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NEWPORT

CO. TIPPERARY · IE

Newport
An Port Nua, Co. Tipperary

The Ireland's Ancient East
STOP 08 / 08

An Port Nua · Co. Tipperary

A river town between two counties that hasn't decided it's a destination yet.

Newport is a working town on the Newport River, ten kilometres into Tipperary from the Limerick border and sixteen from Limerick city. Its Irish name is An Port Nua - the new port - though the site is old enough to appear in the 1837 Topographical Dictionary as a coaching stop on the road to Nenagh. Two rivers meet here: the Newport comes down from the Silvermine Mountains, the Cully comes in from the west, and together they join the Mulkear at Barringtons Bridge before heading for the Shannon.

The mountains behind the town are the thing. Keeper Hill at 694 metres and the wider Slieve Felim range push right up to the eastern edge of the place. The Clare Glens - a red sandstone gorge where Tipperary and Limerick share a river - are four kilometres out and wildly under-visited. Glenstal Abbey, the Benedictine monastery that was once the Barrington family's castle, is less than five kilometres west across the county border in Murroe, and the monks run an open-door policy on weekday mornings.

The 2022 census counted 2,183 people in Newport, making it the youngest town in Ireland by average age at 34.5 years - a fact the town doesn't particularly advertise. The river is the main event for visitors. The Mulkear Anglers Club manages the salmon and trout water along the Newport River, and the Mulkear is currently designated catch-and-release for salmon. Permit details are on their website before you travel. A modest town with a good river and a big mountain behind it - that combination keeps getting underestimated.

Population

2,183

Walk score

Main street end to end in ten minutes

Founded

Tulach Sheasta - ancient settlement, town largely rebuilt post-1800

Coords

52.7135° N, 8.4079° 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 The river

Salmon, trout and a currently catch-and-release rule.

The Newport River runs through the middle of town before joining the Mulkear at Barringtons Bridge. Grilse move in fast after rain. The Mulkear Anglers Club manages permits and the river is currently catch-and-release for salmon - check before you buy a fly.

Walks & angling → 02 Clare Glens

Waterfalls four kilometres from the main street.

The Clare River cuts a red sandstone valley on the Tipperary-Limerick border. A 4km loop through dense woodland drops you into waterfall chambers nobody talks about enough. Muddy in winter. Worth it anyway.

Walks & outings → 03 Keeper Hill

694 metres, no queue at the top.

The highest point of the Silvermine Mountains sits about 7km from Newport. A looped walk takes four to four-and-a-half hours. The summit view runs to the Shannon, Lough Derg and most of North Tipperary. Bring a coat.

Walks & hill access →

02 / 08

The pubs.

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

Ryan's Bar and Lounge

Local, traditional music at weekends

Pub

On Cork Road. A family-run pub in the middle of town. Lively whist sessions and traditional music at weekends according to their own listing. The whist is not a gimmick.

Kennedy's Bar

All-day local

Pub & lounge

Rearcross road. Open from 10:30am and runs through the day. The kind of pub that serves the morning coffee crowd and the evening pint crowd without making either feel like they are in the wrong place.

03 / 08

Where to eat.

Place	Type	€	Local note
Treats Coffee Shop	Cafe	€	Main Street. Homemade cakes, buns and tarts are the headline, with soup and sandwiches for lunch. Ranked the top cafe in Newport on Tripadvisor. Small, day-only, and the brown bread does what Irish brown bread should do.

04 / 08

Stories & lore.

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

How an army captain got a castle

The Wallers and the Cromwellian land

After the Cromwellian conquest of the 1650s, a soldier named Waller acquired Cully Castle and the land around what would become Newport. The family settled in for two centuries: at the time of Griffith's Valuation in the 1840s-50s, Lady Waller held at least nine townlands in the parishes of Kilvellane and Kilcomenty. By 1876, Sir Edmund Waller owned 2,962 acres of Tipperary. The town they held expanded around the river crossing. The Wallers are gone; the roads they built are still there.

A shooting at Coolboreen, 1921

The Barrington ambush

The Barrington family of Glenstal Castle - now Glenstal Abbey, just across the Limerick border in Murroe - had a shooting lodge in the Keeper Hill foothills called Glenculloo. In 1921, during the War of Independence, District Inspector Harold Biggs was ambushed at Coolboreen returning from dinner at the lodge. He was shot and killed, as was Winifred Barrington, daughter of Sir Charles Barrington. It was one of the incidents that shaped the end of Ascendancy life in this part of Tipperary.

