The name of Naas has been recorded in three forms in
Irish: Nás na Ríogh, translating as 'Place of Assembly of the Kings'; An Nás, translating to 'the Place of Assembly'; and Nás Laighean, translating to 'Place of [9] assembly of the Leinster Men'.[10]
Irish mythology suggests that the name arose as the burial site of Nás (a wife of
Lugh of the
Tuatha De Danann).[11] It is also said to be where Lugh held his royal court.[12] Nás was said to have been buried on The Moat Hill (Dún Nás). The
Book of Leinster contains the
Dindsenchas (lore of places) of Naas with the following verses discussing where the name supposedly came from.:[13]
“(Nás)… claims of right the brow and the beauty of the spot, since she is gone, with the noise of combat, how should ye know at all the spot where she died?
“Nás took in hand a deed unwise: (truth and not folly) death o’erwhelmed her; ‘tis from her Nás was named, famous perpetually for stern law.
“Nás of the Leinstermen, bright with splendid bounty, ‘tis there the lady was buried; from her it is called with clear certitude: the lore of the ancient hides not this.”
In the Middle Ages, Naas became a
walledmarket town and was occasionally raided by the O'Byrne and O'Toole
clans from the nearby area which became
County Wicklow. To guard against this danger, town walls were built in around 1415. Naas features on the 1598 map by
Abraham Ortelius as Nosse.[14]
A mayor and council were selected by local merchants and landowners. Naas became known as the "
county town" of County Kildare because of its use as a place for trading, public meetings, local administration including law courts, racecourses and the army's
Devoy Barracks (closed 1998).[15][16] In the Middle Ages, before it settled permanently in Dublin, the
Parliament of Ireland occasionally met in Naas, as in 1441.[17]
Saint David's Castle, a 13th-century Norman castle, was first built c. 1210, although the present structure is a
fortified house of the 18th century.
On 3 March 1577, Lord
Rory O'More burnt Naas, to avenge his relatives who had been killed by English authorities.[18][19] Lord Deputy
Sir Henry Sidney wrote later the same month:
Rory Oge O'More and Cormock M'Cormock O'Conor have burnt the Naas. They ranne thorough the towne lyke hagges and furies of hell, with flakes of fier fastned on poles ends.[20]
One of the first battles of the
rebellion of 1798 took place in Naas on 24 May 1798. During the
Battle of Naas, a force of about 1,000 rebels were defeated in an unsuccessful attack on the town.
In 1898, the
Local Government Act established Naas Urban District Council (later called Naas Town Council). Naas Town Council was abolished in June 2014, when the
Local Government Reform Act 2014 dissolved town councils and designated
Kildare County Council as the administrative local authority for the entire county.[21]Naas Town Hall was commissioned as a gaol and completed in 1796.[22]
Amenities
Naas has a hospital
Naas General Hospital, Naas Racecourse, Mondello Park International Motor Racing Circuit, a library, the 200-seat
Moat Theatre, five-screen 3D Odeon cinema, RSA driving test centre, a tax office, a district court, local authority offices, five supermarkets, several pubs, and a number of schools, hotels and nightclubs.[23]
Economy
Local industrial enterprises include
Kerry Group's Global Technology and Innovation Centre,[24] and International Fund Services (a
State Street company).[25]
The town centre of Naas includes shops, restaurants, nightclubs, boutiques and shops. Other retail outlets have been developed in new retail parks and shopping centres on the outskirts of the town.
A shopping centre on Monread Road was completed in 2010 with Ireland's largest
Tesco Superstore as the anchor tenant. Other retail parks serve the town on both ends – northern and southern – with outlets such as
Harvey Norman,
PC World,
B&Q, Smyths Toys, and
Halfords.
The Naas/Sallins area is served by two
Aldi supermarkets, two
Lidl stores, two Supervalu supermarkets, a
Tesco Extra supermarket, a smaller Tesco Metro in the town centre, and (as of August 2019) a new
Dunnes Stores food hall.[26] Danish home retail group
JYSK, a competitor for Sweden's
IKEA, opened their first Irish store Newhall Retail Park in Naas during April 2019.[27] Several smaller foodstores are scattered around the town.
Aldi has a distribution centre in Jigginstown, Naas.
