Report Summary

County Kildare is a place with a subtle but distinctive landscape compared to parts of western Ireland or adjoining Wicklow for example. The bedrock foundation, with hundreds of millions of years in the formation and shaping, and the more recent history of geomorphological processes such as river  channels and glaciers are what has created that underlying geodiversity. Geological understanding and interpretation is best done on the ground at sites where the rocks and landforms are displayed. County Kildare has a range of such natural and man-made sites.

This report documents what are currently understood to be the most important geological sites within Kildare by the Irish Geological Heritage Programme of the Geological Survey of Ireland. It proposes them as County Geological Sites, for inclusion within the Kildare County Development Plan. County Geological Sites do not receive statutory protection like Natural Heritage Areas (NHA) but receive an effective protection from their inclusion in the planning system. However, a selection of the sites described in this report are considered to be of national importance as best representative examples of particular geological formations or features. They either have been, or will be, formally proposed by the Geological Survey of Ireland, for designation as NHAs by the National Parks and Wildlife Service after due survey and consultation with landowners. However, some of these sites fall within existing NHAs and SACs where the ecological interest is founded upon the underlying geodiversity. The commission of this report, and adoption of the sites within the County Development Plan places Kildare at the forefront of geological conservation in Ireland.

The report also documents a wide variety of geological data sources providing information about Kildare. It has a simple geological history of the county, with maps, charts and a glossary that make the information accessible to those who have not had any formal geological training.