Straffan
Straffan (variously Teach Srafáin, Strafáin or An Cluanini in Irish) is a village in County Kildare, Ireland, situated on the banks of the River Liffey, 25 km upstream of the Irish capital Dublin. As of the 2016 census, the village had a population of 853, a nearly two-fold increase (from 439) since the 2006 census. Straffan is the name of the surrounding electoral division which is within the Celbridge Number 1 Rural Area, and which (as of 2006) had a population of 1,449. At one time a separate parish, it is today joined to the parishes of Celbridge (in the Roman Catholic structure) and Celbridge and Newcastle (Church of Ireland), in the respective Dublin dioceses. Straffan is home to the Kildare Country Club, commonly known as the K Club, and its two championship golf courses, which have staged major international events such as the European Open (hosted annually there between 1995 and 2007), and the Ryder Cup tournament between Europe and the US in 2006. Contemporary village The contemporary village is concentrated around two crossroads on which are situated a Roman Catholic church and Church of Ireland respectively. Development evolved through the building of estate houses (1880), land commission cottages