NEWBRIDGE GARDA DISTRICT

NEWBRIDGE GARDA DISTRICT

Leinster Leader, November 16th 1929

All the Curragh Camp is at present in the Garda district of Newbridge. Until the close of the war there were two additional barrack for the constabulary-one at Lumville and another at Brownstown.while a Petty Sessions Court was held weekly at Lumville near the residence of Major Thackeray, R.M. There was also in the present Garda area in Newbridge in pre-war days a Constabulary station at Milltown, and at Barrettstown for a considerable time. All these districts are now in the Newbridge Garda area. When passing along the Curragh I frequently wonder when was the old Stone Barracks (Constabulary) situated midway between Newbridge and Kildare dismantled. The barracks were first established owing to the number of footpads which at one time infested the Curragh plain for many decades before the first sod of the great Camp was turned. In some old publications we find that when the old coaches were travelling from the South towards Dublin in the good old days of our grandfathers they usually spent the night at Kildare fearing an attack by footpads while crossing over the Curragh plain. There was rarely an attack during the day time and again all who remained over at Kildare generally travelled together at the same time with the result that they went safely on their way.

An article from the Leinster Leader of 16 November 1929 on the Curragh Camp being situated in the new Garda district of Newbridge