Croom Castle one of the principal residences of the Kildare branch of the Fitzgerald Dynasty and a church from the 15th century. In the 1800’s the town had an active mill industry on the Maigue River.
In the mid 1800’s a workhouse was built as a result of the Famine, this building is home to an orthopaedic hospital since 1924. Croom also has an important thoroughbred horse stud Islanmore Stud. This farm with its original 18th century house was once the home of the younger brother of Earl of Dunraven of Adare.
Nearby attractions include the Croom Castle and the Croom Mills and the Buttercup Visitor Farm.
There is ample parking at the coordinates and the cache has been placed along the original Cork road, now closed and forms a 1km walk starting along side the river Maigue where you can get a lovely view of the river. As you walk towards this cache you will walk past the main entrance to Islanmore Stud and close to the Gate House. The main N20 is just to your right and during busy times you can hear the roar of the cars, but the walk is a very pleasant one on late evenings, early mornings and a very popular walk for locals and dog walkers. This cache has been place right at the end of the walk very near the main N20, so please be careful with younger children. It’s very accessible and the walk is on the old tarmac road so very suitable for buggies and young children, but do be aware that the river is to your left and there are entrances along the walk for the Croom Anglers association therefore the river is within easy access. This is not a looped walk, so you will be walking back along the same route and is just over a 2km round trip. The cache is a standard snap lock box, containing log book, pen and plenty of swag to start with, including some Wassy heads of my own design for the first few who find this cache.