Baile Átha Í

Baile Átha Í—'town of Ae's ford'—takes its name from a 2nd-century Celtic chieftain, Ae (or Aedh, meaning 'fire'), who was killed at a river crossing over the Barrow. The town developed from a 12th-century Anglo-Norman settlement into a major stronghold of the FitzGerald earls of Kildare, who dominated the region for centuries. The Dominican Priory was founded in 1253 by the Boiseles and Hogans...