The Encyclopaedia Britannica offers this .......

Curragh, The

Irish - An Currach, plain, or down, County Kildare, Ireland, noted for its excellent soils.

Some 8 square miles (22 square km) in area, the down of Kildare apparently was an ancient meeting place, and The Curragh has been just such a common since at least the 12th century. The rich pastureland is renowned for the breeding of racehorses; it is said that races were held there as early as the 1st century AD.