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The Dublin to Kinnegad Turnpike Road

In the 18^th and 19^th centuries

Published in the Liffey Champion, 26^th of October 2024

Throughout the ages, different routes have been taken by travellers on their journey across the country from Dublin to the west of Ireland. All the routes, including present day transport networks, extend across north Kildare.

The earliest known road was the Slígh Mór which dates back to the early Christian period. It extended from Dublin Bay to Celbridge, passing through Donadea and Timahoe, before continuing westward to the famous monastic site of Clonmacnoise. In the 12^th century, the course had altered slightly, aligning more closely with the route of the modern N4, which roughly follows the Meath – Kildare county boundary.

The Normans, who built the first inland towns, improved the route to the west. This route connected a line of towns extending from Dublin to Galway. Today’s three principal transport routes to Connacht, the Royal Canal, the Sligo railway line and the M4 motorway are built close to the original line of this ancient route.

Traces of the Norman-era roads survive, mainly on sections of the roads leading in and out of many of the north Kildare towns including Leixlip, Maynooth and Kilcock. A good example is in an area south of Cloncurry Cross where a feature known as a ‘hollow way’ still exists. Hollow ways were roads running through medieval settlements and were formed when accumulated mud was removed causing the level of the road to be lowered.

The original road to the west was very rough with some sections originating as winding cattle paths, which were unsuitable for use by coaches. Many of the bridges on the road were timber constructions and occasionally rivers had to be crossed by fords.

One of the earliest recorded accounts of a passenger service on the route across north Kildare dates from 1718 when a horse drawn coach service commenced operations between Dublin and Kinnegad. Recognising the need for better infrastructure, it was decided in the early 1700s to upgrade the main roads. The solution involved financing road construction and maintenance through a toll system, leading to the establishment of turnpike roads. An Act of Parliament in 1731 provided for a turnpike road covering 37.5 Irish miles from Dublin to Kinnegad. This new road replaced the older road and bypassed hollow ways and low-lying areas.

The new road was originally known as the Great Connaught [Connacht] road. A section of the road, now Connaught St in Kilcock, still bears the ancient name. The construction of the Royal Canal in 1795 necessitated the rerouting of turnpike road traffic from Connaught St onto a new parallel road north of the canal.

The new turnpike road enabled the establishment of several stagecoach services along the route. George Pakenham, who travelled on the Kinnegad – Dublin road in 1737, declared;

it’s the finest I have ever saw, the new turnpike roads run in direct lines, are never bad and continues for more than a hundred miles.

Despite the improvements, travel was still slow, and it was usually a day’s journey for passengers to travel from Dublin to Kinnegad.

Eventually, more regular services were introduced, with a twice-weekly service from Dublin to Kinnegad being advertised for 5s. 5d. which specified a 20 lbs baggage weight limit. In 1738, a service to Athlone was launched, with the route becoming twice-weekly by 1750. Stagecoach services were also extended to Mullingar in 1747. All these services departed from various Dublin inns, usually in the Smithfield area.

During the 1740s, passenger costs increased. Between 1744 and 1747, the fares on the Kinnegad Stagecoach had increased from 5s. 5d. to 6s. 6d. with the rate to Mullingar costing 8s 1d.

The toll charge was paid by the coach operators. At Cloncurry turnpike the charge was six and a half pennies while locals using the road were issued with free tickets.

Despite being newly constructed, some sections of the turnpike road were prone to challenging conditions. Bishop Synge, who made a journey from Dublin to Kinnegad in May 1752, described the road from Dublin to Kilcock as wet, but between there and Clonard as it had not rained the previous day it was noticeably dusty. The road leading out of Kilcock, extending west, was known until the late 19^th century as Boherboy, the anglicised form of An Bóthar Buí (the yellow road). The Irish name for Enfield is An Bóthar Buí. Both placenames are derived from the yellow mud that formed on the turnpike road created by the rotating wheels of the stagecoach mixing rain, mud and gravel and dust that formed on the surface of the road.

Transport on the road improved when a new mail coach service was introduced in 1789. Although it was specifically designed to deliver mail, passengers were taken on at a premium fare. The service was faster than previous stagecoach traffic and had a right of free passage through the turnpikes. It was also safer as an armed guard was seated outside at the rear of the coach.

The numbers on board a coach varied with as many as twelve individuals accommodated. While four would sit comfortably inside, occasionally six were permitted. On the outside the driver was positioned in front and a guard at the rear with additional seating provided usually for six outside passengers.

Despite the construction of the Royal Canal which provided additional passenger services from Kilcock to Dublin in 1796, and Enfield two years later, the much faster coach traffic service on the main roads was not seriously affected.

By the early 1800s, an improved and faster service with reduced fares had developed. In 1816, two new coach services were introduced between Dublin and Kilcock. Both coaches departed at 7am, one leaving from Kilcock and the other from Dublin, allowing passengers to travel back and forth more regularly and comfortably.

Timetables and fares for the various towns and villages on the route to Dublin were regularly published in various newspapers.

From the 1760s, mileposts were erected on every mile of turnpike roads. They marked the exact distance from Dublin Castle in Irish miles which is equivalent to 1.27 statute measurement. Coach fares were calculated according to mileage, usually, ‘one penny ha’penny’ per mile. Two milestones are still in place on the Dublin to Kinnegad road.

