Fight for Castletown: ‘The community spirit out here, it’s just incredible’

On Thursday afternoon, Ross Kelly is taking a moment at the Celbridge Gate entrance to Castletown House and Parklands, in Celbridge, Co Kildare.

“Well done,” a woman says, passing by Kelly on her way into the estate.

Kelly, dressed casually in a T-shirt and Levi’s, thanks her. “It’s not over yet, it’s not done yet. But we’re making progress.”

Over the past week, Kelly – who has lived in Celbridge since 2012 – inadvertently became the spokesperson for Save Castletown, a campaign sparked by a disagreement over access to the estate, and subsequent actions taken by the Office of Public Works (OPW).

After the OPW – which maintains and operates the publicly owned part of the historic demesne – was unable to reach an agreement with private landowners for the provision of vehicular access and use of a car park off the M4 motorway, the authority moved to install new parking facilities.

Killross Properties, along with another Kildare-based developer, purchased a large parcel of land – which includes the main vehicular access route to the estate and a 200-space car park – immediately adjacent to the Castletown House estate earlier this year. The State did bid for the parcel of land but ultimately failed to purchase the site.

From Monday, residents of Celbridge and other towns in north Kildare and west Dublin gathered at various entrances to the estate, carrying hand-painted “Save Castletown” placards and protesting the OPW’s plans to build the “temporary” car park on a green area within the estate.

Residents quickly voiced concern over the impact that a new car park would have on rich biodiversity at Castletown and on existing traffic issues in the town of Celbridge. The protests received considerable attention and were covered by the national media.

On Wednesday night, after what Rosemary Collier, the assistant secretary general and head of heritage at the OPW, described as “robust and positive engagement” with the local community, the plan for the new car park was dropped.

[ ‘Emotions are high’: Kildare locals concerned over development of lands at Castletown House ]

Initially, Rosie McGuire was relieved when she heard the news. “I’m delighted because this has already been tarmacked, so at least there’s not going to be a destruction of nature,” she says, walking up the main avenue of the estate on Thursday afternoon, towering lime trees on either side.

McGuire has recently moved to Celbridge. Having Castletown on her doorstep was a deciding factor in moving here, she says.

Kelly says: “I haven’t seen Ireland to be a place that’s very concerned about environmentalism and biodiversity, compared to other countries. But the groundswell of passion around the topic as part of this campaign has been really inspiring.”

“The community spirit out here, it’s just incredible.”

For Kelly – and other locals – the fight for Castletown has reached a critical juncture. Securing the future of the entire demesne – in all its historic and ecological importance – is the goal.

“All that’s been achieved so far is just that they’ve agreed not to build a car park. But this was never about a car park. This is about uniting a 500-year-old demesne … that’s what people want to happen here,” Kelly says, walking through a secluded area of the estate.

The OPW said on Wednesday evening that it is receiving legal advice regarding the possibility of securing a compulsory purchase order on the privately held lands connected to the demesne. The authority noted that the CPO process is “legally complex” and can take “a considerable amount of time”.

There are more immediate issues also at play at Castletown.

Instead of building a new car park, the OPW will now temporarily facilitate a small amount of parking spaces at the front of the estate’s Palladian mansion, with vehicular access reverted through the Celbridge Gate entrance – the entrance previously reserved for pedestrians.

“That’s not a good long-term solution,” says Kelly. “Nobody thinks that this is a great permanent solution.”

Locals say that reverting vehicles through the pedestrian entrance may have implications for traffic issues in Celbridge and for those on foot moving through the park.

In addition to this, the loss of access to the larger, existing car park close to the M4 gate has had a negative impact on community groups who regularly use the amenity.

Castletown Parkrun has cancelled its weekly event this Saturday because of the loss of access. The social run is on hold until further notice.

“I think it’s very disappointing, and it impacts a lot of people in terms of the locality – the parkrun is part of their weekly routine,” says Paul Burke, who volunteers at the popular event.

Quick access to the M4 was important on health and safety grounds, Burke explains. “We want to run the parkrun on a safe basis … if there’s an incident and we need ambulance access. That was the beauty of the prior access, you have that access on the motorway.”

Paul Bennett (67) and his wife Lesley Thomson (64) moved to Celbridge eight years ago. Paul has taken part in the event more than 200 times and they say it helped them to integrate in local community.

“It would be a massive, massive blow [to lose it],” says Paul.