Straffan
Straffan (variously Teach Srafáin, Strafáin or An Cluanini in Irish) is a village in County Kildare, Ireland, situated on the banks of the River Liffey, 25 km upstream of the Irish capital Dublin. As of the 2016 census, the village had a population of 853, a nearly two-fold increase (from 439) since the 2006 census. Straffan is the name of the surrounding electoral division which is within the Celbridge Number 1 Rural Area, and which (as of 2006) had a population of 1,449. At one time a separate parish, it is today joined to the parishes of Celbridge (in the Roman Catholic structure) and Celbridge and Newcastle (Church of Ireland), in the respective Dublin dioceses. Straffan is home to the Kildare Country Club, commonly known as the K Club, and its two championship golf courses, which have staged major international events such as the European Open (hosted annually there between 1995 and 2007), and the Ryder Cup tournament between Europe and the US in 2006. Contemporary village The contemporary village is concentrated around two crossroads on which are situated a Roman Catholic church and Church of Ireland respectively. Development evolved through the building of estate houses (1880), land commission cottages (1922–39), the Murray local council cottages (1949), and eight estates around the village, Lodge Park (1970), Coarse Moor (1976), The Glebe (1985), Bawnogues (1996), The Beeches (2006), Straffan Gate (2006), Barton Grange (2007) and Straffan Manor (2014). This is set to increase in pace in the coming years when large housing estates are developed on two allotments to the north of the village. Four developments also took place on the grounds of the K Club in the 2000–04 period, Ryder Cup Village, the Courtyard, Churchfields and Ladycastle. A planning application has been lodged with Kildare County Council (2007) to develop a separate town to the south west at Turnings. Location Straffan is situated at a particularly low lying point in the Liffey valley and is surrounded by flood meadows along the Liffey and River Morell. Agriculture is important to the local economy. Since the 18th century Straffan farmers have been prominent improving agriculturalists and prominent in the prize lists at events run by the Royal Dublin Society. The research station for the Agriculture department of University College Dublin is situated at nearby Lyons Hill. As with the rest of County Kildare, racehorse breeding and training is a prominent local activity. In the 1920s Straffan Station stud was the leading horse breeding stud in the country when owned by Edward "Cub" Kennedy. Etymology The village is named for St. Srafán, whose feast day in the Martyrology of Tallaght was 23 May. Straffan was also one of 300 Irish locations accorded its own place-legend in Dinnshenchas Érenn (Metrical (ed. Edward Gwynn 1924) iv, pp 328–331). It consisted of a poem called "Lumman Tige Srafain", about a warrior named Lumann who possessed a wonderful shield and who, according to the poem, died of his wounds at Tech Srafáin. Two forms of the name