In September 1828, a crowd reported at up to 50,000 packed into Clogheen to hear Daniel O’Connell argue the case for Catholic emancipation, won the following year. The village today has fewer than 500 residents, which tells you most of what you need to know: Clogheen is small and quiet now, but it sits at a real crossroads of County Tipperary history and walking country. It lies in the Galtee-Vee Valley, the Galtee Mountains to the north and the Knockmealdowns close to the south, with the River Tar, a tributary of the Suir, running through it. The Irish name, Cloichín an Mhargaidh, means ‘little stone of the market’.
If you do one thing here, head for the Vee.
The Vee and Bay Lough
The hills to the south rise towards the Vee, where the R668 toward Lismore bends sharply over the Knockmealdowns and the valley opens out behind you over the patchwork of the Golden Vale with the Galtees beyond.
The mountain road is narrow in places. Stop only at a safe designated space, and check road conditions in poor weather, as the high road can take snow and ice. Bay Lough, a dark corrie lake with a long association with local ghost stories, is a separate hill and lakeside outing. Choose the marked approach, wear shoes with grip and keep away from steep or wet banks.
On the lower slopes is Grubb’s Grave, the cairn monument to Samuel Grubb, a 19th-century member of the local Quaker family.
Walking from Clogheen
The Blackwater Way’s Avondhu section and the East Munster Way meet at Clogheen. The Tipperary Heritage Way starts above the village at the Vee Gap. Check current maps and plan a return before choosing a linear stage.
The Blackwater Way begins here as the Avondhu Way and runs south towards Bweeng in County Cork. Combined with the Duhallow Way, the full Blackwater Way is a 168 km route that follows the Blackwater valley from the edge of west Waterford across north Cork and into Kerry. You do not have to commit to the whole thing: short out-and-back days are possible, and the village makes an easy base.
Use designated parking in the village and keep hill roads and gateways clear.
A village with a long memory
For its size, Clogheen has held onto a lot of history.
Its best-known figure is Father Nicholas Sheehy, a parish priest executed in 1766 after a trial widely seen then and since as a stitch-up during the persecution of the Whiteboys. He is buried at Shanrahan graveyard just outside the village and is still remembered locally as a martyr.
The grand house that once stood nearby is gone. Shanbally Castle, built around 1820 to a design by John Nash, the architect behind much of Regency London, for the 1st Viscount Lismore, was demolished by the State in 1960, one of the more regretted losses of an Irish country house.
The village itself was shaped in the 18th and 19th centuries by two families: the O’Callaghans, who laid out new houses, paved streets, a market house and barracks, and the Quaker Grubbs, who ran the mills. At its peak the area had seven flour mills; by 1880 all but one had closed, and that survivor had a curious second life in 1939 as the base for Tipperary Products Ltd.
More recently, Clogheen made the national news in 2000 when a former hotel earmarked to house refugees was damaged in an arson attack, an episode that fed Gerry Stembridge’s television film Black Day at Black Rock. The Travellers’ rights activist Nan Joyce, born in 1940, was from here.
Practical information
- Getting there: Clogheen is on the R665 and R668; the nearest large towns are Cahir, about 14 km away, and Mitchelstown, about 20 km. A car is the practical choice for the Vee and the trailheads; check current bus timetables if you are travelling without one.
- Parking: use designated parking in the village or at the specific trailhead.
- When to go: the village and its trails are free to visit. Spring to autumn is the easier time for walking; in winter, check conditions before heading over the Vee.
Pick a clear day and check road conditions before driving over the Vee. The rest is for walkers with a few days to give it.