Our Locality

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Our Locality
Tubberclare / Glasson
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Index

• Map
• Early Occupation
• Early Christianity
• The Normans
• Waterstown House
• Waterstown Ruins
• Pigeon House
• Glasson
• The Old School House

• Bethlehem
• Goldsmith
• Lissoy
• The Pinnacle
• Killinure
• Tubberclair
• Modern Glasson
• Lough Ree
• Bibliography

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Early Occupation

• People lived in this area as far back as the
  Stone Age.
• A stone axehead, stone arrowheads and a stone jar
  were found.

During the Bronze Age people lived in crannógs in
Doonis Lough and in Lake Makeegan (Auburn Lough).

• Many townlands take their names from the
  homesteads of the Celts who live here Lios,
  Rath, Lisakilleen, Lisnascreen.

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Early Christianity

• St. Patrick is said to have come to this area,
  but after a poor reception from the people of
  Calry, he fled over the Breensford River leaving
  the imprint of his knees near Annagh Crossroads,
  giving the the name Patricks Knees.
• St. Canice founded a monastery in
  Kilkenny West about 550 A.D.

• St. Kieran founded a monastery on Hare Island
  before moving to Clonmacnoise.
• Later, abbeys and churches were built on Islands
  in Lough Ree - Inchmore, Inchturk Nuns Island
  and Inisboffin.

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The Normans

• The Normans came to Ireland at the request of
  King Henry 11.
• In 1185 all land of Tubberclair was granted to
  the Norman Dillon family.
• Area became known as the Barony of Kilkenny West.
• The Dillons built 7 castles - Kilfaughney,
  Ballinakill, Ballinacliffey, Killinure, Kilkenny
  West, Waterstown and Portlick.
• Only Portlick remains.

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Waterstown House

• Land granted to William
• Hancock during the Cromwellian plantation.

• House built in late 1600s on the site of the
  Dillon castle which had been destroyed.
• Designed by Richard Castle (Designer of Leinster
  House, Westport House, Powerscourt House, Rotunda
  Hospital).
• Became Known as the Hancock Temple Estate the
  following century.
• Later became the Harris Temple Estate.

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Waterstown Ruins

• Waterstown House is now in ruins.
• It was dismantled in the early twentieth century
  and parts of it are to be seen in different parts
  of the country the main gates are at Longford
  Cathedral.

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Pigeon House

• The Pigeon House on the Waterstown Estate
  supplied meat for the residents during the Winter.

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Glasson

• Glasson takes its name from the Irish word
  Glasan which means a streamlet.
• The village was built by the owners of Waterstown
  for its workers,
• An underground tunnel ran from the village to the
  estate.

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The Old School House

• Built in 1844.
• Funded by Isabella Harris Temple of Waterstown
  House.

• Provided a free school for the children of
  Glasson.
• Remained open until 1897.
• Reopened in 1905 and continued as an Infant
  School until 1962.
• Became a Heritage Centre in 1998.

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Bethlehem

• Poor Clare Nuns fled from Dublin after their
  convent was suppressed in 1630.
• Nuns given protection by their relatives the
  Dillons.
• Convent built on the shore of Lough Ree in
  1631and called Bethlehem.
• Mother Cecily Dillon was the first Abbess.
• In 1642 the convent was destroyed by English
  soldiers.
• Nuns fled to Nuns Island in Lough Ree.
• The soldiers were all murdered at Ballinacliffy
  Castle.
• The nuns went to Galway city where they founded a
  monastery at Nuns Island.

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Goldsmith

• Oliver Goldsmith - poet, playwright and novelist,
  was born at Pallas in Co. Longford, in 1728.
• His father was a parson who moved to this area 2
  years later.

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Lissoy

• Lissoy Parsonage was Goldsmiths home from the
  age of two until he went to university.

• His childhood haunts inspired much of his
  writing.
• In The Deserted Village he wrote
  Near yonder copse, where once the
  garden smiled And still
  where many a garden-flower grows wild
  There where a few torn shrubs the place
  disclose, The village
  preachers modest mansion rose.

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The Pinnacle

• A signalling tower.
• Built by a local landlord, Nathaniel Lowe, in
  1769.
• He lived 25 miles away in Galway.
• His herdsman communicated with him from the
  Pinnacle, using flag signals.

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Killinure

• Glasson Golf Country Club was, up to recent
  times, known as Killinure House.
• It was built about 1780 and restored at the end
  of the 19th century.
• The Reid Family converted it to a luxurious
  clubhouse in the 1990s.

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Tubberclare

• Tubberclair gets its name from the Irish Tobar
  cláir .the water of the plain.

• This beautiful garden is opposite the Roman
  Catholic Church.

• The Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate
  Conception was built during Penal Times.

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Modern Glasson

• The Health Centre

• The Post Office

• The Village Restaurant

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Lough Ree

• Situated in the middle of Ireland - the middle
  lake on the River Shannon.
• Many islands, including Nuns Island and Hare
  Island, a former home of St. Kieran.
• Raided by Vikings in the 8th and 9th centuries.
  Viking treasure discovered there in 1802.
• Lord Castlemaine built a summer residence there
  in the 19th century.
• Famous for fishing .
• Boats may be hired for angling.

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Bibliography

• The Glasson Trail - Westmeath Tourism
• The Spring Wells - Fr. Seamus Mulvany