POSTED FROM

BALLINALACK

CO. WESTMEATH · IE

Ballinalack
Béal Átha na Leac, Co. Westmeath

The Ireland's Hidden Heartlands
STOP 08 / 08

Béal Átha na Leac · Co. Westmeath

A five-arched bridge, an N4 service stop, and one of Ireland's biggest undeveloped zinc orebodies under the fields.

Ballinalack is the kind of place the road forgets it has gone through. The bridge over the Inny, a forecourt, a pub, a few cottages set back from the verge, and the N4 already pulling you toward Edgeworthstown before you have finished reading the name on the sign. The village proper had 161 people at the 2022 census. There has been a crossing here a great deal longer than anyone has been counting.

The river is the older story. The Inny threads down through Lough Derravaragh, runs past the village, and on through Lough Iron a few kilometres south-west before making for the Shannon at Lough Ree. Ballinalack - Béal Átha na Leac, the mouth of the ford of the flagstones - is named for the crossing, not the settlement. The five-arched stone bridge replaced the ford. The N4 took over the bridge's old job of carrying the Mullingar to Longford traffic. The river still does what rivers do, and it is a serious pike and coarse fishery either side of the bridge.

The strange story is what is under the fields. Prospectors drilling into the Carboniferous limestone here found one of the largest undeveloped lead and zinc orebodies in Ireland, a body of mineralisation that has been sitting on geologists' maps ever since. Companies have come and gone, the drill rigs reappear every few years, and so far the ore has stayed where it has been for hundreds of millions of years. It is a strange thing to drive over without knowing it is there.

Population

161 (2022 census)

Pubs

1and counting

Coords

53.6281° N, 7.4683° 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 crossing

Bridge over the Inny on the Mullingar to Longford road.

The River Inny runs out of Lough Derravaragh and on through Lough Iron a few kilometres south-west. Ballinalack is where the old Mullingar to Longford road crosses it, and has been crossing it for centuries. The name means the mouth of the ford of the flagstones.

Stories & lore → 02 The N4

A pause on the road north.

About 14 km north-west of Mullingar on the way to Edgeworthstown, Longford and Sligo. A service station, a pub, a few houses set back from the verge. Most people who pass through never realise they have.

Getting there → 03 Underneath

A zinc-lead deposit nobody has mined.

Prospectors found a major zinc and lead orebody in the limestone here, and it has been drilled around ever since. Believed to be the third-largest undeveloped zinc-lead occurrence in Ireland. It has never been opened.

Stories & lore →

02 / 08

The pubs.

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

The Western Gem

The one pub, in the village centre

Village pub

Ballinalack's pub, in the centre of the village by the bridge. Small place, local trade. If you want a pint in Ballinalack itself rather than a coffee at the service station, this is it. Hours are local-pub hours, so it may not be open when you pass through in the middle of the day.

03 / 08

Where to eat.

Place	Type	€	Local note
O'Reilly's Service Station (Supermac's & Papa John's)	N4 service station food court	€	The big filling station and shop on the N4 is the practical food stop for most people passing through. It runs a Supermac's, a Papa John's, a deli and hot-food counter, and a carvery, with parking, a drive-thru and free WiFi. Not a destination, but an honest place to break a Dublin to Sligo run and the busiest corner of the village by a distance.

04 / 08

Stories & lore.

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

Why the village exists

The bridge over the Inny

The River Inny runs down through Lough Derravaragh and on through Lough Iron toward the Shannon. The flagstone ford that gave the village its name - Béal Átha na Leac - was eventually replaced by a five-arched stone bridge, and the road from Mullingar to Longford settled on this crossing. The 1837 Topographical Dictionary describes the place plainly: on the banks of the Inny, with a bridge of five arches, on the road from Mullingar to Longford, then a village of fifty-one houses with a constabulary station and a school. It has been a crossing on that road, more or less, ever since, and the N4 still funnels through it.

A mine that never opened

The orebody

Exploration drilling identified a major zinc-lead deposit in the Carboniferous limestone beneath the fields around Ballinalack, roughly 275 metres down, in the same Irish ore belt that built the Tara mine at Navan about 50 km to the east. It is believed to be the third-largest undeveloped zinc-lead occurrence in the country. It has been studied, modelled in 3D and drilled around for decades, and it has still not been mined. The current operator is the junior explorer Group Eleven Resources, working the ground in a joint venture with a Chinese zinc producer and keeping the project alive with step-out holes a few kilometres along the trend. The fields look like ordinary Westmeath fields. They are not.

05 / 08

Things to do outside.

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

Ballinalack Bridge and the Inny bank The five-arched bridge is the centre of the village, and the riverbank below it is the reason anglers come. The Inny here is a pike and coarse fishery, fished from the east bank downriver toward Lough Iron and upriver toward Lough Derravaragh. Kayaks and small boats launch at the bridge to explore down to Lough Iron, which has no public road access of its own. Not a waymarked trail, just a quiet river crossing and the bank either side of it. Bring boots after rain.

As far as you likedistance

30-60 minutestime

06 / 08

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar-May

The Inny banks green up and the pike fishing is good. A quiet, easy time to stop at the bridge.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun-Aug

Longest evenings for launching a kayak down to Lough Iron. The N4 is busy with traffic heading west for the weekend.

◉ Go

Autumn

Sep-Oct

Good coarse and pike angling on the river, fewer cars, soft light over the water meadows.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov-Feb

Short days and a river that can run high and brown. The service station keeps going regardless; the riverbank may not be worth the mud.

◐ 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.

Expecting a village to wander

Ballinalack is a bridge, a pub and a service station on a national road, not a streetscape to stroll. It had 161 people at the last census. Come for the river crossing or as a pit stop, not for an afternoon of village pottering.

Looking for the mine

There is a major zinc-lead orebody under the fields, but there is nothing to see. No headframe, no shaft, no visitor centre - just farmland and the occasional drill rig. The story is the point, not a sight.

Getting there.

By car

On the N4, about 14 km north-west of Mullingar and roughly 18 km south-east of Edgeworthstown. From Dublin allow about 1h 20m; from Sligo around 2h. The service station and bridge are right on the road.

By bus

Bus Éireann services on the Dublin to Sligo route pass through on the N4; Mullingar, fifteen minutes south, is the nearest town with a proper bus and rail service.

By train

Nearest station is Mullingar, on the Dublin to Sligo line.