You may notice many hawthorn trees [whitethorn] in my photographs so I should mention that traditionally, no one cuts the lone hawthorn tree as this is the meeting places of the fairies. Through history many planned roads and pathways were re-routed to avoid cutting one down. Hawthorn is generally seen as a tree which brings good luck to the owner and prosperity to the land where it stands. My family always referred to them as May Bushes.
I actually went to the wrong location so did not manage to photograph the actual spa but I will visit again within a few days.
The waterfall was not very exciting exciting and as there had been a thunder storm just before I arrived the ground was very slippy and muddy in the immediate area.
The Leixlip Spa situated close to the Royal Canal, Ireland at Louisa Bridge was discovered in 1793 by a group of workmen excavating for the canal. William Conolly, who acquired Leixlip Castle in 1732, planned to develop the spa into a classical thermal spa, but to no avail.
The spa waters bubble from the ground at a constant 23.9 degrees Celsius (75 degrees F) and drain into the Rye River below. The spa was widely used over the years[when?] but since the 1960s it has fallen into disrepair. To preserve the spa, a committee was set up from members of Leixlip Town Council, Kildare County Council, An Taisce, Duchas and the Irish National History Museum.
In some of my posts I may have spelled Louisa incorrectly as Lousia.
There are not many bridges in Ireland named after women and to the best of my knowledge Louisa Bridge is the only canal bridge named after of woman. Louisa Connolly was the wife of Thomas Connolly of Castletown House and he was a Royal Canal Director.
The Spa Spring was unearthed by workmen digging the canal in 1793 and the company decided to route the warm spring to a shallow hexagonal shaped pond, and from here it flowed down the side of the valley to a romanesque bath.
The spa waters bubble from the ground at a constant 23.9 degrees Celsius (75 degrees F) and drain into the Rye River below.
I was under the impression that the Spa Spring and Roman Bath had been restored but as you can see from my photographs they are in poor condition.
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