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GLASSAN |
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Ironically enough, GLASSAN - identified as "Sweet Auburn", the
subject of Goldsmith's celebrated anti-enclosure poem The Deserted
Village and described as "the village of the roses" - owes its orderly
layout of creamy-grey pebbledash cottages to enclosure: it was built by
the neighbouring Waterstown estate to provide accommodation for the
artisans needed to tend the massive estate with its ten-acre formal
garden. The estate was divided by the Land Commission in the 1920s, and
the house, designed by the eighteenth-century architect Richard Castle,
was sold for scrap. As you head north towards Ballitore, there's a
profusion of brown "Goldsmith country" signs. Only the front and end
walls of Goldsmith's childhood home, the parsonage at Lissoy, remain,
and still less of the school he attended, or of the "busy mill" that may
be the one mentioned in the poem. Forgney Church , where Goldsmith's
father worked as curate until 1730, was rebuilt in 1810 and is usually
locked. Goldsmith's supposed birthplace at Pallas has a rather spooky
shrine erected by members of the Oliver Goldsmith Society in 1974: a
larger-than-life statue of the writer enclosed behind bars in a sort of
grotto-prison, as if his poetic spirit is too dangerous to be let out
into the world. It's curious to imagine what Goldsmith's mocking soul
would have made of such funereal pomposity. At present, there's little
to see of the Goldsmith collection, but the interpretive centre in the
old school building can provide some information on the poet's
relationship with the area.
Glassan is probably the best place to stay to explore this part of Lough
Ree and Goldsmith country. There's a scattering of B&Bs - try Carraun
View in the village (tel 0902/85391; £33-40/41.90-50.79); or the good,
rather elaborate Village Restaurant (tel 0902/85001). Grogan's Pub is a
popular local watering hole and does fine, bar food, while next door is
a craft shop that also does teas and sandwiches - in short, a whole
range of creature comforts you're unlikely to find further north in the
county. Heading back down the road to Athlone you'll find the excellent
Wineport restaurant on the shores of Lough Ree (summer daily from noon;
rest of year evenings only; tel 0902/85466).
From Glassan, you could do worse than follow the waymarked Lough Ree
tour , especially if you're cycling. Leaving the village, this takes you
down winding lanes for PORTLICK , the "local Killarney", set in
romantically wooded country and farmland sloping down to the loughside,
but without the crowds of Kerry. Portlick's fifteenth-century Gothic
castle gazes wistfully across the lake, crumbling but still inhabited.
At KILLINURE there's a fine marina from where you can take boats out to
the islands of Inchmore or Inchbofin; boats can be rented from the local
pub Manto's , a mile away in the townland of Killeenmore. Manto's also
does B&B (tel 0902/85204; £33-40/41.90-50.79), with camping and
self-catering apartments available too. The Wineport Sailing Centre ,
signposted from Killinure (tel 0902/85466), rents out boats and has a
loughside restaurant.
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