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NEWTOWNFORBES

CO. LONGFORD · IE

Newtownforbes
An Lios Breac, Co. Longford

The Ireland's Ancient East
STOP 07 / 07

An Lios Breac · Co. Longford

An estate village on the N4, built by the Earls of Granard when they renamed Lisbrack. Castle Forbes sits beyond the gates - private, and staying that way.

Newtownforbes is a small village in the parish of Clonguish, six kilometres northwest of Longford town on the N4 national road. The 2022 census put the population at 851. It takes its name from the Forbes family, the Earls of Granard, who were granted lands here in the 1620s and renamed the village from Lisbrack around 1750. This is an estate village, the kind built by a landowning family to serve a demesne and the people who worked it.

Castle Forbes sits adjacent, a gothic-revival house on a demesne that is one of the largest in County Longford. The present castle replaced an earlier house of around 1624 that was besieged in the 1641 rebellion and later damaged by fire. The Forbes family have lived here for more than three hundred years and still do. The castle and its grounds are private and closed to the public. That is worth saying twice, because it is the first thing most people ask: you cannot visit Castle Forbes.

The village itself is modest and honest about it. One main street, St Mary's Catholic church (built 1861 to 1864), St Paul's Church of Ireland (an early-nineteenth-century church on the site of a 1694 predecessor), the old Mercy convent, a couple of shops, and the GAA club. The N4 runs straight down the middle, which means the through-traffic to Sligo passes the front doors. This is not a place to come for the castle, because you cannot get in. Come instead for what a planned estate village looks like when it is still lived in, ordinary, and getting on with its day.

Population

851 (2022 census)

Pubs

2and counting

Walk score

Main Street in twenty minutes

Founded

Renamed from Lisbrack c. 1750 by the Forbes family

Coords

53.6833° N, 7.7000° 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 estate

A planned village built to serve a demesne, renamed for the family that built it.

The Forbes family - Scottish, from Aberdeen - were granted land here in the 1620s and have lived at Castle Forbes for over three hundred years. The village was Lisbrack until around 1750, when they renamed it after themselves.

Stories & lore → 02 The street

One main street with two churches, a convent, two pubs and the N4 running through it.

St Mary's Catholic church, St Paul's Church of Ireland, the old Mercy convent, Casey's pub, a few shops. The N4 Sligo road comes straight down the middle. A working village, not a destination.

Walks & outings → 03 The castle

Castle Forbes is here, but you cannot see it.

The gothic-revival seat of the Earls of Granard, on one of the largest demesnes in County Longford. It is private, lived in, and closed to the public. Come for the idea of the estate village, not the house.

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:

Casey's

Working local

Pub, Main Street

One of the two pubs in the village. A working local on the main street doing what estate-village pubs have always done - a pint, the racing on the television, and whoever is propping up the bar that afternoon. Newtownforbes has two pubs and no pretensions about either.

03 / 07

Where to sleep.

Place	Type	Local note
Stay in Longford town instead	Practical note	Newtownforbes does not have a hotel, and it is close enough to Longford town - six kilometres, ten minutes - that most visitors base themselves there, where there are hotels, guesthouses and B&Bs. Check Longford listings rather than expecting a bed in the village itself.

04 / 07

Stories & lore.

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

From Aberdeen to Longford

The Forbes family

Sir Arthur Forbes was a Scottish landowner, a descendant of the Lords Forbes, granted around 1,268 acres in Counties Leitrim and Longford in 1620 under King James I's plantation. The family settled at Castle Forbes from 1691 and have remained there since. The 1st Earl of Granard, also named Sir Arthur Forbes, was created in 1684 and served as Lord Justice of Ireland. The village was originally called Lisbrack, an anglicisation of the Irish Lios Breac, the speckled ringfort, and was renamed Newtownforbes around 1750 as the estate developed. The seat passes still to the Earl of Granard.

A gothic-revival house, firmly private

Castle Forbes

An earlier house of about 1624, attributed to Lady Jane Forbes, was besieged during the 1641 rebellion and partly burned in 1825 - the story locally is that a dog called Pilot raised the alarm and saved the household. The castellated gothic-revival house that stands today dates from the rebuilding that followed. It sits on one of the largest demesnes in the county and remains the lived-in seat of the Earls of Granard. It is not open to visitors, and the grounds are not a public park. Admire the gate lodges from the road and leave it at that.

A harder history on the main street

The Mercy convent and the industrial school

The Sisters of Mercy were invited to Newtownforbes by the Earl of Granard around 1869, and the convent on the main street ran an orphanage and an industrial school. Industrial schools of this kind across Ireland are now part of a difficult and well-documented national reckoning. The building is a real and prominent part of the village, and worth knowing the full story of rather than passing as picturesque.

Founded 1889

Clonguish GAA

The local Gaelic Athletic Association club, Clonguish GAA, was founded in 1889 and is one of the more successful clubs in the county, with a long list of Longford senior football titles. The parish name itself, Clonguish, comes from the Irish Cluain Geis, the meadow of the swans. On a match day the club is the social centre of the townland.

05 / 07

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar-May

A small place comes back to life. The roads are clear, the N4 is easy, and the country around the demesne is at its best.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun-Aug

The N4 is busier with Sligo and weekend traffic running through the village. Newtownforbes is a pass-through more than a destination, and summer makes that plain.

◐ Mind yourself

Autumn

Sep-Oct

The season when a working village works best. The GAA season is in full swing at Clonguish and the weather is honest.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov-Feb

Cold and quiet. The village is not built for tourism. If you come in winter it is for the estate history and the architecture, not for warmth.

◐ 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.

Trying to see Castle Forbes

It is private and lived in, and there is no public access, no tour, and no visitor entrance. People drive up the avenue expecting a stately-home day out and are turned around. View the gate lodges from the public road and accept the rest is closed.

Expecting a tourist village

Newtownforbes has two pubs, a couple of shops, two churches and a GAA pitch. That is the village, and that is fine. It is a place to understand the estate-village idea, not to spend a day sightseeing. Pair it with Longford town if you want more.

Getting there.

By car

Longford town to Newtownforbes is 6 km (about 10 minutes) north on the N4. Dublin is roughly 2 hours via the M4/N4. Sligo is about 1 hour 45 minutes north on the N4.

By bus

The Bus Eireann Sligo to Dublin route stops in Newtownforbes, with around five services each way daily. Local Link covers the rural surrounds with limited services.

By train

No working station in Newtownforbes - the old station on the Dublin to Sligo line closed in 1963, though the line still runs through the village. Nearest station is Longford town (about 10 minutes by car), on the Dublin Connolly to Sligo Irish Rail line.

By air

Dublin Airport is about 2 hours by car. Ireland West (Knock) is around 1.5 hours. Newtownforbes is not a fly-in destination - you reach it by road from Longford.