A319 CREW RPTS NOSE GEAR FAULTS ON ECAM AFTER TKOF FROM BNA.

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A THOROUGH PREFLT WAS DONE BY MY FO AND BY CONTRACT MAINT. NO PROBS WERE DISCOVERED. AFTER PUSHBACK (2 ENG TAXI); I TAXIED VIA THE 'CONNECTOR' TO RWY 2R FOR TKOF. MY TAXI SPD WAS NEVER MORE THAN 15 KTS. I NOTICED THAT THE CONNECTOR SURFACE SEEMED ROUGH. ALSO; DURING THE TKOF ROLL; THE RWY SURFACE SEEMED VERY ROUGH. THIS DID NOT SEEM TOO UNUSUAL CONSIDERING OTHER ARPTS SUCH AS ABQ AND SFO HAVE ROUGH SPOTS ON SOME TXWYS AND RWYS. SHORTLY AFTER GETTING AIRBORNE; WE RECEIVED A LNDG GEAR SHOCK ABSORBER FAULT. THE GEAR HANDLE WAS IN THE UP POS DUE TO MY REACTION TO 'POSITIVE RATE.' I SAID 'GEAR UP.' WHEN WE WERE ABOVE 400 FT; I COMMANDED 'ECAM ACTIONS.' WE RECEIVED A SECOND ECAM. IT WAS: LNDG GEAR UPLOCK FAULT. AFTER THE ECAM ACTIONS WERE DONE; FOLLOWED BY A STATUS REVIEW; I SAID TO 'RECYCLE THE LNDG GEAR.' THE GEAR WOULD NOT RETRACT. I RADIOED OPS AND GOT A HOLD OF CONTACT MAINT. HE ALSO SUGGESTED 'RECYCLING THE LNDG GEAR' AFTER I TOLD HIM OUR PROB. WE COULD NOT GET THE GEAR TO RETRACT AGAIN. WE WERE SURE THAT ALL 3 GEAR WERE DOWN AND LOCKED BECAUSE OF THE REDUNDANT 3 GREEN INDICATING SYS. MAINT SUGGESTED WE RETURN TO BNA. I RETURNED TO BNA. UPON LNDG; AFTER SETTING THE NOSE GEAR DOWN GENTLY; THE NOSE GEAR COMPRESSED MORE THAN USUAL. WE DID NOT KNOW WHAT HAD HAPPENED TO THE GEAR UNTIL WE GOT TO THE GATE. I WAS ABLE TO TAXI WITHOUT ANY PROB. AFTER RETURNING TO THE GATE; WE DISCOVERED THAT THERE HAD BEEN A BLOWN SEAL IN THE NOSE GEAR SHOCK ABSORBER. WE WERE LESS THAN OUR MAX GROSS LNDG WT SO AN OVERWT LNDG DID NOT OCCUR. I DON'T THINK THERE WERE ANY ACTIONS WE COULD HAVE TAKEN TO PREVENT THIS SITUATION. IN HINDSIGHT; I SHOULD HAVE WAITED UNTIL 400 FT; THEN CALLED FOR ECAM ACTIONS BEFORE COMMANDING 'GEAR UP.' ALSO; RATHER THAN TRYING TO 'RESET THE SYS (LGCIU)' BY RECYCLING THE GEAR; I SHOULD HAVE JUST LEFT THE GEAR DOWN AND RETURNED.