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LEMYBRIEN

CO. WATERFORD · IE

Lemybrien
Léim Uí Bhriain

The Ireland's Ancient East
STOP 04 / 04

Léim Uí Bhriain · Co. Waterford

A junction on the N25 with a mountain road behind it. The mountain road is the point.

Lemybrien is a junction more than a village. The N25 from Cork to Waterford goes through it, the R676 climbs out of it into the Comeragh Mountains, and most of what people think of as Lemybrien is the corner where those two roads meet. A service station, a primary school, the GAA pitch a short way out. Houses set back from a road that has got too fast for them.

The reason to stop is what is behind it. The R676 north out of the village runs up into the foothills of the Comeraghs and is the start of the Comeragh Drive — the loop that takes you to Mahon Falls and the so-called Magic Road, then back down to Dungarvan via Mahon Bridge and Kilrossanty. Lemybrien is the gate. You pass through it on the way somewhere better, which is the truth about a lot of crossroads villages and not a slight.

Population

~250

Walk score

A garage, a school, a junction — five minutes end to end

Coords

52.1739° N, 7.5278° W

01 / 04

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 junction

N25 meets R676.

Cork-to-Waterford traffic on one road, Comeraghs on the other. The village is the corner where the two meet — a service station, a school, a few houses set back from the dual carriageway.

Getting there → 02 The Comeraghs

Mahon Falls is up the back road.

Turn north off the N25 onto the R676 and the road climbs into the Comeragh Mountains. Mahon Falls — an 80-metre cascade off sandstone cliffs — is about fifteen minutes inland. The Comeragh Drive uses Lemybrien as its starting gate.

Walks & outings → 03 The name

Léim Uí Bhriain — O'Brien's leap.

The Irish name translates literally as O'Brien's leap. The story behind it is local lore rather than written record — the leap, whoever made it, has not survived in any source we trust.

Stories & lore →

02 / 04

Stories & lore.

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

What the name might mean

The leap

Léim Uí Bhriain translates as O'Brien's leap. The leap itself does not appear in any reliable written source — no chronicle, no surviving bardic poem, no land record we have been able to find. Local lore offers candidates: an O'Brien on horseback escaping pursuers across a stream, a chase through the Comeragh foothills, the usual furniture of a placename story. Treat them all as folk explanation rather than fact. The name is older than the records that survive.

Why drivers turn left here

The gateway to the Comeraghs

The R676 north out of Lemybrien is the official start of the Comeragh Drive — a signed scenic loop that takes you up to Mahon Falls and across the back of the mountains before dropping you into Dungarvan. The drive uses Lemybrien because the junction is the easiest place on the N25 to peel off. Most cars pulled in at the petrol station are doing exactly that — coffee, fuel, then up into the hills.

The pitch is here, the parish is over the hill

Kilrossanty GAA

Kilrossanty GAA — one of the older clubs in Waterford, senior football since 1937 — plays its home games at Páirc Naomh Bríd in Lemybrien, even though the parish church and the village of Kilrossanty itself sit a few kilometres north over the foothills. On a Sunday in summer, the cars parked along the verge of the N25 are mostly here for a match nobody driving past on the way to Cork would know was on.

03 / 04

Things to do outside.

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

Mahon Falls Up the R676 about fifteen minutes from the junction. Park at the signed Comeragh Drive car park. A flat track up the valley to an 80-metre waterfall off sandstone cliffs. Easy. Bring a coat — the wind funnels.

1 km return from car parkdistance

30 mintime

The Comeragh Drive The signed scenic loop. Lemybrien up the R676 to Mahon Falls, across to Mahon Bridge and Kilrossanty, then down to Dungarvan and back along the N25. Stop at the Magic Road near the falls — handbrake off, the car appears to roll uphill. It is an optical illusion and it works on everyone.

~50 km loop by cardistance

Half daytime

Crough Wood, Mahon Bridge Ten minutes up the road at Mahon Bridge. A forestry loop with views back across the valley. A short walk that gets you among the mountains without committing to a summit.

4 km loopdistance

1.5 hourstime

Getting there.

By car

On the N25 between Kilmacthomas (10 min north-east) and Dungarvan (15 min south-west). Cork is 1 hour west, Waterford City 35 minutes east. The junction with the R676 — the Comeragh Drive — is the centre of the village.

By bus

Bus Éireann Expressway 40 (Cork–Waterford–Rosslare) stops on the N25 at Lemybrien several times a day. It is a request stop in practice — flag the driver.

By train

No train. Nearest stations are Waterford (35 min east) and the Suir Valley heritage line at Kilmacthomas — not a transport service.

By air

Cork (ORK) is 75 minutes. Waterford Airport, on the far side of the city, has no scheduled flights at present.