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heritage · Monday 17 August 2026 · Various 
If These Walls Could Talk: The History of Celbridge Workhouse
At General Paints Group Head Office · Maynooth Road, Celbridge, Co. Kildare, W23 X7R8
At General Paints Group Head Office · Maynooth Road, Celbridge, Co. Kildare, W23 X7R8
The Celbridge Workhouse was built in 1839, on the eve of the Great Famine, and the building still stands on the Maynooth Road as the head office of the General Paints Group. For two evenings during National Heritage Week 2026, on Monday 17 and Tuesday 18 August, local historian Cathi Fleming leads interactive tours through the site.
The tour covers what the workhouse was for, who ended up inside it and what happened to them, and traces the building’s long afterlife through to its current commercial use. Workhouses were the harshest instrument of Famine-era poor relief, deliberately made unattractive so that only the desperate would enter, and Celbridge’s survives more intact than most of the Kildare examples. Getting inside one that is still in daily use is unusual. Tea, coffee and refreshments are served afterwards. There are four tour slots across the two evenings, at 5:00 PM and 7:00 PM each night, and each runs about ninety minutes. Admission is free but registration is required, and on-site parking is limited, so an emailed booking confirmation is needed before you attend.
Celbridge is around 20 km west of Dublin, reached from the N4 or M4 and signposted from the motorway. The General Paints building is on the Maynooth Road on the northern edge of the town, at Eircode W23 X7R8. On-site parking is available but limited. Hazelhatch and Celbridge railway station, on the Dublin Heuston to Kildare commuter line, is about 4 km away, and Dublin Bus services run to Celbridge from the city centre.
Heading to General Paints Group Head Office in Celbridge? Kildare has plenty more to see. Read the Celbridge area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.