KILCULLEN, OLD and NEW, 7 m. S.E. of Kildare, with round tower, and remains of monastic buildings; bridge over the Liffey. At Castle Martin, curious Chapel and Mausoleum. Kilgowan, near it, has an ancient stone pillar on a hill. At New Abbey, see the ruins and monuments of the Eustace family. At Old Kilcullen examine the shaft of an antique Cross covered with rude sculptures, of which a good plate is given in Ledwich's Antiquities. The style is grotesque, and evidently Danish. Some of the figures are intended to represent priests engaged in religious offices; but the others are mere caricatures. KILDARE is the county town, about 28 m. from the metropolis.--The Abbey is a very fine ruin, consisting of part of the tower and a considerable portion of the walls, containing six Gothic arches and as many buttresses, but entirely modernized. It is said that the ruinous state of the steeple is in consequence of the siege during the civil war, when its north side was knocked down by a Cromwellian battery. The south wing is a mass of ruins, but the antiquary may still notice two statues in alto relievo; one of which is the representation clad in armour of an ancient knight of the Fitzgerald family, surrounded by heraldic escutcheons; the other a bishop with his pastoral staff, and his mitre supported by monkeys. Close to the ruins is a Round Tower 132 feet in height, with a light battlement in pretty good preservation, being one of the best specimens in the island. The monastic annals of this town present the extraordinary instance of a _Sacred Fire_ having been preserved from the time of the Druids by Christian nuns of St. Bridget; a lady much celebrated for her virtues and her miracles. The place where this relic of heathen superstition was preserved, is still in existence, and now called the Fire-house. Of this fire many wonderful tales are related, especially that although it consumed great quantities of fuel, yet the ashes never increased. It was considered impious to blow the fire with the human breath, but only by a pair of bellows; yet people of plain sense might suppose that a holy miraculous flame would never require human assistance in any shape. It appears indeed that in the 13th century the Archbishop of Dublin performed a miracle in putting out this fire; but it was rekindled and continued in good preservation until the dissolution of the religious houses. The town stands pleasantly on the side of a hill; and the ancient Castle is partly habitable. The Curragh is a fine unequal down of short pasture, famous for its races; and contains 3000 acres; with remains of ancient Barrows or small Raths, which Sir R. C. Hoare supposes to be Druidical. The hill of Allen gives name to an extensive bog, and is celebrated for its cave where repose the remains of Oscar and other Ossianic chiefs, this being the hill of Temora in ancient times. Dunmurry presents great variety to the mineralogist.