The eighth milestone at Cooldrinagh, on the Dublin side of Leixlip, has “eight” inscribed on the side facing the road, indicating the number of miles from Dublin. “Maynooth four” is inscribed on the left side indicating the mileage to Maynooth.

The fifteenth is in Kilcock. Similar to the other milestone, the side facing the road has “Dublin fifteen” inscribed, indicating the distance from Dublin. On the right side, “Maynooth three” is marked with “Innfield five” marked on the left side, indicating the distance to the respective locations. Clearly, Innfield was the common name used for Enfield when the milestone was erected.

Toll houses were built at turnpike gates and were occasionally sited so that the toll keeper could have a clear view of both directions. One of the largest to operate on the Great Connaught road was built in 1754 at Leixlip, adjacent to the Liffey bridge and still survives. A second surviving toll house is located at Clonard close to the Boyne Bridge.

Many of the coaching inns which functioned as staging posts also survive. They served the needs of travellers and horses alike.

At Lucan, the original Spa Hotel, now known as the County Bar, was the first staging post after Dublin where horses were changed.

While the Salmon Leap Inn on the approach to Leixlip dates from the turnpike period, it seems transit coaches mainly used the King’s Head Inn on the Main Street in Leixlip. This establishment was described in 1736 as being a large commodious well-built house, with convenient stabling. During the 1750s, it was publicised as an alternative to the Spa Hotel, offering a first staging post after leaving Dublin.

Kilcock at this period also had two inns: the Westmeath Arms and the King’s Arms. It was noted as a very big transit and relay station for the postal service and offered stabling for forty horses in the 1760s and 1770s. The King’s Arms Inn, built in the late 1780s, even provided entertainment for the customers. A French traveller staying in the inn in 1791 stated that;

in the evening it is crammed with friends of the proprietor enjoying a party atmosphere dancing to music of a violin and bagpipes.

The Nineteen Mile House Inn, was located where Enfield is today. The village was originally known as New Inn, then by the 1820s, the name had changed to Innfield and later still Enfield. The local Chinese Restaurant marks the site of the Nineteen Mile House, which was described in 1791 as ‘a fine isolated hotel with a frontage of seven windows’. By 1829, it had been replaced by a new and more spacious inn with extensive stabling on the opposite side of the road.

As coaches improved in the 1770s due to the fitting of steel springs, allowing for longer travel intervals between stops, Maynooth become an alternative first staging post. The inn in the town, known as the Kildare Arms, was situated on the north side of the Main Street, but was demolished when the street was redesigned in the mid 18^th century. The new inn, which was first mentioned in 1777, was built on the opposite side of the street. It was a substantial complex operating as an upmarket establishment. Today, three buildings mark the site – Ivy House, the Bank of Ireland and the Leinster Arms. The latter, which gave its name to the new hotel, was originally referred to as the duke of Leinster’s ballroom. The Inn and the ballroom were two separate buildings each distinguished by entrance porches projecting beyond the street line.

Richard Vousden was the initial proprietor and he guaranteed customers,

good four post beds and bedding, constantly well aired, as well as the best wines and the best meats the markets can afford.

He also operated a second inn on the road to the west at New Inn, now Enfield. It had stables, with the possibility of chaises and horses for hire for which he charged thirteen pence per mile for the post chaise with two horses, and nineteen and a half pence with four horses. By 1797, the stabling at the inn in Maynooth had expanded and is recorded as having provision for over 100 horses.

In 1785, one well-known couple in history, Theobald Wolfe Tone and his wife Matilda, spent their honeymoon in the inn in Maynooth. The couple eloped on the 21^st of July 1785 when Matilda was sixteen years old, and the story is best described by an entry in Wolfe Tone’s diary as follows;

…she accepted the proposal of marriage as I made it, and one beautiful morning in the month of July, we ran off together and were married. I carried her out of town to Maynooth for a few days.

Today, the N4 follows much of the original Great Connaught road, continuing a route that has been in use for over 300 years. Only limited alterations have taken place, which is a positive legacy left by the original planners.

Sources

1. Faulkner’s Journal, 27 Feb; 29 Nov. 1777
2. Dublin to Mullingar Turnpike Commissioners/Trustees minute books, 1792–1933
3. Freeman’s Journal, 16 July 1816
4. Watson’s Gentleman’s and Citizens’ Almanack for 1747
5. Síle Ní Chinnéide, ‘An 18th-century French traveller’ in Journal of the Kildare Archaeological Society [JKAS], Vol. XV, No 4 (1974–5), pp 382–6
6. John Colgan, ‘Documents and Sources: Abstracts from Dublin to Mullingar Turnpike Commissioners/Trustees minute books,’ in JKAS, Vol. XVIII Part 2 (1994–95), pp 225–246
7. David Broderick, The First Toll-Roads: Ireland’s Turnpike Roads, 1729–1858 (Cork, 2002), pp. 27–28; 37–38, 58–59, 252
8. Hermann Geissel, Road on the Long Ridge: In search of the Ancient Highway on the Esker Riada (Newbridge, 2006), pp 8–10
9. seamuscullen.net/wolfetone.html

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