Old Kilcullen Heritage Trail in Part 8 process

Plans for a proposed Old Kilcullen Heritage Trail are now on view at  Kilcullen Community Library and Kildare County Council's offices, writes Brian Byrne. They will be available until Friday, 7 November, and can also be accessed online. 

The trail will consist of signage, new traffic calming measures, car parking, pedestrian and cycle traffic on the Hacklow Road, landscaping and biodiversity improvements. The Heritage Trail project has been led by the Old Kilcullen Area Community Association since 2020. At the end of 2021, OKACA received a feasibility and design grant of €45,000 from the Outdoor Recreation Infrastructure Fund administered by the Department of Rural & Community Development, following an application through KCC.

The Council commissioned Athy-based Hayes Ryan Landscape Architects to prepare a study for a proposed trail, which would have viewing points to the ancient medieval Royal Site of Knockaulin (Dun Ailinne), The Curragh, The Hill of Allen, The Dublin and Wicklow Mountains and Mount Leinster, as well as links to the historic features within the area of Old Kilcullen. The plan also provided for the potential to extend links along back roads to Yellow Bog and The Curragh.

A presentation of the study in March 2023, hosted by the KCC Parks Department in Halverstown School, attracted a strong level of interest.

Kildare County Council says the proposal has been screened under Planning and Development and environmental legislation and has been judged not to affect European sites or the local environment significantly.

Any person may seek a screening determination from An Coimisiún Pleanála on the proposal within four weeks of the plan's publication.

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