Best known for its university campus, the town of Maynooth has plenty to recommend it as a place to put down roots. The wide, tree-lined Main Street was designed as the approach to Carton House and the town has so far avoided the suburban sprawl of most satellite towns within commuting distance of the capital. Like any of the planned towns around historic demesnes, Maynooth has a neat, ordered look and is surrounded by beautiful places to walk. A booklet on six historic walks around the town is coming out in time for summer visitors.
One of the best things about Maynooth is its superb accessibility. A car journey to O'Connell Street takes about 40 minutes outside rush times. Go by train and you're in the city in half an hour and the city bus service extends as far as Maynooth. Work is under way to upgrade the railway line and station. Yet it's still very much a country town, albeit with an attractive academic atmosphere. Children can go from creche to post-graduate level without moving out of the town.
At any time of the day or night in term time, students crowd the numerous cafes and pubs, spilling out on to the pavement and into the parks when the sun shines. During term time, Maynooth's population of close to 6,000 doubles. The students are an important source of income for the town and, perhaps as a gesture of the town's debt to the university, the college spire was illuminated in December 1999 as Maynooth's Millennium project. Because NUI Maynooth is widely regarded as a semi-rural university, there is little trouble on or off the campus. The strong Student Union works hard to persuade members to adopt the town as a second home. Many come back after graduation and buy their first house in the area. Rental income potential attracts a constant stream of investors - with the university, Hewlett-Packard and Intel creating huge demand for rental properties, houses sell swiftly regardless of condition.
There is a traditional flurry of activity at the end of May every year, when student houses on estates near the campus are tidied up and either sold or relet to summer workers at Hewlett-Packard and Intel. Five students paying £40 each per week is the average return on a three-bedroom semi costing around £130,000.
With all this activity, small wonder that the expansion of Maynooth is eagerly awaited by anyone connected with property in the town. Residents' anxiety that this should be phased in gradually is also to be expected, given the special nature of the town and its historic background. Town plans put forward in the past have been rejected after protests from concern groups about the effect of large-scale expansion the community.
A revised development plan is due later this year and the Maynooth Action Strategy committee is hoping their submission will be taken into account. Their key proposal is that development should be phased in over five years and that new roads and open green areas be taken in charge. According to one of Maynooth's most active residents, Paul Croghan, it is an ongoing source of discontent that roads and public spaces are not regularly maintained by the County Council.
The Community Council, which is also very active in the town, is worried about "huge chunks" of the town coming on the market, with no area plan to regulate their use. The Council are involved with every aspect of local life in Maynooth. New Chairperson John Doogan is raising money for one of the town's sports successes, teenager Emma Kilduff. Emma plays soccer at international level and has just been offered a scholarship to Troy State University in Alabama. Maynooth Town soccer club has 17 teams, there is an equally vibrant GAA club, but as yet no permanent soccer pitch and no youth centre, says the Community Council.
The college and the Carton estate once provided employment for most of the town. Men and children worked on the farm and women washed the clothes of clerical students, drying them on the bushes of the Kilcock Road. The mill was another source of employment and women worked at home repairing damaged sacks.
The town was probably settled quite early, according to the recently published local history, Cannon Balls and Croziers by John Drennan. Maynooth was a natural gateway from Tara into Leinster during cattle raids and its importance was enhanced by being on one of the five roads to Tara. The Geraldine castle ruin still stands, although the Fitzgerald dynasty moved to Carton when the castle was destroyed in 1647. There are plans to renovate the castle as a tourist attraction.
Carton's present layout dates from 1815 when the third Duke of Leinster renovated the house. Now owned by the Mallaghan family, the house and 1,070-acre estate is to be a luxury country club in direct competition with the K Club. US-based Starwood, one of the largest resort operators in the world with 650 hotels in 70 countries, is developing Carton in conjunction with the Mallaghans.
A five-star hotel will be built out of sight of the historic house, which will be refurbished and converted into 12 suites. Two 18-hole golf courses are to be designed by international golfing stars Colm Montgomery and Mark O'Meara. There is planning permission for 150 houses among the woodlands of the estate. Starwood is also involved in the hotel being built on a triangular site bounded by College Green, Westmoreland Street and Fleet Street in Dublin.
Also generating interest around town is the conversion of the Kavanagh's Mill site to a hotel and apartment complex. Once this spate of commercial development gets under way, houses will be in even keener demand. First-time buyers who want to get in now will find relatively cheap three-bedroom semis on "student" estates close to the NUIM campus.
There is plenty to buy, although property is fast to sell, according to local estate agents. Coonan is selling a three-bedroom semi on Meadowbrook Avenue, asking in the region of £130,000. This is a "student house" and is being sold with the contents. Coonan also has a three-bed dormer bungalow on Beaufield Close for excess £130,000 and a three-bed detached bungalow on Rail Park, asking £135,000.
O'Sullivan's is asking £125,000 (but will probably get more) for a three-bedroom semi on Beaufield. They also have a three-bed semi on Newtown Court for excess £120,000. The Gerald Brady agency is selling a College Green three-bedroom semi for £130,000.
More expensive houses are located off Moyglare and Rathcoffey Roads and off Main Street on Leinster Park. The latter is the most sought-after road in town, with substantial bungalows always attracting interest. On the market with Gerard Brady is a four-bedroom Leinster Park bungalow to be auctioned on May 17th, guiding £320,000. The same agent is selling a three-bed bungalow at Moyglare Village for £139,000 and a three to four-bedroom semi at Parklands for £165,000.
Parklands is one of the most popular estates, close to the town centre. Matt Bruton is selling a three/four bedroom semi here for £164,950 and a semi bungalow on Moyglare Village for £139,950. The same agency has a four-bedroom terraced house at Leinster Cottages off Dublin Road, asking £159,950. Castle Dawson is one of the more recent estates - new houses tend to be pricier, because of their en suite bathrooms and fashionable kitchens.
Matt Bruton has a Castle Dawson fourbedroom bungalow on his books for £205,000 and Gerard Brady is selling three four-bedroom detached houses for £199,950.
By far the most seductive properties in town are the pretty artisan cottages behind the Main Street. Some of these have been rented for years and are not in the pink of condition. They still command huge prices, however, because of their potential use as shops or offices. O'Sullivan & Co has a three-bedroom terraced house for sale on Double Lane, asking £160,000. The house is "almost derelict" but has planning for two two-bedroom apartments.
Apartments - not much in evidence at present but this will undoubtedly change when the town expands. Harbour View behind the new Glenroyal Hotel is one of the most popular and Charter House is the least expensive. Prices are £100,000 or less for a one-bedroom and up to £125,000 for a two-bed unit.
People who grow up in Maynooth tend to stay. Patsy Tracey, who helps to run the Citizens' Information Centre, is the third generation of the family living in the Greenfield Estate. His grandparents were from Greenfield, he grew up there and Patsy and his wife, Johanna, bought a house on the same estate. Now one of their daughters has built a house in Greenfield. "People don't move far here. It's in the country, yet close to the city and the students have brought a great buzz to the town," he said.
