Broadford, Béal an Átha, Co. Limerick

Béal an Átha · Co. Limerick

The home ground of Dáibhí Ó Bruadair, the last of the great bardic poets, in the quiet hills of west Limerick.

Broadford is the Limerick one - not the Clare Broadford an hour north in the Slieve Bernagh hills. It sits in the west of the county on the road between Newcastle West and Dromcollogher, below the Mullaghareirk mountains that mark the Limerick-Cork border. The Irish name is Béal an Átha, the mouth of the ford. About 276 people live in the village; close to a thousand in the wider electoral division. It is farming country, and it does not pretend otherwise.

The village as you see it is younger than it looks. Cartographers first recorded it in 1837, and the run of five conjoined houses centred on the Post Office was built by Henry Dean Spread in the early 1880s. But the parish underneath it is old - Killaliathan, or Killagholehane, a medieval foundation a mile or so south, gave the place its first name and its ruined church. Five limestone quarries once worked the surrounding fields, and the Mohilly family of stonemasons cut their mark into half the headstones in the district.

The one thing that lifts Broadford above the run of quiet west Limerick villages is a poet. Dáibhí Ó Bruadair (c.1625-1698) is reckoned the last of the great Irish bardic poets, and he spent most of his adult life around here, under the patronage of the FitzGeralds of Springfield Castle. He almost certainly came to study at the O Daly bardic school in the townland of Tullaha. He died poor. In 1998 the village put up a statue to him, and President Mary McAleese came to unveil it.

Come for the walks, the stone, and the ghost of the poet. There are three pubs, a supermarket and a post office, and not much else dressed up for visitors. Pair it with Dromcollogher down the road or the Ballyhoura hills to the east, and let Broadford be the quiet end of the trip - which is what it is.

Population

276 (2016)

Founded

First mapped 1837; grew around the medieval Killaliathan parish

Coords

52.3450° N, 8.9742° 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 poet

Dáibhí Ó Bruadair, the last of the bardic poets, walked these roads.

The 17th-century poet spent most of his life in the Broadford-Dromcollogher country under the patronage of the FitzGeralds of Springfield Castle. A statue by Clíodhna Cussen, unveiled by President Mary McAleese in 1998, stands in the village.

Stories & lore → 02 The stone

A village of stonemasons and limestone quarries.

Five limestone quarries worked the ground around the village, shown on the 1841 Ordnance Survey map. The Mohilly family became renowned stonemasons; their work still stands in the local graveyards.

Stories & lore → 03 The trails

Eight waymarked walks ring the village.

The Broadford-Ashford trails run out into the foothills of the Mullaghareirk mountains on the Limerick-Cork border. Old church, cillín, lime kiln, woodland loop. Quiet, marked, and almost nobody on them.

Walks & outings →

02 / 07

Where to sleep.

Place	Type	Local note
Glenview Lodge	4-star self-catering, 2 km from the village	A Fáilte Ireland approved self-catering farmhouse on the Limerick-Cork border, sleeping five across a double ensuite, a twin and a single. Living room, full kitchen, garden, wifi. A three-night minimum rather than a one-night stopover - the kind of base you take if you are walking the trails or touring the south-west, not a passing bed.

03 / 07

Stories & lore.

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

The last of the bardic poets, c.1625-1698

Dáibhí Ó Bruadair

Ó Bruadair is the great closing voice of the Irish bardic tradition - a learned poet writing in strict classical metres just as the world that paid for such poetry was being dismantled. He spent most of his life in the Broadford-Dromcollogher country of west Limerick, under the patronage of Sir Seán FitzGerald of Springfield Castle, and he likely trained at the O Daly bardic school in nearby Tullaha. He watched the Gaelic order collapse around him, wrote bitterly and beautifully about it, and died in poverty in 1698. On 4 May 1998 President Mary McAleese unveiled a statue of him in the village, carved by the sculptor Clíodhna Cussen. It is the reason a literary pilgrim turns off the Newcastle West road at all.

