Frenchpark, Dún Gar, Co. Roscommon

Dún Gar · Co. Roscommon

A small crossroads village in north Roscommon that gave Ireland its first President - Douglas Hyde was raised here, lived here, and is buried in the churchyard.

Frenchpark is a small village in north Roscommon, on the old road between Boyle and Castlerea, in the flat green country between Rathcroghan and Lough Gara. About five hundred and seventy people. A main street, a market house, a couple of pubs, a graveyard with a friary tower in it. You could drive through in under a minute - and since the N5 bypass opened in 2024, you no longer even do that unless you turn off on purpose.

It takes its name from the French family, Galway people who were granted thousands of acres here after the Cromwellian settlement and built French Park House on the edge of the village. They became the Barons de Freyne and ran this corner of Roscommon for nearly three centuries. The house is gone now - sold to the Land Commission in the 1950s and demolished around 1975 - so do not come looking for a great house. The estate left the name and not much else above ground.

What it did leave is Douglas Hyde. The son of the Church of Ireland rector, raised in the parish from 1867, he picked up Irish from the farmers and storytellers around him at a time when the language was dying off the land. He became a poet, a folklorist, the founding president of the Gaelic League, and in 1938 the first President of Ireland. When he retired he came back to Ratra House near the village, and when he died in 1949 he was buried at Portahard church just up the road. The little church is now the Douglas Hyde Interpretive Centre. That is the reason to stop here.

Beyond Hyde, this is quiet farming Roscommon and it does not pretend otherwise. The pleasures are small and specific: the friary at Cloonshanville, a pint in Tully's, the grave at Portahard, and the long flat horizons that taught a boy to listen. Use it as a stop on the way to Boyle and the lakes, not as a destination in itself.

Population

~572 (2022)

Founded

Estate village named for the French family (Barons de Freyne), settled here after the Cromwellian land redistribution from the 1660s

Coords

53.8667° N, 8.4000° W

01 / 08

At a glance.

Three things every local will eventually mention. Read these and you've already understood more than most day-trippers do.

01 Douglas Hyde

An Craoibhín Aoibhinn - the man who saved the Irish language and became the first President.

Hyde grew up in the rectory at Tibohine, learned his Irish from the old people of the parish, co-founded Conradh na Gaeilge in 1893, and was made first President of Ireland in 1938. He came home to Ratra House to retire and is buried at Portahard, a few minutes from the village.

Stories & lore → 02 Cloonshanville

A 14th-century Dominican friary with its tower still standing in a working graveyard.

Founded around 1385 under the MacDermots, lords of Airteach. A three-storey tower, the broken chancel and north transept, and a tall plain stone cross survive. It is still a parish burial ground, and conservation work is ongoing.

Walks & outings → 03 The bypass

Since March 2024 the N5 goes around the village, not through it.

The new Frenchpark bypass took roughly seventy per cent of the through traffic off the main street. Quieter than it was, but it also means you have to mean to come here - the road no longer carries you in by accident.

Getting there →

02 / 08

The pubs.

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

Tully's Bar

Proper local

Village pub, Lower Street

The village local, on the lower end of the street. A good pint and the kind of bar where the regulars carry the conversation. Small, unpretentious, exactly what a north Roscommon village pub should be. Hours are local hours - it is a small village, so do not expect a late kitchen or a crowd on a wet Tuesday.

Farrell's

Food and a pint

Bar & food, Main Street

On the main street, the place locals point you to for a plate of food at a fair price as much as for a drink. Between this and Tully's you have the village covered. In a place this size, two doors that keep the lights on is the whole of the nightlife, and that is said without complaint.

03 / 08

Where to eat.

Place	Type	€	Local note
Farrell's	Bar food, Main Street	€€	The reliable feed in the village. Reasonably priced, well thought of locally, the sort of menu a country bar does well - nothing fancy, plenty of it. Your best bet for a sit-down meal in Frenchpark itself.

04 / 08

Stories & lore.

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

1860-1949

Douglas Hyde, An Craoibhín Aoibhinn

Douglas Hyde was born in 1860 and from 1867 was raised in the glebe house of Tibohine, the parish his father served as Church of Ireland rector, beside Frenchpark. As a boy he learned Irish from the older people of the district - gamekeepers, farmers, the last native speakers in a part of the country where the language was slipping away. He took the bardic name An Craoibhín Aoibhinn, "the pleasant little branch". In 1893 he co-founded Conradh na Gaeilge, the Gaelic League, and his lecture "The Necessity for De-Anglicising Ireland" became a founding text of the cultural revival. He stayed deliberately non-political, which is precisely why, in 1938, the new constitution made him the agreed first President of Ireland - a job he held until 1945. The original letter nominating him, signed across the Fianna Fail and Fine Gael benches, is on display at the interpretive centre. He retired to Ratra House near Frenchpark and died in 1949.

