Leighlinbridge

Infobox Irish Place
name = Leighlinbridge
gaeilge = Leithghlinn an Droichid
crest

motto =
map

pin coords = left: 47px; top: 62px
north coord = 52.7364 | west coord = 6.9725 | irish grid = S694654
area = | elevation = 41 m
province = Leinster
county = County Carlow
population = | town pop = 646 | rural pop = 1,316
census yr = 2002
web = |

Leighlinbridge (Irish place name|Leithghlinn an Droichid|Bridge of the Half-Glen) is a village on the River Barrow in County Carlow, Ireland. The N9 National primary route once passed through the village which was by-passed in the 1980s. It now lies on the R705 regional road.

It features narrow winding streets, grey limestone malthouses and castle ruins overlooking a 14th century bridge across the River Barrow, reputedly one of the oldest functioning bridges in Europe. Leighlinbridge has won many environmental awards, including county winner in the National Tidy Towns Competition, first in the Barrow Awards, overall national winner in Ireland's Green Town 2000 and represented Ireland in the European "Entente Florale" competition in 2001.cite web | title=Leighlinbridge | work=Carlow Tourism | url=http://www.carlowtourism.com/ententeleighlin.html | accessdate=2007-12-10]

Places of interest

*Leighlinbridge Castle, also called Black Castle, was one of Ireland’s earliest Norman castles. A 50ft tall broken castle tower and bawn wall are all that can be seen today.cite web | title=Leighlinbridge Castle | work=An Ireland Attraction | url=anirelandattraction.com/ireland-attractions/leighlinbridge-castle.htm | accessdate=2007-12-10]
*Below the castle lies the ruin of the first Carmelite priory in Ireland which was built by the Norman, Carew in 1270.
*At the northern entrance to the village is a sculpture by Michael Warren, depicting the thrones of the ancient seat of the Kings of South Leinster at Dinn Righ (The hill of the Kings). The Kings of Leinster lived near the village.

Leighlinbridge Meteorite

On the night of 28 November 1999, a brilliant exploding fireball was observed over Carlow town, which lasted for several seconds before fading and was accompanied by a loud detonation. An elderly lady in Leighlinbridge recovered a fusion crusted individual meteoritic rock on 12 December 1999, and later two more specimens were found. It is now officially called the Leighlinbridge Meteorite by the International Meteorite Nomenclature Committee. [cite web | title=Leighlinbridge | work=Fernlea Meteorites UK | url=http://fernlea.tripod.com/leighlinbridge.html | accessdate=2007-12-10] The meteorites, totalling 220 grams in weight, were at the time the first recovered in Ireland since 1865 and are the first fallen rocks found anywhere in the Ireland since 1991. [cite web | author=Damian Carrington | title=Woman finds space fireball debris | date=2000-01-31 |work=BBC News | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/622499.stm | accessdate=2007-12-10]

Education

*The local school is called [http://www.leighlin.net Leighlinbridge National School] or in Irish, "Scoil Naomh Laisrian".

People

*Cardinal Patrick Francis Moran, third Archbishop of Sydney, was born in Leighlinbridge in 1830.
*John Tyndall, prominent 19th century physicist, was born in Main Street, Leighlinbridge in 1820.
*Myles Keogh, who became an American Civil War military officer and later a U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment memberduring the Indian Wars, was killed at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876. He was born in Orchard, Leighlinbridge in 1840.
*The family of Brian Mulroney, former Prime Minister of Canada, was originally from Leighlinbridge, and he visited the village during his premiership.

ee also

*List of towns and villages in Ireland

References

External links

* [http://www.leighlin.net Official website of Leighlinbridge]
* [http://www.leighlinbridge.ie www.leighlinbridge.ie]