FitzGerald seat, 13th century onward

Springfield Castle

Between Broadford and Dromcollogher stands Springfield Castle, seat of a Norman branch of the FitzGeralds who settled here in 1280 and became Lords of Claonghlais. The complex holds two stone keeps, one 15th-century and one 18th-century, with a fine mural staircase in the older tower. It was the FitzGeralds who sheltered Ó Bruadair, and he wrote an elegy for them. After they fled to France in 1691 the estate passed to the Fitzmaurice family; the Georgian mansion they added was burned in 1921. The castle is still lived in by descendants of the Deane family, the Barons Muskerry. It is a private residence, not a public attraction - admire it from the road and leave the family in peace.

A medieval church and five quarries

Killagholehane and the stonemasons

The old parish church of Killagholehane (also Killaliathan), a mile south of the village, is a ruined 15th-century structure dedicated to Our Lady of the Snows. Its graveyard holds a Republican Plot for casualties of the War of Independence. The village proper grew up on limestone: five quarries worked the ground here, marked on the 1841 Ordnance Survey, and the Mohilly family became stonemasons of regional renown. Look at the cut stone in the local cemeteries and you are looking at their trade. Nearby at Killilagh there is a cillín, the unconsecrated burial ground for unbaptised infants and famine dead, marked now by a plaque.

04 / 07

Things to do outside.

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

Ashford Woodland Loop The gentlest of the marked routes, a woodland circuit out from the village. Good for an after-lunch hour when you do not want a mountain. Part of the eight-route Broadford-Ashford trail network.

Short loopdistance

45 minutestime

Killagholehane Way Out to the ruined 15th-century parish church and graveyard south of the village, with the Republican Plot and the older stonework. The historical heart of the parish on foot.

Walk to the old churchdistance

1-2 hourstime

Gleann na gCapall Loop One of the longer waymarked loops, climbing into the foothills of the Mullaghareirk mountains on the Limerick-Cork border. Open country, big sky, almost certainly nobody else on it. Boots and a forecast.

Hill loopdistance

2-3 hourstime

05 / 07

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar-May

The trails dry out, the foothills green up, and the village is quiet without being closed. Best time for the longer hill loops.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun-Aug

Long evenings on the Mullaghareirk foothills. Still no crowds - this is not that kind of place. Pair it with the Ballyhoura trails to the east.

◉ Go

Autumn

Sep-Oct

The woodland loops turn, the light gets honest, and the walking is at its best before the wet sets in.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov-Feb

Short days and minimal services. The pubs keep going; the hill walks are not for casual winter outings. Come for the village and the stone, not the summits.

◐ 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.

Confusing it with Broadford, Co. Clare

Different village, an hour north in the Slieve Bernagh hills above Lough Derg. If your sat nav offers you Áth Leathan and the Waterboys, you are pointing at the wrong county. This is Béal an Átha, the Ó Bruadair one.

Expecting a tourist village

Broadford has three pubs, a supermarket, a post office and a statue. It is not dressed for visitors and does not want to be. The value is the walks, the stone, and the poet - not a high street.

Trying to visit Springfield Castle

It is a private home, still lived in by the family. Look from the road. There is no tour and no gate to knock on.

Getting there.

By car

Broadford sits in west Limerick between Newcastle West (about 20 minutes north) and Dromcollogher (about 10 minutes south-west). Limerick city is roughly 50 minutes via Newcastle West. From Cork city, allow about an hour over the Mullaghareirk border.

By bus

No frequent scheduled service through the village. TFI Local Link covers the rural west Limerick routes - check the timetable for the day. Newcastle West is the nearest town with a regular bus link.

By train

No station. The nearest is Limerick (Colbert), then car or Local Link out west.

By air

Shannon (SNN) is the obvious airport, about an hour north. Cork (ORK) is a similar distance south. Both expect you to hire a car.

Next on the tour

Co. Limerick

Dromcolliher

Ten minutes south-west. The village marked forever by the 1926 cinema fire, with a creamery museum and a heavier history than its size suggests.

Co. Limerick

Newcastle West

Twenty minutes north. The biggest town in west Limerick - Desmond Castle, a proper square, shops and services.

Co. Limerick

Ardpatrick

East into the Ballyhoura hills. A round tower stump, an early monastic site, and the best of the Ballyhoura walking country.

Co. Limerick

Kilmeedy

South-west down out of the hills, a five-road crossroads named for St Ita.