Douglas Hyde Interpretive Centre

Portahard church and the grave

Portahard is a small Church of Ireland building dating to around 1740, restored by Roscommon County Council and reopened in 1988 as an interpretive centre on Hyde's life. Inside are charts, maps, photographs and that nomination letter. The grounds were landscaped as Gardan an Chraoibhin, planted with trees and shrubs chosen for their place in old Irish folklore. Hyde is buried in the churchyard here, the rector's son who became President come home to the parish that taught him his Irish. The centre sits just off the N5; check seasonal opening before you travel, as a small rural centre like this does not keep city hours.

Dominican, c. 1385

Cloonshanville friary

A short way outside the village, Cloonshanville was a Dominican friary dedicated to the Holy Cross, founded around 1385 under the MacDermots, lords of Airteach. What stands today is a three-storey tower with a simple pointed vault and carved corbels inside, sections of the chancel and north transept, and traces of a cloister, all inside an enclosing graveyard that is still in use. An unadorned stone cross nearly four metres high stands near the grounds. The friary was suppressed in the late sixteenth century and its lands taken by the Crown. It is undergoing conservation, and as recently as 2025 two carved stone heads were identified high on the south wall. Free to wander, and rarely another soul there.

Barons de Freyne

The French family and French Park House

The village exists because of the French family, Galway settlers who acquired land here after the Cromwellian redistribution from the 1660s. Dominick French took five thousand acres; his son added more and was nicknamed An Tiarna Mor, the Great Lord. Their descendant Arthur French became first Baron de Freyne in the 1830s. French Park House, the family seat, stood on the edge of the village until the estate was sold to the Irish Land Commission in 1952 and the house was demolished around 1975. A distant cousin of the family, Charlotte Despard, went the other way entirely - born into the ascendancy, she became a suffragette, socialist and Sinn Fein activist. Nothing of the house survives to visit, but the name on every signpost is theirs.

05 / 08

Things to do outside.

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

Cloonshanville friary Off the road outside the village. Walk in among the stones to the friary tower, the broken chancel, and the tall plain cross. The graveyard is still in use and conservation work may be in progress, so keep to the paths and mind loose masonry. Quiet, atmospheric, and almost always empty.

Short stroll on sitedistance

30 mintime

Portahard church and grave Just off the N5. Visit the interpretive centre if it is open, then walk the landscaped grounds of Gardan an Chraoibhin and find Douglas Hyde's grave in the churchyard. The point of the walk is the quiet and the sense of a circle closed - the boy who learned Irish here is buried here.

1 km on foot, or short drivedistance

30-45 mintime

The village street Frenchpark is essentially one street. Walk it for the c.1840 market house, where Thursday fairs once traded livestock and produce, and the few shopfronts that survive. Since the bypass it is noticeably quieter. A short, honest village walk, not a scenic one.

1 km there and backdistance

20 mintime

06 / 08

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar-May

The Roscommon flatland greens up and the light is long over the fields. Good for Cloonshanville and the Hyde grave without midges or crowds. Check the interpretive centre's seasonal hours before you set out.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun-Aug

The best chance the interpretive centre and other small attractions are reliably open, and the days are long enough to pair Frenchpark with Boyle, Lough Key or Strokestown in one loop.

◉ Go

Autumn

Sep-Oct

Quiet, golden, and the friary looks its best with the low sun on the old stone. Confirm opening hours, as rural centres start winding down for the season.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov-Feb

Short days, the interpretive centre likely closed, and not much open in the village beyond the pubs. Cloonshanville and the churchyard are still there and still free, but it is a flying visit at best.

◐ Mind yourself

07 / 08

What to skip.

Honestly? Don't bother.

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

French Park House

Do not come looking for a great house. The de Freyne seat was sold to the Land Commission in 1952 and demolished around 1975. The name is everywhere; the building is gone. Nothing to tour.

Frenchpark as a full day

It is a crossroads village, not a destination. The Hyde grave, the friary and a pint are an hour or two well spent, not a day. Pair it with Boyle, Lough Key Forest Park or Strokestown House to fill the day.

Expecting the centre to be open on a whim

The Douglas Hyde Interpretive Centre is a small rural attraction with seasonal and limited hours. Ring ahead or check before you drive out, or you may find Hyde's grave and a locked door.

Getting there.

By car

Frenchpark sits on the R361 between Boyle (about 20 min northeast) and Castlerea (about 20 min southwest). Since March 2024 the upgraded N5 bypasses the village to the south, so turn off the new road to reach the street and the interpretive centre. Roscommon town is about 35 min south, Sligo about 1h north.

By bus

TFI Local Link runs limited rural services through Frenchpark on set days - route RR09 (Tulsk, Rathcroghan, Bellanagare, Frenchpark, Elphin) and route RR25 (Ballaghaderreen, Frenchpark, Ballinagare, Tulsk, Roscommon). These run only a few times a week, so check the Local Link Roscommon timetable carefully before relying on them.

By train

No station in Frenchpark. The nearest is Castlerea on the Dublin Heuston to Westport line, about 20 min by car. Boyle, on the Dublin Connolly to Sligo line, is a similar distance northeast.

By air

Ireland West Airport Knock (NOC) is the closest, roughly 35-40 min northwest. Dublin (DUB) is about 2h 30m by car.