Ferbane
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Ferbane (; ) is a town in
County Offaly County Offaly (; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is named after the Ancient Ireland, ancient Kingdom of Uí ...
, Ireland. It is on the north bank of the
River Brosna The River Brosna () is a river within the Shannon River Basin in Ireland, flowing through County Westmeath and County Offaly. The river rises in Lough Owel north of Mullingar and is a tributary of the River Shannon. It meets the Shannon at Sha ...
, between Birr and
Athlone Athlone (; ) is a town on the border of County Roscommon and County Westmeath, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located on the River Shannon near the southern shore of Lough Ree. It is the second most populous town in the Midland Region, Ir ...
at the junction of the N62 and R436 roads, 20 km south of Athlone. The name of the town is said to come from the white bog cotton which grows in the surrounding
Bog of Allen The Bog of Allen () is a large raised bog in the centre of Republic of Ireland, Ireland between the rivers River Liffey, Liffey and River Shannon, Shannon. The bog's 958 square kilometres (370 square miles) stretch into counties County Offaly, ...
. Ireland's first milled-peat fired
power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the electricity generation, generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electr ...
was commissioned by the
Electricity Supply Board The Electricity Supply Board (ESB; ) is a state owned (95%; the rest are owned by employees) electricity company based in Ireland with operations worldwide. While historically a monopoly, the ESB now operates as a commercial semi-state concer ...
(ESB) at Ferbane in 1957. Since the station's closure in 2001, the Shannon Development agency and the ESB have invested €1.4 million in a new business and technology park which opened in 2005.


History


Coole Castle

Sir John MaCoghlan built Coole Castle on the banks of the Brosna in 1575. It was the last of the MacCoghlan castles to be built. He erected it as a present to his second wife Sabina O'Dallachain. Formerly, there was a mural slab in the castle with a Latin inscription translated in English as ''"“This tower was built by the energy of Sir John MacCoghlan, K.T. chief of this Sept at the proper cost of Sabina O'Dallachain on the condition that she should have it for her lifetime and afterwards each of her sons according to their seniority"''. The whereabouts of the mural is unknown at present. In his will in 1590, Sir John left Coole Castle to his widow. Over the fireplace, in its original location, in the topmost room of the castle is a plaque written in Middle Irish which reads: "SEAGHA (n) MAC (c) OCHL (ain) DO TINDSCAIN O SEO SUAS 1575" ("Sean Mac Cochlan began (this building) from this (date) 1575")


Kilcolgan Castle (Court)

Terence Coghlan built Kilcolgan Castle in the early 1640s. In 1646, the Papal Nuncio was sent to Ireland; he stayed for some time in the castle and wrote admiringly of the castle demesne with its beautifully laid out gardens and peacocks strutting on the lawns. The castle continued to be in the possession of the MacCoghlans until the 18th century when it became uninhabited and fell into disrepair. The remains of the castle were demolished in 1954 and the stones used to make foundations for the power station at Lumcloon.


Gallen Priory

Less than a kilometre south of the town, on the site of an ancient
monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...
founded by the Welsh missionary Saint Canoc in 492, stands Gallen Priory (formerly a
convent A convent is an enclosed community of monks, nuns, friars or religious sisters. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The term is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...
of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of
Cluny Cluny () is a commune in the eastern French department of Saône-et-Loire, in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. It is northwest of Mâcon. The town grew up around the Benedictine Abbey of Cluny, founded by Duke William I of Aquitaine in ...
, now a nursing home).


Education

All of Ferbane's primary and secondary schools have a Catholic ethos and are regulated by the
Department of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...
through the national curriculum. These include St Cynoc's National School, a national (primary) school which was founded in 2007 through the amalgamation of St Mary's Boys' National School and St Mary's Girls' National School. Gallen Community School is the local secondary school and has been in existence since 2004 following the amalgamation of two former schools in the town. The school was newly rebuilt in 2011 under the DES Public Private Partnership scheme.


Community and sport

Ferbane GAA Ferbane/Belmont GAA is a football club in the Gaelic Athletic Association located in Ferbane in County Offaly, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, 13 miles from Birr, County Offaly, Birr. The Ferbane GAA field is located in the town of Ferbane on the ...
is the local
Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sports, amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional Irish sports o ...
club. Tony McTague, a
Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...
er with the club, was on the Offaly senior team that won the 1971 All-Ireland and 1972 All-Ireland championships. He was Offaly captain in 1972. Gallen Community School's senior team has won two All Ireland titles (in 2011 and 2016). In October 2007, 142 residents of the Ferbane area gathered to participate in a globally simultaneous dance to the music of
Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...
's ''Thriller''.


Transport

Ferbane is serviced by two bus routes. These include
Bus Éireann Bus Éireann (; "Irish Bus") is a state-owned bus and coach operator providing services throughout Republic of Ireland, Ireland, with the exception of Dublin, where bus services are provided by sister company Dublin Bus. It is a subsidiary of C ...
route 72 (between Athlone and Limerick) and
TFI Local Link TFI Local Link, or simply Local Link, is a set of local bus services in Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided ...
route 9990 (between Ballycumber and Moate). The closest train stations to Ferbane are Clara (17 km) and Athlone (19 km). Ferbane's former railway station (which opened in 1884), closed for passenger traffic in 1947 and closed fully in 1963. The Grand Canal, which links up with the
River Shannon The River Shannon ( or archaic ') is the major river on the island of Ireland, and at in length, is the longest river in the British Isles. It drains the Shannon River Basin, which has an area of , – approximately one fifth of the area of I ...
, passes through Gallen townland.


Amenity areas

An area of Ferbane industrial park is known locally as the Cow Park as it was once a municipal grazing area. A nearby forested area has a short walking trail along the mill race and a footpath through a predominantly oak-forest. Other walking trails include the Offaly Way, a national waymarked trail which runs close to Ferbane town. It is a 37 km route that starts at Lemanaghan and finishes at Cadamstown. Lough Boora Discovery Park also has walking trails up to 22 km. In May 2023, a boardwalk on Ferbane Bog was opened; The raised bog is known locally as Ballylin Bog. According to a representative of the Ferbane Tidy Towns, a link between Ballylin Bog and the Cow Park woodland, through a green corridor of native tree planting, is also proposed.


Library

Ferbane has a public library with children's and adults' sections. The library has computer access, printing services and free wifi.


Notable people

* Conor Kenny (b.1996), rugby player * Mary Ward (1827–1869), naturalist, astronomer, microscopist, author and artist.


See also

* List of towns and villages in Ireland.


References


External links


Offaly.ie - Ferbane
(archived) * (archived)
Ferbane Feis Ceoil
{{Authority control Towns and villages in County Offaly