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TEMPLEGLANTINE

CO. LIMERICK · IE

Templeglantine
Teampall an Ghleanntáin, Co. Limerick

The West Limerick
STOP 09 / 09

Teampall an Ghleanntáin · Co. Limerick

A chapel village on the Tralee road that grew up around its church, sits on the greenway, and quietly kept the music when most places let it go.

Templeglantine is a chapel village in west Limerick, strung along the N21 about halfway between Newcastle West and Abbeyfeale on the main road to Tralee. The parish runs to around a thousand people across a wide spread of townlands; the village itself is the church, the school, the shop and post office, a pub, the community hall, and the Devon Inn Hotel out on the road. It grew up around the church the way these places do, and the Irish name says it plainly - Teampall an Ghleanntáin, the church of the little glen. Locally it is still Inse Bán, the White River meadow.

The history here is the ordinary, important history of west Limerick: the O'Macasa family until the Normans came, then the Fitzgeralds, the Earls of Desmond, until their defeat in 1583, after which Sir William Courtenay planted most of this corner of the county. The present church was built in 1829 and dedicated to the Holy Trinity; the parish was carved out in 1864. Older than any of it, a cist grave dug up in Rathcahill West in 1985 dates somewhere between 2000 and 500 BC - the land here was worked long before anyone built a temple in the glen.

What is genuinely worth coming for is the music and the greenway. Templeglantine kept its Sliabh Luachra tradition when plenty of villages let theirs slip - there is a Comhaltas branch, the Templeglantine Céilí Band, and céilithe held in the Devon Inn. The poet Michael Hartnett, who gave up English to write in Irish, lived in the parish from 1974 to 1984. And the Limerick Greenway, the old Limerick to Tralee railway line, passes a kilometre north of the village, with the renovated Barnagh tunnel and its far views over the Limerick plain a short ride east.

Population

~1,000 (parish)

Founded

Chapel village; church built 1829, parish created 1864

Coords

52.3931° N, 9.1833° W

01 / 09

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

Church of the little glen.

Teampall an Ghleanntáin - the church of the little glen. Locally the place is still called Inse Bán, the White River meadow. The church came first and the village grew around it; the present one was built in 1829 and the parish only formed in 1864.

Stories & lore → 02 The road

Halfway between Newcastle West and Abbeyfeale on the N21.

The main Limerick to Tralee road runs straight through. Abbeyfeale is a few minutes west, Newcastle West a few minutes east. The Devon Inn sits on the N21 and has done for fifty years. This is a pass-through place that gives you a reason to stop.

Getting there → 03 The music

Sliabh Luachra, the Limerick edge of it.

Templeglantine sits on the rim of Sliabh Luachra, the traditional-music country that spreads across the Kerry, Cork and Limerick borders. There is a Comhaltas branch, a céilí band, and céilithe in the Devon Inn. The poet Michael Hartnett lived here through his Irish-language years.

Stories & lore →

02 / 09

The pubs.

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

The Devon Inn

The local, in a roadside hotel

Hotel bar & grill, on the N21

The Devon Inn doubles as the social heart of the village - a family-run hotel that has been on the Tralee road for about fifty years, with a bar and grill that serve as the local. This is where the céilithe happen and where greenway riders refuel. The village also keeps a separate small pub, the kind of single-bar local that does not advertise; ask when you arrive.

03 / 09

Where to eat.

Place	Type	€	Local note
The Devon Inn	Hotel restaurant, bar & grill	€€	The reliable feed in the village - carvery and bar food in a roadside hotel that has fed N21 traffic and wedding parties for decades. Nothing fancy, but it is open, it is on the road, and after a stretch of the greenway it does the job. The nearest range of restaurants and takeaways is in Abbeyfeale or Newcastle West, both a few minutes away.

04 / 09

Where to sleep.

Place	Type	Local note
Devon Inn Hotel	3-star hotel on the N21	Fifty-eight rooms, family-run, and effectively the only bed in the village. A long-standing wedding venue - it can cater for 400-plus - so check whether there is a function on if you want a quiet night. The location on the main road makes it a handy base for the greenway and for west Limerick generally. Beyond it, Abbeyfeale and Newcastle West have more choice a short drive away.

05 / 09

Stories & lore.

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

Teampall an Ghleanntáin, built 1829

The church of the little glen

The village is named for a church, and the church you see was built in 1829, during Fr James Cleary's time, dedicated to the Holy Trinity. It is a chapel village in the truest sense - the settlement gathered around the place of worship, and the parish itself was not formally created until 1864, when Fr James O'Shea came in from Monagea. The church appears on the local GAA crest alongside Tullig Wood and the Barnagh tunnel, which tells you how much it still anchors the place. Locally the village is known as Inse Bán, the White River meadow, a name older than the church it took its English form from.

