Clonmel

Understand

'"All their armye is within a myle to the towne.... Wee expect nothinge else but bee besieged every houre they having nowe noe other place to ayme at but this." - the town garrison sought reinforcement against the approach of Cromwell in 1650.

The valley of the River Suir is a natural transport route, and Cromwell had to come this way to subdue the area. The walled town held out for three weeks then surrendered, but the garrison snuck away by night to Waterford.

The river is tidal as far up as Carrick, so freight barges used to ride up and down on the tide from Waterford. Navigation was possible further up to Clonmel, but involved hauling the barges, not worth the bother once the roads improved. The island in the river made Clonmel an obvious bridging point, so the town continued to be a transport hub, with Bianconi founding his coach network here (see below). Still transport across the sprawling county of Tipperary was tedious so in 1838 it was divided into two Ridings, with Nenagh the county town of the north and Clonmel of the south. The Ridings were abolished in 2014 but county administration is still divided between those towns. This means that Clonmel has a lot of public sector employment; its other trades are engineering, pharmaceuticals and brewing cider.

Get in

Bus Éireann Expressway Bus 55 runs daily every two hours from Waterford via Carrick-on-Suir to Clonmel, taking one hour. It continues to Cahir, Tipperary and Limerick. Bus Éireann local service 355 also serves the Waterford to Clonmel route 7 times a day, with some services extending to/from Cahir.

JJ Kavanagh direct bus route 717 to/from Dublin and Dublin Airport operates ten times a day. Alternatively, from Dublin Airport or Busáras take Bus Éireann Expressway 4 to Waterford or Expressway 245x to Cahir (circa 2 hr 30 min), and change.

Bus Éireann 245 runs 6 days a week from Cork via Glanmire, Sallybrook, Watergrasshill, Rathcormac, Fermoy, Kilsworth and Mitchelstown to Clonmel, two hours.

Kavanagh's Bus 393 / 396 runs three times M-Sa from Thurles along the back lanes via Fethard to Clonmel, 1 hour 40 min.

has two trains M-Sa from Limerick Junction (for Dublin, Cork and Limerick city) via Tipperary and Cahir, continuing from Clonmel to Carrick-on-Suir and Waterford. There are no facilities to collect online tickets at Clonmel.

By car from Dublin follow M8 to Cahir then N24.

Get around

Everything in town is walking distance.

Taxis are Smith Cabs (+353 86 052 9500), Noelie Cabs (+353 86 200 6699) and Pollard (+353 87 222 7222).

See

thumb | 300px | The Main Guard on O'Connell St was built in 1831 in retro-Tudor style to recreate the medieval west gate of the walled township. Nothing remains of the north or east gates. There were no walls on the south side of town, where the River Suir is a natural moat. County Courthouse on the corner of Nelson St and Wellington St was built in 1802. This is where the "Young Irelanders" of 1848 were tried and sentenced to transportation to the colonies. Abbey House of Prayer is on Abbey St behind Main Guard. It's on the site of a friary founded in 1269; this was suppressed at the Dissolution but the friars were able to maintain a presence in town. They regained the site and in 1828 opened a church here which proved too small, so the present church was built. Suir Island in the river across Bridge St once had watermills (hence the weirs) and fine homes. Hughes Mill has been turned into apartments and small businesses, but otherwise only scraps remain. You can picnic on the bosky river bank, where the sign "Lady Blessington's Bath" is a memento of the lurid Marguerite Gardiner (1789-1849), Countess of Blessington. She was born in Clonmel but left young into an arranged marriage with a violent drunkard. It's most unlikely she ever bathed here, but she found much steamier circumstances to plunge into in Italy, and became a travel writer and confidant of Byron. She died in Paris, alas 20 years too early for Manet (or was it Monet?) to paint her riverside picnic arrangements.…

Do

thumb | 300px | Lady Blessington probably didn't bathe in the river What's on? - listen to Tipp FM on 97.1 FM or read South Tipp Today. IMC Cinema is on Kickham St. The Greyhound Stadium has races Friday and Sunday from 7PM. It's just east of the centre between the river bridge and retail park. Golf: Clonmel Golf Club is south on R678. White tees 6366 yards, par 71. Walk the East Munster Way, which follows the river downstream towards Carrick-on-Suir and upstream towards Newcastle. The Vee Drive is a scenic tour over the hills into County Waterford. It's usually done as a circuit from Lismore (and described on that page), but you could start from Clonmel. Junction Festival is a week-long arts festival in July. The Busking Festival folded in 2022.

Buy

thumb | 300px | Trial of the Young Irelanders in Clonmel, 1848 The main retail mall is Showgrounds Shopping Centre, on Davis Rd east edge of town. There's a Lidl and Aldi west edge of town.

Eat

Galileo Cafe is at 5 O'Connell St facing Main Guard. Lana Thai is at 4 Gladstone St. Indian Ocean is 50 m below Befani's on Sarsfield St. Niamh's at 1 Mitchell St is open M-Sa 9AM-4PM.

Drink

Town centre pubs include Hearn's Hotel (which has very basic rooms), Bennigan's, Sean Tierney's and Lonergan's. Parnell St just east has Phil Carroll's, The Coachman, Moran's and Fozzy's. Cider: Bulmer's Irish Cider is made at Anneville 3 km east of town; no tours. They're no longer part of the Bulmer's UK cider company, so outside the Republic their brand name is Magner's but the product is identical. Under that name they've sponsored the United Rugby Championship, Glasgow Celtic FC, the Cheltenham Gold Cup, and other events they reckon the Irish might show up for. Their standard cider is "hard" or dry and they suggest serving over ice.

Sleep

thumb | 300px | Old St Mary's Church

Connect

As of April 2025, Clonmel and its approach roads have 5G with all Irish carriers.