St David’s Castle secured for Naas public
Naas Castle has been sold and secured for the people of Naas
EXACTLY two years to the day since the private owner of St David’s Castle in Naas said: “make me an offer”, an alliance of Kildare County Council and the Department of the Environment has done so, thus securing the most important piece of Naas history for public ownership.
This was confirmed by the Mayor of Naas Cllr Seamie Moore this week (21 August) after a communique from the Council’s Public Realm team.
“Is it true?” The Kildare Nationalist asked.
“Yes! It is,” said a delighted Cllr Moore.
“A deal has been agreed, and it’s just going through the process of the legal documents,” he said.
“The deal has been done, and it’s just tidying at this time.
“I suppose we’re lucky the Council chose Naas to focus its Urban Regeneration Policy on, and the Government agreed,” he noted.
Kildare County Council later confirmed this deal.
“Kildare County Council can confirm that an agreement has been reached with the owner of St. David's Castle to purchase the Castle and grounds,” said a spokesperson for the Naas Public Realm Team.
“The conveyancing process is currently underway and will take some time to complete”.
Appropriately, as it is the Department of Heritage, Local Government and Environment, so all three branches have a stake in this timely acquisition.
It is not known what price has been agreed upon, but the Council did refuse to pay a reputed €750,000 to the family of its last fulltime resident the former County Surgeon Dr Jack Gibson in 2005, while at a January 2021 Naas MD meeting a fantastic figure of €20m for the Castle and its 1.2Ha (3ac) site was bandied about.
However, with the Department’s Urban Regeneration Grant (URG) for the Castle Quarter being €4.5m, it is believed the purchase price would be well south of that.
“I would be interested in hearing the figure, but I believe there has been a substantial grant given by the Government for renovations over the last two years, and I would expect that to have been taken into consideration with the price,” said Cllr Moore.
Believed to be over 800 years old, the Castle fell into a state of near dereliction since the death of Dr Gibson, and there have been many attempts in the interim to get it into public ownership as the centrepiece for the Castle Quarter.
The Castle, along with St David's Church and the North Moat are the earliest surviving elements of the built heritage of the ancient town of Naas.
It is reputed that King John, heir to Henry 2nd visited the Castle on two occasions in the 12th century following the arrival of Normans from Pembrokeshire, hence it occasionally being known as John’s Castle.
Present owner Kevin Phelan, who took control of the 1.2Ha (3ac) site in January 2021, got his highly specialised permission to renovate in March 2022.
By August 2023 “the roof is completely done, the floors are in, and when the windows go I it will be completely sealed” he said in a conversation with the Kildare Nationalist “Because it is a National Monument I’m restricted with what I can do, but next thing in will be the windows,” he said.
“To be fair I didn’t know it was a National Monument when I bought it, I took it on as a project when my wife died,” he admitted.
“I should’ve read the contract better, but then even my solicitor missed that,” he said.
“Every penny I’ve spent here has been documented, and I won’t make any profit,” he predicted.
“I haven’t applied for anything on the site…we haven’t even put in first fixings…I just want to get the Castle fixed,” said Mr Phelan in 2023.
“Naas Town is at a tipping point. We need to secure the jewel in the crown, and that opportunity exists now, so I am asking Kildare County Council to initiate consultation with the people of Naas Town with a view of bringing the Castle back into public ownership and productive use,” said then Cllr Bob Quinn, who presciently raised the point at the August MD meeting two years ago this week.
This week Cllr Moore wanted to note the central Council officials in the Naas Public Realm Team Eoghan Ryan and Pamela Pender “who kept it quietly ongoing for the last two years.” “This is a good news story,” he added.
Having hosted the author of the Magna Carta, and interred kings of Leinster and Munster in its grounds, St David’s - the last of eight castles in Naas mentioned in the Civil Survey of 1654 - has witnessed an awful lot of Ireland in its eight centuries of existence, and will now, hopefully, witness a few more.
