POSTED FROM

BALLICKMOYLER

CO. LAOIS · IE

Ballickmoyler
Baile Mhic Mhaoilir, Co. Laois

The Ireland's Ancient East
STOP 07 / 07

Baile Mhic Mhaoilir · Co. Laois

A south Laois crossroads on the N80 that lost half itself in 1798 and never got it back.

Ballickmoyler is a small village in south Laois, on the road from Portlaoise to Carlow, about 30 km south-east of the county town. It sits at the junction of the N80 and the R429, a crossroads place rather than a destination, a name on the road sign you read on the way to somewhere else.

The village lies in the old parish of Killabban, in the barony of Slievemargy, a corner of Laois that has more in common with Carlow than with the midlands behind it. Carlow town is the proper centre near here, about 8 km south. The land around is good farming country, quiet and green, the kind of low rolling Leinster ground that photographs as nothing in particular and is pleasant to drive through.

Two things shaped this place. The first is St Abban, who is said to have founded a monastery at Killabban in the seventh century, which is where the parish gets its name. The second is 1798. Before the rebellion Ballickmoyler had a market patent, fairs, about forty houses, a constabulary station and a dispensary, and it was growing. The rising burned more than half of it and killed the market. It never recovered what it lost. What you find now is a handful of houses, a church, a pub, and the road going through.

Do not come expecting a market town or a tourist village. Come, if you come at all, because you are passing on the N80 and want to know what the name on the sign means. The answer is a small farming village with a long memory and a hard year in its past.

Population

Small village (~150-250)

Founded

Pre-1798 market village (market patent abandoned)

Coords

52.8778° N, 7.0111° W

01 / 07

At a glance.

Three things every local will eventually mention. Read these and you've already understood more than most day-trippers do.

01 The name

Baile Mhic Mhaoilir, the town of the son of Maoilir.

A village and townland in the civil parish of Killabban, barony of Slievemargy, in the far south-east corner of Laois where the county runs down toward Carlow. The N80 and the R429 cross here. That junction is most of what Ballickmoyler is.

Stories & lore → 02 The wound

Half the village was burned in 1798, and the market never came back.

Before the rebellion it was growing, with a patent for a weekly market and fairs on the 16th of March and the 11th of November. The 1798 rising laid more than half of it in ruins and the market was abandoned. Over two centuries on, it is still a small place.

Stories & lore →

02 / 07

The pubs.

None of these are themed Irish pubs, because they don't need to be. A few that earn the trip:

The Grove

Locals

Village pub, Tolerton

The pub for the village, out at Tolerton on the edge of Ballickmoyler. A plain country local, not a gastropub and not pretending to be. If it is open and you want a pint in Ballickmoyler, this is where you have it. Hours are local-pub hours, so do not count on a weekday afternoon.

03 / 07

Stories & lore.

The reason to come back. The things every local will eventually tell you about, usually after the second pint.

More than half laid in ruins

1798 and the burning of the village

Before 1798 Ballickmoyler was, by the standard of a south Laois village, doing well. It had obtained a patent for a weekly market, held fairs twice a year, and was increasing in extent and prosperity. Then came the United Irish rising. The village sat between the rebel country of south Leinster and the British garrison at Carlow, 8 km south, and in the violence of that summer more than half of the village was laid in ruins and its market was abandoned for good. Samuel Lewis, surveying Ireland in 1837, still recorded the damage as the central fact about the place, nearly forty years later. The market never returned, and the village that grew back was a smaller, quieter thing than the one that burned.

Cill Abbáin, the church of Abban

St Abban and the parish of Killabban

Ballickmoyler sits in the civil parish of Killabban - Cill Abbáin, the church of Abban. The name remembers St Abban, an early Irish saint credited with founding a monastery near here in the seventh century. The monastic site itself is long gone, but the name carried down through the medieval parish and is still on the maps. It is the deeper layer under the village: centuries before any market patent or any rebellion, this was already church ground with a saint attached to it.

04 / 07

Things to do outside.

Wear waterproofs. Bring a sandwich. Tell someone where you're going if it's the mountain.

The crossroads and the back roads There is no marked trail here. What there is, is quiet farming country on the R429 and the lanes off it, good rolling south-Laois ground with Carlow and the Blackstairs away to the south. Walk out one of the side roads from the junction and back. It is a stretch of legs in pleasant country rather than a destination walk.

As long as you make itdistance

30-60 minutestime

05 / 07

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar-May

Quiet, the roads are clear, the farmland greens up. Good for passing through.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun-Aug

Still quiet. The countryside around is at its best and the driving is easy.

◉ Go

Autumn

Sep-Oct

Harvest country. The light on the fields is good and the N80 is an easy run.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov-Feb

Quiet and largely shut. The N80 can be rough in bad weather and there is little open.

◐ Mind yourself

06 / 07

What to skip.

Honestly? Don't bother.

If a local was sitting beside you, this is the bit where they'd lean in.

Expecting a market town

The market was abandoned in 1798 and never came back. This is a small farming village, not a town.

A long stop

Ballickmoyler is a place you pass. There is a pub, a church and a crossroads, and that is honestly most of it.

Food and a bed without planning ahead

There is no tourist infrastructure here. Carlow town, 8 km south, is where the hotels, restaurants and shops are.

Getting there.

By car

South-east of Portlaoise on the N80, about 30 km, on the direct road toward Carlow. The N80 meets the R429 at the village. Carlow town is roughly 8 km further south.

By bus

JJ Kavanagh & Sons runs a weekday service on the Abbeyleix/Portlaoise to Athy to Carlow route, with two journeys daily each way. Bus Eireann route 73 (Waterford to Athlone) passes through but does not stop. Nearest railway station is Carlow, on the Dublin to Waterford line.