This document provides a historical overview of the Tubberclare and Glasson area in Ireland. It describes early occupation dating back to the Stone Age, and the establishment of monasteries and churches in the area from the 6th century AD. The Normans arrived in the 12th century and built castles. Waterstown House was built on the site of one of the Dillon castles in the late 1600s. Oliver Goldsmith, the famous 18th century poet and novelist, was born nearby and drew from the local landscape in his writing. The document outlines the development of the modern villages of Glasson and Tubberclare.

1. Our Locality
Tubberclare / Glasson

3. Index
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Map
Early Occupation
Early Christianity
The Normans
Waterstown House
Waterstown Ruins
Pigeon House
Glasson
The Old School House
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Bethlehem
Goldsmith
Lissoy
The Pinnacle
Killinure
Tubberclair
Modern Glasson
Lough Ree
Bibliography

4. 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.

5. 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 Patrick’s 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 Nun’s Island and Inisboffin.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

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

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. 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 Nun’s Island in Lough Ree.
• The soldiers were all murdered at Ballinacliffy Castle.
• The nuns went to Galway city where they founded a
monastery at Nun’s Island.

13. 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.

14. Lissoy
• Lissoy Parsonage was
Goldsmith’s 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 preacher’s
modest mansion rose.

15. 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.

16. 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.

17. 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.

18. Modern Glasson
•The Health Centre
• The Post Office
•The Village Restaurant

19. Lough Ree
•Situated in the middle of Ireland - the middle lake on the
River Shannon.
•Many islands, including Nun’s 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.

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