Comhaltas, the céilí band, and Michael Hartnett

Sliabh Luachra music and the poet who came home to Irish

Templeglantine is on the Limerick edge of Sliabh Luachra, the stretch of traditional-music country running along the Kerry, Cork and Limerick borders. The village kept the tradition alive: there is a Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann branch, the Templeglantine Céilí Band, and céilithe held regularly in the Devon Inn. The poet Michael Hartnett - who famously turned his back on English in the 1970s to write only in Irish - lived in the parish from 1974 to 1984, the decade of his Irish-language work. The contemporary classical composer John Buckley was born here in 1951, and David Neligan, Michael Collins' spy in Dublin Castle, was a son of the parish.

Penal-era survivals in the townlands

Holy wells and a mass rock

The parish keeps a scatter of older devotion in its townlands. There are two holy wells - the Poorman's Well, Tobairín an Duine Bhoicht, in Tulligoline North, and the Ha'penny Well in Meenyline South - both with old legends of curing blindness. On a stream boundary between Meenoline North and Doonakenna sits Carraig an Easpaig, the Bishop's Rock, a penal-era mass rock from the days when Catholic worship was driven out of doors. None of these are signposted attractions; they are the kind of thing a local will bring you to if you ask the right person in the right pub.

06 / 09

Things to do outside.

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

Limerick Greenway, Barnagh to Templeglantine The old Limerick to Tralee railway line, now the Limerick Greenway (long known as the Great Southern Trail). The trailhead for the village is behind Halla Inse Bán, the community hall opposite the church, with the line a kilometre north. The Barnagh stretch to the east is the best of it - the renovated 115-metre Barnagh tunnel, two stone bridges, flowering embankments, and far views over the Limerick plain. The Barnagh Greenway Hub has parking, bike hire, bathrooms and a small café.

About 13 km sectiondistance

Half day by biketime

The village and the church There is not a great deal to walk in the village itself - the church, the shop, the hall, the road. But the 1829 Holy Trinity church is worth a look, and the Devon Inn on the N21 is the practical anchor for parking, food and a base if you are riding the greenway.

Short strolldistance

20 minutestime

07 / 09

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar-May

The greenway is at its best - flowering embankments through the Barnagh cutting, long light, far views over the plain. The roads are quiet and the weather is usually kind enough for a full day on the bike.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun-Aug

Peak greenway season, longest evenings, most likely to catch live music or a céilí in the Devon Inn. Book the hotel ahead if there is a wedding on, which in summer there often is.

◉ Go

Autumn

Sep-Oct

Good cycling weather lingers and the embankments turn. A fine time to ride Barnagh to Templeglantine without the summer traffic on the trail.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov-Feb

Short days and west-Limerick weather. The greenway is exposed and can be bleak. The Devon Inn and the church keep going, but there is little reason to make a special trip in the dark months.

◐ Mind yourself

08 / 09

What to skip.

Honestly? Don't bother.

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

Coming for a town

Templeglantine is a chapel village, not a destination town. Church, shop, hall, pub, hotel - that is the village. The shops, the choice of pubs and the restaurants are in Abbeyfeale and Newcastle West, both minutes away on the N21. Come for the greenway, the music or the quiet, not for a high street.

Expecting the original temple in the glen

The name remembers an old church in a little glen, but the building you will see is the 1829 Holy Trinity church. There is no medieval ruin to photograph in the village. The real heritage here is scattered through the townlands - holy wells, a mass rock - and unsignposted.

Getting there.

By car

Templeglantine sits right on the N21, the main Limerick to Tralee road, about 53 km southwest of Limerick city and 47 km from Tralee by road. Abbeyfeale is a few minutes west, Newcastle West a few minutes east. The Devon Inn is on the road with parking; the greenway trailhead is behind the community hall opposite the church.

By bus

Bus Éireann routes 13 (Limerick to Tralee) and 14 (Limerick to Killarney) run along the N21 through the village. Check current times - rural west-Limerick service is limited, and not every run stops.

By train

No rail service - the line that became the greenway closed decades ago. Nearest stations are Tralee (about 47 km southwest) and Limerick (about 53 km northeast).

By air

Kerry Airport (KIR) at Farranfore is roughly 40 km southwest. Shannon (SNN) is about an hour north.