Religion
The town has two
Roman Catholic churches, one
Church of Ireland church, and one
Presbyterian church. The original parish church,
St David's Church, is Church of Ireland. The Roman Catholic parish church, the Church of Our Lady and St. David, dates from 1827.[28] The
Augustinian Friary was founded in the late 14th century.[29] In 1997, the second Catholic Church opened in Ballycane on the east side of town and is dedicated to the
Irish Martyrs.[30] Naas is part of the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin which is run by Bishop
Denis Nulty since August 4, 2013.[31]Naas Presbyterian Church was built in the Victorian period on the site of the old
tholsel.[32]Maudlin's Cemetery, a Church of Ireland graveyard near the town, is noted for its two Victorian-era
pyramids.[33]
Media
County Kildare's local radio station
Kfm 97.3FM – 97.6FM is based in Naas.[34]The Leinster Leader, a regional newspaper, and Kildare TV, a local station, are also based in the area.[35]
Transport
The nearby
N7 Naas Road connects Naas with Dublin and the
M50 motorway (Ireland). Additionally, the
M7 Motorway connects Naas with the South and South West.
Naas railway station, which opened on 22 June 1855, closed for passenger traffic on 27 January 1947 to be re-purposed for
goods trains. It reopened on 10 March 1947, but was closed 12 years later on 1 April 1959.[36] The
Sallins and Naas railway station, located in nearby Sallins, is used by residents of the Naas area who commute to Dublin.[citation needed]
The main bus transportation companies serving the area are
Go-Ahead Ireland,
JJ Kavanagh and Sons and Dublin Coach.[37][38][39] Naas's main bus routes include the Go-Ahead Ireland route 126 from Kildare to Dublin city centre (which passes through Naas),[40] a JJ Kavanagh route to Blanchardstown,[41] and Dublin Coach and JJ Kavanagh services to Dublin Airport.[42][43]
The N7 Naas Road was upgraded in 2006 to a six-lane carriageway with grade-separated interchanges. As of April 2021, Junction 9a of the M7, a new junction for
Clane, Millennium Park, and the
Sallins Bypass, has been completed and is now open for public use.[44]
(South Outer Ring) – Connects
Limerick Road at Primrose (West Naas) with
Blessington Road at Mountain View (East Naas)
(Millennium Blvd Ring Road) – Connects
Limerick Road at Newhall Interchange
M7 with Monread Road at Millennium Roundabout
Education
Naas has five secondary schools, St. Mary's College Naas, a girls' convent school, Meanscoil Iognáid Rís Nás na Riogh (
Naas CBS) for boys, Piper's Hill College (formerly St. Patrick's Community College), Naas Community College and Gaelcholáiste Chill Dara, a mixed Irish speaking Secondary School.[45] Naas has several primary schools, including the Convent of Mercy (a girls' school), St. Corban's Boys National School (a school for boys),[46]Scoil Bhríde, Ballycane, and St. David's (each mixed schools),[citation needed]Gaelsoil Nás na Ríogh (located at the Piper's Hill campus), Killashee National School and Naas Community National School is located at Craddockstown.[47]
Naas has a public library which is located in the canal harbour area.[48] With plans to move to the town centre.[49]
Sport and leisure
The
Moat Theatre is a 200-seat performance and visual arts centre in Naas, which hosts local and national stage productions, live music and other events.[citation needed]
Local
association football (soccer) clubs include Naas AFC Soccer Club,[51] Redwood Naas FC,[52] Monread FC Soccer Club,[53] and Naas United FC Soccer Club,[54] several of which play in the Kildare and District Football League.[55]
Other sports clubs include
Naas Rugby Club, Naas Hockey Club, Naas Cycling Club, Naas Panthers Gymnastics Academy,[56] Naas Lawn Tennis Club (with 11 courts)[57] and Naas Athletic Club on the Caragh Road.[58]
Naas Golf Club, one of three local golf clubs, is actually located in Sallins.
There are several equestrian facilities in the area, with
Naas Racecourse (about 1 km from the town centre),[59] and
Punchestown Racecourse (just to the south-west of the town at Eadestown). Osborne Stables is also based at Craddockstown, Naas. The annual Punchestown Race Festival is a major event for a full week in April. The
Oxegen music festival was held at Punchestown during the summer for a number of years but has not been rescheduled since it was cancelled in 2014.[60]
There are also a number of swimming pools and leisure centres in the area.[61]
^See also JJ Lee "On the accuracy of the Pre-famine Irish censuses Irish Population, Economy and Society edited by JM Goldstrom and LA Clarkson (1981) p54
^See also New Developments in Irish Population History, 1700–1850 by Joel Mokyr and Cormac O Grada in The Economic History Review, New Series, Vol. 37, No. 4 (Nov., 1984), pp. 473–488
^"Death of Sir John de Robeck". Co Kildare Online Electronic History Journal. Kildare Community Network.
Archived from the original on 2 December 2018. Retrieved 1 December 2018.