Ballybrittas, Baile Briotáis, Co. Laois

Baile Briotáis · Co. Laois

A roadside village in north-east Laois where Owny MacRory O'More cut the feathers off the Earl of Essex's army in 1599. The motorway took the traffic; the story stayed.

Ballybrittas - Baile Briotáis, the town of the palisade - is a small village in the north-east corner of Laois, in the old parish of Lea and the barony of Portnahinch. In 1837 a topographer counted about thirty neatly built houses and called it pleasing. The 2016 census counted 388 people. It has never been more than a roadside place, and it does not pretend otherwise.

The thing that happened here happened in 1599. The Earl of Essex was marching south to relieve the English garrison at Maryborough, and his route took him through the narrow pass at Cashel beside the village. Owny MacRory O'More was waiting. His men hit the column for two hours, and when it was over the road was strewn with the high coloured plumes the English wore on their helmets. The Irish called it Bearna na gCleití, the Pass of the Plumes, and the name has outlived almost everything else about the village.

The other ghost is a castle. The O'Dempseys, Lords of Clanmalire, held a castle near here - the great Norman tower at Lea, on the Barrow towards Portarlington, passed in and out of their hands before Cromwell's men wrecked it in 1650. The ruin still stands four kilometres east of Portarlington and is worth the detour for anyone who likes their history roofless.

Do not come to Ballybrittas for the village. Come for the story, a pint, and the country around it. The motorway means you can be standing on the old battle road within the hour from Dublin and never know the village was once the thing that slowed an army down.

Population

388 (2016)

Founded

Roadside village on the old Dublin to Maryborough road; battle site, 1599

Coords

53.1097° N, 7.1355° W

01 / 08

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 battle

The Pass of Plumes - Bearna na gCleití.

On 17 May 1599 the Earl of Essex marched his column through the pass at Cashel beside the village. Owny MacRory O'More ambushed the train, the fight ran two hours, and the English left so many plumed helmets on the ground that the place was named for the feathers. It is the reason Ballybrittas is on any map of history.

Stories & lore → 02 The road

Once the N7. Now bypassed by the M7.

For two centuries this was the Dublin to Limerick road, and the village lived off the traffic. The M7 took the through-cars in the 2000s. What is left is a pub, a service station and a clutch of houses on the R445, five kilometres south-west of Monasterevin.

Getting there →

02 / 08

The pubs.

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

The Fisherman's Thatched Inn

Trad sessions, no food, all character

Thatched country pub, Fisherstown

Not in the village proper - a few kilometres off, at Fisherstown on the Barrow Line of the Grand Canal, but it is the pub people in this part of Laois will send you to. A genuine thatched roadside inn said to date to the 1600s. No kitchen, no menu, just drink and music: a long-running Tuesday-night trad session and live music on other nights from local players. The kind of place that turns up on lists of the best pubs in Ireland and mostly deserves it. Check opening times before you set out - it often opens evenings only.

The village pub, Ballybrittas

Locals, quiet

Roadside local on the R445

Ballybrittas itself keeps a pub on the old main road alongside the service station and a few small businesses. A plain local rather than a destination. If you want guaranteed music and atmosphere, the Fisherman's Thatched Inn down the road is the better bet.

03 / 08

Where to sleep.

Place	Type	Local note
The Heritage Golf Resort & Spa, Killenard	Luxury resort hotel, about 10 km	The serious bed in this part of Laois is at Killenard, roughly ten kilometres south. Championship golf, full spa, fine dining. Book ahead. Ballybrittas itself has no hotel.

04 / 08

Stories & lore.

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

Owny MacRory O'More vs the Earl of Essex, 17 May 1599

The Pass of the Plumes

Essex landed in Ireland in April 1599 with the largest army England had yet sent, charged with breaking the Nine Years' War. In May he set out to relieve the besieged fort at Maryborough. The road south ran through a tight pass at Cashel, beside Ballybrittas, and Owny MacRory O'More, the young chieftain of Laois, ambushed the column there. The fight lasted around two hours and fell hardest on the baggage train and the rearguard. The English got through, but they left the ground covered in the bright feathered plumes worn on their helmets - and the Irish named the place Bearna na gCleití, the Pass of the Plumes. It became one of the set-piece humiliations of Essex's failed campaign, and the name stuck to the village for four centuries.

Lords of Clanmalire, wrecked 1650

The O'Dempsey castle

Near the village stood a castle of the O'Dempseys, Lords of Clanmalire, one of the Gaelic families who held this corner of Laois. The grandest of their strongholds was Lea Castle, a thirteenth-century Norman keep on the bank of the Barrow four kilometres east of Portarlington, which passed between the O'Mores, the FitzGeralds, the Butlers of Ormond and the O'Dempseys down the centuries. Cromwellian troops slighted it in 1650 and it has been a ruin ever since. The remains are open to walk around and are the most substantial piece of medieval stone in the parish of Lea, which includes Ballybrittas, Killenard and most of Portarlington.

05 / 08

Things to do outside.

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

Lea Castle and the Barrow Drive to Lea Castle east of Portarlington and walk the ruin and the riverbank. The keep is a thirteenth-century Norman tower wrecked by Cromwell in 1650 - roofless, atmospheric, on the Barrow. The best heritage walk near the village.

Short riverside walkdistance

45 mintime

Grand Canal Barrow Line towpath The Barrow Line of the Grand Canal runs through this corner of Laois near Fisherstown. Flat towpath walking along the water, good for an easy hour. Tie it to a stop at the Fisherman's Thatched Inn.

As far as you likedistance

1 hour plustime

06 / 08

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar-May

May is the right month - the Pass of Plumes was fought on 17 May 1599, and the Barrow Line and Lea Castle are at their greenest. Nearby Timahoe runs heritage talks that sometimes cover the battle.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun-Aug

Long evenings for the canal towpath and the trad sessions. The Heritage at Killenard is in full golf season.

◉ Go

Autumn

Sep-Oct

Quiet, gold light on the Barrow and the Lea ruin. Good walking weather.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov-Feb

Short days and not much in the village to fill them. The pub and the road keep going; the heritage is best left for brighter months.

◐ Mind yourself

07 / 08

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 village to explore

Ballybrittas is a pub, a service station and a few houses on the old road. The interest is the history and the country around it, not a streetscape. Adjust expectations and you will not be disappointed.

Looking for the battlefield to be marked

The Pass of Plumes was fought in 1599 in fields and a pass beside the village. There is no grand monument or visitor centre. It is a story attached to a place, not a site you tour. Read it first, then drive the old road.

Hunting for food in the village

The local pub does not run a kitchen and neither does the Fisherman's Thatched Inn. For a proper meal, go to Portlaoise, Portarlington or The Heritage at Killenard.

Getting there.

By car

North-east Laois on the R445, the old N7. Five kilometres south-west of Monasterevin, about 20 km north-east of Portlaoise. The M7 runs alongside - leave at the Monasterevin or Portlaoise junctions and double back on the R445. Dublin is about an hour.

By bus

Bus Éireann services on the Dublin to Portlaoise/Limerick corridor pass close by on the motorway; the village itself is lightly served. Check Bus Éireann and Local Link timetables. Portarlington is the nearest town with regular stops.

By train

No station in the village. Portarlington station, about 10 km north, is on the Dublin to Cork/Galway lines and is the nearest rail.