natural environment reflects the predominance of well-established enclosed agricultural land. The ruins of Calverstown Castle (an early 17th-century manor house incorporating an earlier tower house) are located to the south of the village in the demesne of the later (18th century) Calverstown House. Battles at Ballyshannon and Kilrush Two battles were fought nearby. In 738 at the Battle of Uchbad (Ballyshannon, Grid reference N78830), Aed Allin defeated the Laigin and established Kildare’s hegemony over the kingship of Leinster that would last nearly 300 years. In 1642, James Butler, Earl of Ormond defeated his second cousin Richard Butler, Lord Mountgarrett, on the high grounds of Kilrush and Bullhill, a victory was considered so important that the English House of Commons voted him £500 for the purchase of a jewel, and petitioned the King to create him a Knight of the Garter. The site has since then been known as Battlemount (Grid reference S 77276). Guillaume le Maréchal (or William Marshall), Earl of Pembroke and son-in-law of Strongbow, founded an Augustinian Abbey in Kilrush at the start of the thirteenth century which subsisted until the Suppression of the Monasteries in the 1540s. Birth of motor racing On Thursday, 2 July 1903 the Gordon Bennett Cup started at the Ballyshannon crossroads from the centre of Calverstown. It was the first international motor race to be held in Great Britain. The Automobile Club of Great Britain and Ireland wanted the race to be hosted in the British Isles, and Ireland was suggested as the venue because racing was illegal on British public roads. After some lobbying, several local laws were adjusted and Kildare was chosen as the location – at least partly because the straightness of the roads was seen as a safety benefit. As a compliment to Ireland, the British team chose to race in Shamrock green which thus became known as British racing green. The route consisted of several loops of a circuit that passed through Kilcullen, Kildare, Monasterevin, Stradbally, Athy, Castledermot, and Carlow. The race started at the Ballyshannon cross-roads () near Calverstown on the contemporary N78. The race was ultimately won by the Belgian racer Camille Jenatzy, driving a Mercedes. Notable people Veronica Burns (1914 – 1998), was an Irish museum curator, born in Calverstown Robert Dixon (1685-1732), was an Irish barrister, judge and politician Ruby Walsh, a national hunt jockey, lives in Calverstown with his family. See also List