Ballinea is a stop on the Royal Canal Greenway rather than a destination of its own: a small village west of Mullingar on the R390, where the canal cuts through and a stone bridge carries the road over to the western bank. If you’re on the towpath it’s a natural place to pause; if you’re not, the village itself is residential and quiet. The name is the Irish Béal an Átha, ‘mouth of the ford’ – a crossing point here long before the canal arrived.
Two greenways at Ballinea
Ballinea Bridge is a signed access point for the Royal Canal Greenway west of Mullingar. The canal towpath heads towards Coolnahay and Ballymahon. For Athlone, follow the Old Rail Trail where the two routes part at Ballinea.
Watch for other path users and take care near the canal edge. Check the Westmeath County Council route map when planning where to join.
The bridge
Ballinea Bridge is the thing to look at. The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage calls it humble in form but with a simple, functional elegance, robustly built in fine local stone – a piece of the Royal Canal Company’s early-nineteenth-century ambition to link Dublin with the Shannon. Look on the east parapet for a memorial plaque, which is what lifts it above the run of canal bridges.
The reed beds and open water along the canal are good for herons and the occasional kingfisher. This is a working bit of countryside, not a visitor attraction, so treat Ballinea as a leg of a longer day on the canal rather than a place to fill an afternoon.
A scholar from Ballinea
Ballinea’s claim to fame is a person, not a place. Fr Paul Walsh was born here on 19 June 1885 and went on to become one of Westmeath’s most respected scholars, a prolific writer on the Irish language, hagiography, topography and the general history of Ireland. He was made parish priest of Multyfarnham in 1932 and died in 1941. His work on Irish placenames and genealogy is still pored over by historians today.
Nearby
The obvious pairing is Belvedere House and Gardens, the 18th-century lakeside estate just outside Mullingar, with its formal gardens and the Jealous Wall – a folly built by Robert Rochfort to block the sight of his estranged brother’s house.