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BROSNA

CO. OFFALY · IE

Brosna
An Bhrosnach, Co. Offaly

The Ireland's Ancient East
STOP 05 / 05

An Bhrosnach · Co. Offaly

A townland of thirty-one people in the Little Brosna valley, with one of the great Pearce follies hidden in the woods beside it.

Be clear about which Brosna this is. There is a Brosna in Kerry that holds the heart of Sliabh Luachra music, and there is a long stretch of the main River Brosna up around Ferbane where the bog meets the Shannon. This is neither. This Brosna is a townland in south Offaly, in the valley of the Little Brosna River, seven kilometres north-west of Roscrea just off the N62. The 2011 census counted thirty-one people in it. There is no high street, no pub on a corner, no shop. What there is, is a name on the map, a roadside house listed for its architecture, a late 19th-century cast-iron water pump, and the demesne walls of something much larger.

That something is Gloster. Gloster House was built around 1720 for the Lloyd family, who held the land here from 1639 until they sold up in 1958, and the design is attributed to Edward Lovett Pearce - the architect of the old Irish Parliament on College Green, the most important Palladian in the country. Up in the woods behind the house is the Gloster Arch, a pedimented limestone archway flanked by two obelisks, also put to Pearce, built around 1730 to close the vista from the lawn. It is a smaller cousin of the great Castletown obelisk. The ivy was stripped off it in 2018 and it stands clear again at the end of its avenue. The house runs now as a wedding and events venue.

The other reason to be here is water and birds. The Little Brosna forms the boundary between Offaly and Tipperary, and its callows - low wet grassland that floods every winter from October to April - are an internationally important wildfowl ground, a Special Protection Area that regularly carries more than twenty thousand wintering waterbirds. Whooper swans down from Iceland, Greenland white-fronted geese, wigeon, teal, golden plover and lapwing in their thousands. Come in deep winter with binoculars and you will understand why this quiet, flat, under-visited corner of the midlands is on every serious birder's list.

Population

31 (2011 census, townland)

Coords

52.9914° N, 7.8881° 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 Gloster

A 1720 Palladian house and a Pearce obelisk arch in the trees.

Gloster House was the Lloyd family seat from 1639 to 1958. The house is attributed to Edward Lovett Pearce; so is the arch and obelisk folly that closes the vista from the lawn. It is the reason to come.

Stories & lore → 02 The callows

The Little Brosna floods every winter and the swans arrive.

The river is the Offaly-Tipperary border here. Its callows flood from October, and over twenty thousand wintering wildfowl come down - whooper swans, white-fronted geese, golden plover.

Stories & lore → 03 The size of it

Thirty-one people. A house name, not a high street.

Brosna is a townland, not a village in any street sense. A roadside house, a Victorian water pump, demesne walls. Roscrea is seven kilometres south-east for everything else.

Next stops →

02 / 05

Stories & lore.

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

A Palladian house, 1639 to 1958

Gloster and the Lloyds

King Charles I granted the lands at Glasderrymore to the Medhop family in the early 1600s; in 1639 Trevor Lloyd married Margaret Medhop, the sole heiress, and the Lloyds held Gloster for the next three centuries. The house went up around 1720 - thirteen bays, two storeys over a basement - and its design is attributed to Edward Lovett Pearce, who happened to be a cousin of the owner. Major E.T.T. Lloyd sold the estate in 1958. After decades of decline the house and demesne were restored and Gloster now operates as a country-house wedding and events venue. It is private; the way to see it is to book an event or to come on an open day, not to wander the lawn unannounced.

A Pearce folly, restored 2018

The Gloster Arch

Set on rising ground east of the house, the Gloster Arch is a single pedimented archway in limestone rubble, flanked by two obelisks on plinths with niches in their bases. It is attributed, like the house, to Edward Lovett Pearce, and dated to around 1730. Its whole job was scenery: to terminate the view from the house through a belt of mature woodland, the same trick of landscape theatre as the much larger obelisk at Castletown in Kildare. By the late 20th century it was lost under ivy. In 2018 the Irish Landmark and folly conservation effort cleared it and stabilised it, and the arch reads cleanly again at the head of its avenue. The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage rates it of regional architectural significance.

Twenty thousand birds on the county line

The Little Brosna Callows

The Little Brosna River runs the boundary between Offaly and Tipperary on its way to join the Shannon, and the flat ground along it - the callows - floods every winter. Between October and April that seasonal water turns the grassland into one of the most important wildfowl sites in Ireland, a designated Special Protection Area and Natural Heritage Area that regularly holds over twenty thousand wintering waterbirds. The headline species are the whooper swans and the Greenland white-fronted geese, but the sheer numbers of wigeon, teal, lapwing and golden plover are the spectacle. It is a working flood plain doing exactly what flood plains do, and the birds have used it for far longer than anyone has been counting them.

03 / 05

Things to do outside.

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

The callows in winter This is not a waymarked loop - it is wet, seasonally flooded grassland on a protected site, best watched from the roads and bridges along the Little Brosna rather than walked across. Bring binoculars, bring a scope if you have one, and come between November and February for the whooper swans and the big wigeon flocks. The Birdwatch Ireland Offaly guide marks the access points; respect the SPA designation and stay off the flooded ground.

Roadside viewingdistance

1-2 hourstime

Gloster demesne (on an open day) The demesne - lime avenue, the canal, the walk up to the arch - is the set-piece, but it is private and runs as an events venue, so the honest answer is that you see it by booking an event or catching a heritage open day, not by turning up. The Gloster Arch itself is the thing to aim for: a Pearce folly at the end of its woodland vista.

Shortdistance

1 hourtime

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

Brosna is a townland of thirty-one people. There is no pub, no shop, no street to stroll. If you arrive looking for a village centre you will drive through it without noticing. Come for Gloster and the callows, and do your eating and sleeping in Roscrea or Birr.

Confusing it with the other Brosna

The famous Brosna - the Sliabh Luachra music village with the polkas and the Con Curtin festival - is in Co. Kerry, two hundred kilometres south-west. This is the Offaly one. Same name, entirely different place.

Turning up at Gloster unannounced

Gloster House is a private home and a working wedding venue, not a public attraction with a turnstile. The lawns are not open to casual callers. Check for open days, or book an event, if you want inside the gates.

Getting there.

By car

Brosna is about 7 km north-west of Roscrea, just off the N62 (the Roscrea-Birr road). From the M7 leave at Roscrea and head north on the N62; Birr is roughly 15 km further north. A car is essential - this is open midland farmland.

By bus

There is no village bus service. The nearest scheduled services run through Roscrea (Bus Eireann on the Dublin-Limerick corridor) and Birr; Local Link covers the rural roads of south Offaly on limited timetables. Plan to drive.

By train

The nearest station is Roscrea, on the Ballybrophy-Limerick branch line, about 7 km away - an infrequent service. For useful trains use Ballybrophy on the main Dublin-Cork line and drive across.