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CLONASLEE

CO. LAOIS · IE

Clonaslee
Cluain na Slí, Co. Laois

The Ireland's Ancient East
STOP 07 / 07

Cluain na Slí · Co. Laois

A planned estate village at the foot of the Slieve Blooms, where the forest loops start at the bridge and the River Barrow rises in the gorge above.

Clonaslee is a small planned village in the north-west corner of Laois, on the R422 between Mountmellick and Birr, with the Slieve Bloom Mountains rising behind it. Six hundred-odd people, a wide street, a square, a bridge over the Clodiagh River, and three pubs. It is not a place you arrive at by accident - the road brings you here on the way to the mountains or not at all.

It owes its shape to the Dunnes of Brittas, who held this ground from the 16th century and laid the village out as an estate village. Francis Dunne turned Catholic in 1771 and built a thatched chapel; his successor, General Dunne, put up the parish church in 1814, the same year the Mountmellick-to-Birr road went through and gave the place its main street. The village peaked at 561 people in 1841, then emptied out after the Famine to fewer than 300 by 1901. The 2022 census put it back at 608.

Come for the walking. The forest loops start at the bridge in the middle of the village and climb into Brittas Forest and the lake; a few minutes up the road at Glenbarrow the River Barrow - the second-longest river in Ireland - rises in a steep wooded gorge and falls over a three-tier waterfall the locals call the Clamp Hole. Have a pint in Swans on the square afterwards. That is the visit, and it is enough.

Population

608 (2022)

Pubs

3and counting

Walk score

Three forest loops from the bridge in the middle of the village

Founded

Planned village laid out under the Dunnes of Brittas, 16th-18th centuries

Coords

53.1489° N, 7.5253° 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

Cluain na Slí - the meadow of the way.

Clonaslee sits on an old cross-country route over Laois toward Munster, the Slí Dála, and the name records it: the meadow of the way. The older parish name is Kilmanman, after a 7th-century saint called Manman who put a church here long before the village existed.

Stories & lore → 02 The walks

Forest loops from the village and the Barrow source above.

Three waymarked loops start at the Brittas Forest Recreation Area beside the Garda station - Rickets Rock, Brittas Lake and the long Glendineoregan circuit. A few minutes up the road, Glenbarrow holds a three-tier waterfall and the source of the River Barrow.

Walks & outings → 03 The Dunnes

A village shaped by one family of Brittas.

The planned street, the wide square and the ruins scattered round the parish are all the work of the Dunnes of Brittas, who ran this corner of Laois from the 16th century. General Dunne built the parish church in 1814; Brittas Castle burned in 1942 and only a gateway on Main Street survives.

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:

Swans Bar

Locals and walkers

Village pub, The Square

On the square in the middle of the village. The pub walkers head for after the forest loops - a pint, a fire in the cold months, and the talk of a place where everyone knows everyone. Ring ahead off-season; hours in a village this size follow the locals, not a brochure.

The Clonaslee Inn

Local

Village bar, Tinnahinch end

At the Tinnahinch end of the village. A straightforward country bar. Useful to know there is more than one door open if the first is shut on a quiet weekday.

John Ferry's Cosy Bar

Old-school local

Traditional bar

The third of the village's small bars. Plain, traditional, the kind of room that has not been refitted to look like anything other than what it is.

03 / 07

Stories & lore.

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

One family, four centuries

The Dunnes of Brittas

Almost everything you see in Clonaslee was shaped by the Dunnes of Brittas, the Gaelic family who held this part of Laois from the 16th century and laid the village out in its planned form. Francis Dunne, head of the family, converted to Catholicism in 1771 and built a thatched parish chapel in the village - a significant act in the penal years. His successor, General Dunne, replaced it with the parish church in 1814, helped by an £800 gift and a £300 loan from the Board of First Fruits. The family seat, Brittas Castle, stood west of the village until a fire on 25 June 1942 destroyed the tower; today only the castellated gateway on Main Street survives. Colonel Dunne had built another stronghold, Ballinakill Castle, back in 1680. The ruins scattered round the parish are mostly theirs.

