A visit to Kinnegad, Co. Westmeath in 2019

A slideshow of photos I took during my first visit to Kinnegad in County Westmeath on Monday 9th September 2019.

Kinnegad (Irish: Cionn Átha Gad, meaning "‘the head of the ford of withes") is a town in County Westmeath It is on the border with County Meath and next to the junction of the M6 and the M4 motorways - two of Ireland's main east-west roads. It is roughly 60 km from the capital, Dublin. Kinnegad had a population of 2,745 in the 2016 Census.

During the first decade of the 21st century, there was considerable construction in Kinnegad, which included a shopping centre, housing estates and a 48-room hotel, which stands on the site of a former pub, "Harry's of Kinnegad". Tesco Ireland opened a new supermarket in the town in late 2010. The new ”Kinnegad Plaza“ opened in 2019.

Church of the Assumption is the Roman Catholic Church in Kinnegad. The foundation stone was laid 5th August 1906 by Dr Gaughran, Bishop of Meath. It was dedicated 24th September 1909. Thomas Francis McNamara designed this church and it was built by James Wynne of Dundalk. Kinnegad is a Parish in the Diocese of Meath.

The town has a large national school, Saint Etchen's Kinnegad N.S. The school consists of two separate buildings, Scoil Etchen Naofa (built in 1984) and the Cardinal Glennon building (built in 2008). Renovation was necessary due to an increase in population. The school now caters for up to 560 young people each day.

There is currently no secondary school in Kinnegad despite the town's population growth.

The main sports team in the town is the Coralstown/Kinnegad Gaelic Football Club, which has teams for both male and female players aged from under eight through to senior level. The colours of the team are red shirts and socks, and white shorts. The clubhouse has four dressing rooms, toilets and a gym. The team has three football pitches.

The town also has an association football club, Kinnegad Juniors Athletic Football Club . Kinnegad Juniors play at Lagan Park on the Killucan Road, Kinnegad. The club caters for all children from the ages of 6 years old up to 18 years old and also boasts a senior men's team.

Housing estates in Kinnegad include Heathfield, Heathfield Close, Riverside, Riverside lawns, Manorfield, Tircroghan, Cluain Craoibh, St. Etchens Court, The Hawthorns, and Bun Daire, New Park Court.

Kinnegad is primarily a commuter town, serving Dublin via the N4 and the M4 motorway. Citylink and Bus Eireann both serve Kinnegad towards Dublin for the large number of commuters as well as private company Kearns. There is no railway station in the town; it was served by the station at Hill of Down (which was originally called Kinnegad and Ballivor) until its closure in 1962. There are plans to reopen the rail link, but this is unlikely before extra capacity is available on the line.

The main N4 Dublin-Sligo road used to go through Kinnegad and met the N6 to Galway in Kinnegad. The first bypass of Kinnegad was a 1.2km relief road of which the N6 to Galway bypassed Kinnegad Town Centre. The M4 Kilcock-Enfield-Kinnegad fully bypassed Kinnegad when it opened in December 2005 and the M6 Kinnegad-Tyrellspass part of the M6 to Galway opened in December 2006.