A salmon river in slow recovery

The Mulkear and the catch-and-release order

The Newport River and the Mulkear were once among the better salmon waters in the Shannon catchment. Generations of anglers - the 1889 Book of County Tipperary describes the Mulkear as 'a first-rate trout river' - fished these banks hard. The salmon have been slower to come back than the trout. The Mulkear Anglers Club now runs the water on a catch-and-release basis for salmon, with strict rules on hooks and bait. The trout fishing is genuinely good. The river has not given up.

The monastery that was a castle

Glenstal Abbey

Five kilometres west across the Limerick border in Murroe sits Glenstal Abbey - a Benedictine monastery inside and beside a large Normanesque castle built in the 1840s by Sir Matthew Barrington. The Barringtons sold up after the War of Independence. The Benedictines arrived in 1927 and have run a boarding school, a guesthouse and an open morning for visitors ever since. The grounds cover five hundred acres of farmland, forest and lakes. Morning prayer is at 7am and is open to the public. You don't need to book.

05 / 08

Things to do outside.

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

Clare Glens Loop Four kilometres south of Newport on the R503. The Clare River cuts a red sandstone gorge on the Tipperary-Limerick county boundary, and the loop takes you through dense woodland, past several waterfalls including the Big Eas chamber, and back along the opposite bank. Wear boots - the path is muddy in all but the driest months. One of the better short walks in North Tipperary and consistently under-visited.

4 km loopdistance

1-1.5 hourstime

Keeper Hill Loop The Doonane car park is 7km from Newport and is the standard starting point. The looped walk circles the lower shoulders of Keeper Hill (694 metres), part of the National Looped Walks network. Hardy walkers add the summit push via red waymarkers - about an hour extra return. On a clear day the view takes in the Shannon, Lough Derg and the Arra Mountains. National Looped Walk markers are purple for the loop, red for the summit spur.

14 km loopdistance

4-4.5 hourstime

Newport Riverside Walk The town park and riverside paths along the Newport River. Good for birdwatching - the river corridor holds kingfisher, dipper and grey heron. Also the best place to read the water if you plan to fish. Flat and easy underfoot.

2-3 kmdistance

45 mintime

Slieve Felim Way (section) The full Slieve Felim Way runs 43km from Murroe (Limerick) through Newport's hill country to Silvermines village. The Newport section is the middle stretch - Keeper Hill and the Silvermine Mountains. Most walkers take two days and arrange a lift or second car. Elevation gain of roughly 1,670 metres for the full route. Sport Ireland maps available online.

43 km total (Murroe to Silvermines)distance

2 daystime

06 / 08

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar-May

Rivers up from the winter rains - good trout water. Clare Glens in full leaf by May. Keeper Hill in clear air most days.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun-Aug

Grilse run into the Newport River in July-August after rain. Clare Glens can get busy on sunny weekends but never overrun. Long evenings for hill walks.

◉ Go

Autumn

Sep-Oct

The Clare Glens are at their best - autumn colour in the sandstone valley is genuinely good. The Slieve Felim hills are clear. Angling season winding down.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov-Feb

Keeper Hill can be dangerous in ice or snow. Clare Glens paths are very muddy. The pubs are themselves and the town is quiet.

◐ 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.

Confusing Newport Tipperary with Newport Mayo

They share a name and nothing else. Newport Mayo is on Clew Bay, a different country almost. Google Maps knows the difference. Not all booking sites do. Check the county before you book.

Fishing the Mulkear without checking current regulations

The river is currently designated catch-and-release for salmon, with restrictions on hook type and bait. The Mulkear Anglers Club (mulkearanglers.com) publish the current rules. Reading them before you travel saves a fine and a very bad morning.

Treating Glenstal Abbey as a quick photo stop

The monastery grounds and morning prayer are open to visitors but this is an active Benedictine community, not a heritage site. Turn up at 7am for Lauds or walk the grounds quietly. A coach drop-off pace doesn't work here.

Getting there.

By car

Newport is on the R503, 16km northeast of Limerick city and 25km southwest of Nenagh. From the M7 motorway take Junction 28 (Birdhill) and follow the R503 north. Limerick to Newport is about 25 minutes.

By bus

Bus Éireann service 343 runs Limerick to Nenagh via Newport several times daily. Journey from Limerick is roughly 40 minutes. Check Bus Éireann for current timetable.

By train

Nearest station is Limerick (Colbert Station), then bus or taxi. Birdhill (junction village) is 8km away but has no train stop on the current network.

By air

Shannon Airport (SNN) is 35km, about 35 minutes by car. Dublin Airport is roughly 2 hours.