graves of those who died in the county, as well as some of those who died serving overseas but who were commemorated on family gravestones, plaques or other memorials locally. The graves of soldiers who died while serving in the Curragh Camp and buried in the Curragh Military Cemetery from 1914-1918 are also included. This cemetery, located on the eastern side of the Curragh Military Camp contain over 100 Commonwealth service burials dating mostly from World War I up until the site was last used in 1922. Also included is the memorial in remembrance of those from Athy and environs which was unveiled in the Old St. Michael's Cemetery on 11 November 2018 to mark the centenary of the end of the Great War. Some of the images in this collection were used in the County Kildare Decade of Commemorations publication, Remembrance, The World War I Dead of Co. Kildare (2021). Kildare Library Service

19/08/2026

Congratulations to Kildare Heritage Officer, Dara Wyer and all the team involved in producing the Kildare Heritage Plan 2026-2031 Heritage Week The Heritage Council

18/08/2026

Guided walking tours in Kildare town as part of Heritage Week

Our Guided Walking Tours of Ancient Kildare continue tommorrow at 11.30am as part of Heritage week. Meet at Heritage Centre.
Check out the amazing range of events happening on www.heritageweek.ie

18/08/2026

Really looking forward to seeing the finished film. Kildare Library Service

As a video production company, we love helping organisations bring important stories to life through film. 🎥

We’re currently producing a new short documentary for Kildare County Council on the historic Kildare figure Mary Leadbetter, filmed on location in Ballitore, County Kildare.

The film stars Mary Lenihan as Mary Leadbetter, with script and consultancy by John McKenna and project lead Mario Corrigan from Kildare County Council.

Filmed, directed and to be edited by Frame It Productions, with support from Kildare County Council Library Services.

A great example of how video can be used to capture local history, heritage and stories for new audiences.

16/08/2026

This Wednesday the Joe Connelly Lecture takes place as part of Heritage Week in Kildare Education Centre at 8pm. All details below.

Murder on Chapel Hill
Mario Corrigan

The Joe Connelly Lecture
Cill Dara Historical Society
Heritage Week 2026

Wednesday 19 August
8 pm
Kildare Education Support Centre

Come early for a chat and a cuppa
We are there from 7.15

If anyone has any information or stories please contact Mario Kildare Town Footprints or directly via [email protected]

County Kildare Heritage Office
Kildare County Archives & Local Studies
Together, Kildare Will be Better
Kildare Town Projects Group

15/08/2026

Next Saturday a guided walk in Rathangan exploring Bruce Springsteen’s Kildare ancestry with Creative Rathangan - Meitheal