Ballymahon, Baile Uí Mhatháin, Co. Longford

Baile Uí Mhatháin · Co. Longford

Market town where Oliver Goldsmith walked, and where the Goldsmith Country trail begins.

Ballymahon is a market town on the River Inny in south County Longford, 2,500-3,000 souls by reputation, 1,714 by the 2022 census. It is the centre of Goldsmith Country - the territory where Oliver Goldsmith, author of She Stoops to Conquer and The Vicar of Wakefield, spent his childhood. His birthplace is contested: born either in Pallas (near Ballymahon) or at his maternal grandparents' house near Elphin in Roscommon. He grew up in Lissoy, a nearby townland, and Lissoy became Auburn in his poem The Deserted Village. Ballymahon is where the trail begins.

The town itself is unpretentious. Late Georgian buildings, colour-washed gable houses in rows, a working market economy. Skelly's Bar has operated since the 1850s. The old courthouse (1819) is now a community library. The River Inny flows through, wide enough for fishing and canoeing. Walk the Newcastle Woods on a Tuesday morning and you are likely alone. That is the whole point.

The Oliver Goldsmith Summer School meets every June Bank Holiday at Ballymahon Library and the Bog Lane Theatre, with readings held at Goldsmith's birthplace in nearby Pallas. The town is the hub of the Goldsmith Country literary trail, which threads through Edgeworthstown, Ardagh, Pallas, Lissoy, Forgney, and Kilkenny West - the family's journey across three counties. The trail is not heavily marketed. That is also the whole point.

Population

1,714

Founded

1578 (documented)

Coords

53.7167° N, 7.8667° 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 Goldsmith Country

The literary trail starts here.

The town anchors the Goldsmith Country trail - birthplace in question between Longford and Roscommon, but Ballymahon is the centre of gravity. The summer school is held every June Bank Holiday.

Stories & lore → 02 The River Inny

Walks and fishing along the water.

The Inny runs through the town and beyond. Newcastle Woods, the Royal Canal Greenway, and angling for roach and bream. Canoeing when the water cooperates.

Walks & outings → 03 The town itself

Late Georgian, orderly, real.

Ballymahon is a working market town, not a museum. Gabled two and three-storey houses in rows. The old courthouse (1819) is now a library. Skelly's Bar has run since 1850. The rest is ordinary Ireland.

Pubs & food →

02 / 09

The pubs.

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

Skelly's Bar

Family-run, steady, locals

Pub & restaurant & guesthouse, 1850-present

Fourth generation of the Skelly family. Steak, gourmet sandwiches, turf fire in winter. Rooms upstairs. Not trying to be anything but itself.

Ronnie Nally

Traditional

Pub, local

One of the town pubs. You will find it. You will be welcome. That is all.

03 / 09

Where to eat.

Place	Type	€	Local note
Skelly's Restaurant	Pub food & gourmet	€€	Inside Skelly's Bar. Steak, local producers, proper cooking. Open most days.
The Hard Boiled Egg Cafe	Cafe	€	Lunch, coffee, basic cafe work done right.

04 / 09

Where to sleep.

Place	Type	Local note
Skelly's Guesthouse	Guesthouse, 4 of 5 on Tripadvisor	Rooms above the bar. Family run since 1850. Walking distance to the town centre if centre can be said to exist in a town this small.
Augherea Guest House	Guesthouse	In the town, locally run.
Inny Bay B&B	B&B	On the outskirts, riverside setting.

05 / 09

Stories & lore.

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

Pallas or Elphin?

The birthplace

Oliver Goldsmith was born either in the townland of Pallas (where his father was curate of Forgney) or at his maternal grandparents' house near Elphin in Roscommon. Both claims have merit. Both towns maintain statues. A limestone cell at the ruin of his birthplace in Pallas holds a plaster statue (made 1974, in poor condition now) cast from the bronze at Trinity College Dublin. The town does not fuss too much about which county wins. Ballymahon, equidistant and practical, is the hub.

The village of memory

Auburn

Goldsmith grew up in Lissoy (1730-1747) and spent his life looking back at it. Lissoy parsonage is now a ruin on the road to Tubberclair, but it was "the only home he ever knew." He turned it into Auburn, the sweet village in his long poem The Deserted Village (1770), which mourns the enclosure of rural land and the drift of country people to the cities. The poem starts: "Sweet Auburn! loveliest village of the plain, / Where health and plenty cheered the labouring swain." That swain was Goldsmith himself, aged six.

June every year

The summer school

The Oliver Goldsmith Summer School convenes every June Bank Holiday at Ballymahon Library and the Bog Lane Theatre. Poets, scholars, and readers gather to read Goldsmith's work and his life aloud at selected sites: the birthplace in Pallas, the school house, the parsonage, the church. The third-oldest literary festival in Ireland. Not the biggest, but honest.

Goldsmith Country

The trail

The Goldsmith Country literary trail stitches together the sites of Goldsmith's childhood across three counties: Longford (Pallas, Ballymahon), Westmeath (Lissoy, Kilkenny West, Edgeworthstown), and Roscommon (Elphin). A Literary Tour car route begins at the Goldsmith Monument outside Ballymahon Library, stops at Forgney Church, the schoolhouse, Lissoy Parsonage, and the Three Jolly Pigeons (which inspired his plays), with short readings at each stop. The whole loop takes a morning. The reading takes longer than the driving.

06 / 09

Things to do outside.

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

Newcastle Woods Forest trails above Ballymahon, with new footbridges over the River Inny. Popular for weekday walks when the car parks are quiet. Good for kingfisher spotting along the water.

Variousdistance

1-2 hourstime

Royal Canal Greenway (Ballymahon to Cloondara) The canal runs past Ballymahon on its way west. Easy flat walking, old locks, the kind of path that lets you think about things.

13 km one waydistance

3-4 hourstime

Pallas Walk from Ballymahon to Pallas, where the Goldsmith statue sits in a limestone cell in the meadow. The Pallas Pollinator Project has wildflower planting and natural seating. Forgney Church is close by.

3 km returndistance

1 hourtime

07 / 09

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar-May

Quiet. The river rises with snowmelt. Newcastle Woods are best in April when the songbirds are nesting.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun-Aug

June is the Goldsmith Summer School. July and August are warm and long-lit. The town fills out but does not crowd.

◉ Go

Autumn

Sep-Oct

The locals' season. Storms roll down the valley, the Inny rises, the woods are loud with birdsong.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov-Feb

Cold and wet. The pubs are warmer. Sit by the turf fire at Skelly's and read Goldsmith, which is probably what he would have done.

◐ 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.

Treating Ballymahon as a base to get somewhere else

The point of Ballymahon is to slow down. Two nights, one walk, two meals, one evening reading. Do that first, then move on.

Trying to see all the Goldsmith sites in one day

Pallas, Lissoy, Forgney, Edgeworthstown, Elphin - they are spread across 40 kilometres and multiple counties. Pick two or three, read a page of Goldsmith, then sit with tea. That is the trail.

Visiting in June without booking the summer school

The June Bank Holiday is the summer school. Rooms fill fast. Book two months ahead if you want to attend.