Lucan Village

Lucan became a famous health resort before 1758 when an iron spa was discovered at Chapel Hill.

To this well , every Sunday in summer, thousands made their way by coach, on horseback and on foot, to test the theraputic qualities of this spring. It appeared to be most effective in the cure of eczema, other skin diseases and rheumatism. In frosty or damp weather, it could be smelled quite a distance away, and was referred to as ” egg-water ” because of its strong smell.

However, it gradually became abandoned by the multitude for a more modern spring, discovered in 1758, on the banks of the Liffey near the present Spa Hotel. Upto a few years ago it was possible to get water from the Old Spa. Eventually it had to yield to vandals who persisted in damaging and breaking the pump. It was during the tenure of the Right Hon. Agmondisham Vesey at Lucan that the sulphur well was discovered. It was first noticed when a whitish discharge to the river Liffey was observed in 1758. The discharge was traced back to a spring, which on analysis proved to be a sulphurous spa.

In 1795, the old hotel (now the County Bar) was built . The Crescent was also built to house around this time to house all the holidaymakers who came to the Lucan Spa, which rivalled those at Tunbridge Wells and Leamington.However, its popularity was soon to decline. The hotel was used as a school for clergymen’s sons and as an asylum.

At the end of the 19th century, with the coming of the trams, the Spa at Lucan was to regain its former importance and surpass it. This spa remained very popular well into the 1900s, but with the coming of motor cars and motor cycles, people were soon looking further afield for a Sunday’s entertainment and Lucan Spa was once again forgotten. Unlike the manor of lucan, The Spa House was washed away in a flood in December 1954. Today one can see the site of the spa by entering the demesne at the Celbridge junction entrance.