Newtown
Baile Nua, Co. Laois

The Ireland's Ancient East
STOP 05 / 05

Baile Nua · Co. Laois

A crossroads village in the south-east corner of Laois, 12 km west of Carlow. One pub, a big GAA ground, and not much else. Known to most people as Newtown Cross.

Newtown is a crossroads, and it is honest about it. Most people know it as Newtown Cross - the spot where the R430 running from Abbeyleix down to Carlow meets the N78 coming up from Kilkenny to Athy. There is a pub on the corner, a GAA ground a short way off, and a scatter of houses. Two hundred and sixty-nine people at the last count. That is the village.

It sits right down in the south-east toe of Laois, close enough to the Kilkenny border that the two counties blur, and 12 km west of Carlow town where most of the shopping and the secondary schools are. The Irish name is Baile Nua, which just means new town - the kind of name that gets handed to a settlement that grew up around a junction rather than a castle or a monastery.

Do not come here looking for a heritage trail. Come if you have business at the GAA grounds, or you want a pint at Fleming's before the road carries you on to Carlow or Castlecomer. It is a place people live and farm and play football, not a place people visit. There is no shame in that, and the entry is short because the village is.

Population

269 (2016 census)

Founded

Crossroads settlement

Coords

52.8622° N, 7.1122° W

01 / 05

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 crossroads

Where the R430 from Abbeyleix to Carlow crosses the N78 from Kilkenny to Athy.

That junction is the village. Most people call it Newtown Cross. It sits close to the Laois-Kilkenny border, 12 km west of Carlow town, in the townlands of Clonbrock and Dúnán. Blink on the way through and you have missed it.

Getting there → 02 The GAA

Crettyard GAA play their football here, and that is the centre of the place.

The club grounds and clubhouse are at Newtown Cross - two full pitches, inter-county-standard floodlights, parking for 500. On a championship Sunday this quiet crossroads is the busiest spot in south Laois.

Stories & lore →

02 / 05

The pubs.

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

Fleming's Bar

The local, GAA crowd

Village pub, Newtown Cross

The pub on the crossroads, run by the Flemings. This is the social centre of Newtown - it fills on a match day when Crettyard are playing, quiet the rest of the week. A country bar doing exactly what a country bar should: a pint, the racing on the television, the talk of who is fit for Sunday. If you stop in Newtown, you stop here, because there is nowhere else.

03 / 05

Stories & lore.

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

Founded 1960, Leinster champions 2005

Crettyard GAA at Newtown Cross

The reason this crossroads has a name worth knowing is the football. Crettyard GAA was formed in 1960 from the amalgamation of the old Fairymount and Tolerton clubs, and its grounds and clubhouse are here at Newtown Cross, in the townland of Moscow. The complex is bigger than the village around it: two full-sized pitches, floodlights to inter-county standard, parking for over 500 cars. The club's high-water mark came in 2005, when they won the Laois Intermediate Football Championship and went on to take the Leinster Intermediate Club Football Championship - a serious result for a parish this small. They have hurling, camogie and a long-established ladies' football side as well. On a championship Sunday the cars line the N78 in both directions and the quietest crossroads in south Laois becomes, for an afternoon, the loudest.

04 / 05

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 centre

There is no main street, no square, no row of shops. Newtown is a crossroads with a pub and a GAA ground. If you want a town with somewhere to browse and eat, Carlow is 12 km east and Abbeyleix is up the R430.

Confusing it with the dozen other Newtowns

Ireland has Newtowns by the score. This one is Newtown Cross in south-east Laois, on the N78 near Crettyard - not Newtownmountkennedy, not Newtown in Tipperary, not any of the others. Set the satnav to the R430 and N78 junction.

Getting there.

By car

South-east corner of Laois, at the crossroads of the R430 (Abbeyleix to Carlow) and the N78 (Kilkenny to Athy). Carlow town is 12 km east, about 15 minutes. Castlecomer and the Kilkenny road are a short run south on the N78. From Portlaoise it is roughly 35 km south-east via the M7 and R430.

By bus

Limited. The N78 corridor sees some Bus Éireann and Local Link services between Carlow, Athy and Castlecomer - check timetables, as stops are sparse and a car is the realistic way to reach Newtown.

By train

Nearest station is Carlow, 12 km east, on the Dublin Heuston to Waterford line. Frequent trains to Dublin (about 1 hour) and south to Kilkenny and Waterford.