Editing Celbridge (section)

===Celbridge Abbey===
[[Celbridge Abbey]] was the childhood (1688–1707) and later adult (1714–1723) home of [[Bartholomew Van Homrigh]]'s daughter [[Esther Vanhomrigh|Esther]] (1688–1723), the ill-starred lover of [[Jonathan Swift|Dean Swift]]. The poem in which Swift fictionalised her as "[[Vanessa (name)|Vanessa]]" "Cadenus and Vanessa" (1713) was written seven years before he visited her in Celbridge in 1720. A rock bower associated with the lovers is a 19th-century recreation. The current [[Celbridge Abbey]] was constructed by [[Thomas Marlay (judge)|Thomas Marlay]], [[Lord Chief Justice of Ireland]], grandfather of the Irish parliamentarian [[Henry Grattan]]. His daughter Mary was married to [[James Grattan (MP for Dublin City)|James Grattan]], Henry Grattan's father and a member of the [[Irish House of Commons]]. A later occupant was [[Gerald Dease]], a Catholic nobleman who entertained the [[Elisabeth, Empress of Austria|Empress of Austria]] during her visit to Ireland. He is buried in a prominent position on front of the local Catholic church, the construction of which he helped to fund. The rock bridge in Celbridge Abbey grounds is now the oldest stone bridge across the [[River Liffey|Liffey]] since the removal of [[John Le Decer]]'s 1308 bridge three miles downriver at Salmon Leap.