Newtownmountkennedy

Newtownmountkennedy Baile an Chinnéidigh
—  Town  —
Coillte HQ in Newtownmountkennedy
Newtownmountkennedy Location in Ireland
Coordinates: 53°05′24″N 6°06′37″W / 53.090107°N 6.110287°W / 53.090107; -6.110287Coordinates: 53°05′24″N 6°06′37″W / 53.090107°N 6.110287°W / 53.090107; -6.110287
Country	Ireland
Province	Leinster
County	County Wicklow
Population (2006)
- Urban	2,548
Time zone	WET (UTC+0)
- Summer (DST)	IST (WEST) (UTC-1)
Irish Grid Reference	O262062

Newtownmountkennedy (Irish: Baile an Chinnéidigh, meaning "Kennedy's town") is a village in County Wicklow, Ireland. It developed within the historic townland of Ballygarny (Irish: Baile Ó gCearnaigh).^[1] It is just off the N11 road to Wexford, just south of Kilpedder and south-west of Greystones. It is about 14 km (8.7 mi) north of Wicklow Town approximately 30 km (19 mi) from Dublin. The R772 regional road passes through the village. This was the main Dublin-Wexford route, the N11, but the village was bypassed by the new N11 dual carriageway in 1990.

The area is currently expanding rapidly and is a dormitory town for many workers commuting to Dublin and Bray.

The headquarters of Coillte, the Irish Forestry Board, are situated in the village forest. Newtown is in the Roman Catholic parish of Kilquade and one of the Kilquade parish's two chapels of ease is located in the village at the junction with the Roundwood Road.

National School

Newtownmountkennedy primary school is located just north of the village. It was formerly split into three buildings, one for male students, and one for female students, while the third building was reserved for the Centre for Autism. The boys' school was known as St Joseph's, while the girls' was known as St Bridget's. In 2007, the two schools were merged, leaving the lower classes (Junior infants, Senior infants, First class and Second class) in the former girls' school, while the remaining classes (Third class, Fourth class, Fifth class and Sixth class) took residence in the former boys' school. The autism centre stayed in the third building. The name given to the new school is Newtownmountkennedy National School.

Sports

Newtown has a very proud and strong tradition of Gaelic Games. The Gaelic Athletic Association club of Newtown, known in Irish as Báile úi gCearnaigh, is one of the oldest clubs in the country, being founded in 1887. The club currently has two adult teams, one contesting the Senior League and Championship, one contesting the Junior A League and Championship.

There are also numerous underage teams, ranging from Minor (U-18) down to "Super Sevens" (U-8 and younger).

The club has numerous county championships to its name, but the most prestigious being the County Senior Championship, won on two occasions by Newtown. One in 1964, the other in 1975.

Newtown GAA Club^[2] plays in the colours Black and White, leading to some fans to dub them "The Magpies", a name of which they are rightly proud having been called so for generations.

Development

The Parkview Hotel opened in the village centre in March 2007. The hotel has 60 bedrooms and conference facilities.^[3]

Ecologic received planning permission to build a data centre in Newtownmountkennedy which was to have had an area of 1.1 million square feet (100,000 square metres). ^[4] This plan has been rejected by An Bord Pleanála. ^[5]

References

1. ^ Placenames Database of Ireland
2. ^ http://www.newtowngaa.ie
3. ^ Parkview Hotel
4. ^ http://renewabledatacentres.com/index.html
5. ^ http://www.wicklownews.net/index.php/2011/03/planners-reject-1800-job-data-centre-proposal/