A 7th-century church under the village

Kilmanman and the saint

Before Clonaslee was Clonaslee it was Kilmanman - Cill Mheanman, the church of Manman, after one of the early Irish saints who founded a church here in the 7th century. The parish carried that name for over a thousand years, only becoming a distinct civil parish in 1828 when it split from the barony of Tinnahinch alongside neighbouring Rosenallis. A ringfort in the nearby townland of Larragan is evidence the ground was settled long before any of it - mountain-edge land that people have always found a reason to live on.

Evelyn Cusack and others

The village that gives the weather

For a small place Clonaslee has sent a few names out into the country. Evelyn Cusack, the Met Éireann meteorologist who fronted the national forecast for years and headed the forecasting division, is from here - fitting for a village that lives under mountain weather. Gerry Culliton, the Ireland rugby international, and Mick Dunne, the long-serving GAA and sports journalist, were also Clonaslee men.

04 / 07

Things to do outside.

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

Rickets Rock Loop The shortest of the three Brittas Forest loops. A mix of minor roads, sandy roadways and forestry tracks, suitable for most fitness levels. Start at the Brittas Forest Recreation Area by the Garda station - from the bridge over the Clodiagh in the village, follow the Glenkeen signs and the forest entrance is about 200 m on the left.

4.5 km loopdistance

1-1.5 hourstime

Brittas Lake Loop Forestry road and tracks out to Brittas Lake and back, the lake and forest both managed by Coillte. Medium fitness needed. The lake is the quiet middle reward of the Clonaslee walks.

6 km loopdistance

2.5 hourstime

Glendineoregan Loop The long, strenuous one - minor roads, sandy paths and woodland trails climbing into the Slieve Blooms. Higher-than-average fitness wanted, boots and a forecast check before you go. The cloud comes down on the tops without much warning.

11.7 km loopdistance

2-3 hourstime

Glenbarrow Waterfall Loop Not in Clonaslee proper but a few minutes up the R422 toward Rosenallis, signposted from the Glenbarrow trailhead. Follows the infant River Barrow up through coniferous woodland to the three-tier Clamp Hole waterfall, best after rain. Bluebells through the gorge in spring. This is the source of the second-longest river in Ireland.

4.5 km loopdistance

1.75 hourstime

05 / 07

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar-May

Bluebells through the Glenbarrow gorge, lambs on the lower slopes, the clear days starting to outnumber the wet ones. The best window for the waterfall.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun-Aug

Long evenings, the forest loops at their driest, the Slieve Bloom Walking Club out every weekend. Go up the mountain early - cloud tends to build through the afternoon.

◉ Go

Autumn

Sep-Oct

Gold in the woodland, the Barrow full again, fewer people on the trails. A good honest month for the walks.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov-Feb

Short days and mountain weather. The lower forest loops are fine in boots; the Glendineoregan climb and anything on the open tops needs a clear forecast and some sense.

◐ 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 town with services

Clonaslee is a village of around 600 people: three pubs, a church, a shop or two, and the forest at the end of the street. There is no hotel, no string of restaurants. Eat in Mountmellick or Tullamore, sleep in Birr, walk here.

The open mountain in low cloud

The Slieve Blooms are not high but they are broad, featureless and exposed on top, and the cloud sits on them for much of the year. Save the Glendineoregan loop and the open ground for a clear day; the woodland loops are fine in most weather.

Looking for Brittas Castle

The Dunne seat burned in 1942 and is gone bar a gateway on Main Street. Do not drive round looking for a castle to photograph. The story is here; the building is not.

Getting there.

By car

On the R422 between Mountmellick (about 12 km east) and Birr, roughly 100 km west of Dublin. From the M7 come off around Portlaoise or Mountmellick and head north-west toward the mountains. The Brittas Forest trailhead is signposted from the bridge in the village centre.

By bus

Limited. Local Link Laois Offaly runs occasional rural services through the area; there is no frequent or direct route, so check timetables in advance or come by car. Nearest train station is Portlaoise on the Dublin-Cork line, then road from there.