At 146 m above sea level, Bailieborough is one of the highest towns in Ireland, and it has the weather to match – pack a coat whatever the forecast says down in the lowlands. Its Irish name, Coill an Chollaigh, means ‘the wood of the boar’. The town itself is a tidy Plantation-era market town turned Dublin commuter base, founded in the 1600s by the Scottish planter William Bailie, whose name it still carries: Bailie’s Borough.
Don’t come expecting a castle, though. The Bailieborough Castle that gives Castle Lake its name was pulled down in the 1940s, and what’s left is a fragment of ruin on a forest walk. That walk is the reason to stop.
The Castle Lake walk
The lake sits on the northern edge of town inside a Coillte forest that was once the castle demesne, and there are two waymarked loops. The 3.5 km Lake Loop takes about an hour; the longer Castle Loop is 6.5 km and around two. Both are gentle and stay in sight of the water for most of the way.
What makes it more than a lake circuit is what you pass: the ruins of the castle itself, a memorial on Rebel Hill to the United Irishmen who drilled and died there in the 1798 rebellion, and the graves of the Marist brothers who used the castle as a novitiate before it came down. There’s a car park at the lake. If you’re an early riser, the Cavan branch of BirdWatch Ireland runs an annual Dawn Chorus walk here, starting at 4.30am – a wall of birdsong along the shore before the town is awake.
The Bridewell and the old town
The built town came in quickly under the Bailies: Main Street laid out with slated stone houses, a courthouse in 1817, and a bridewell – a small jail for petty offenders – added in 1833. That bridewell, closed since 1900, is now a visitor centre alongside the restored courthouse on Main Street, telling the grim story of 19th-century lock-ups through self-guided and guided tours. It opens Tuesday to Friday 10am–4pm year-round, plus Saturday 10am–1pm from April to September; it’s closed weekends through the winter. The Bailieborough Heritage Society, which runs talks and guided tours, is the group to ask about the older graveyard and the town’s history.
Fishing, coffee and the leisure centre
This is fishing country. Within easy reach are Parker’s Lake, Castle Lake, and Drumkeary, Skeagh and Galloncurra lakes, holding pike, perch, bream and roach; Castle Lake has stands built for anglers with disabilities, and Parker’s has five stands, though its shore can be dangerous in heavy rain. Bait and tackle come from Bailie Stores in the town centre.
For coffee, there’s a specialty spot on Adelaide Row that uses local producers and is happy to have dogs. The Bailieborough Leisure Centre, opened in 1999 on Chapel Road, has a pool and gym; check its current timetable before relying on a swim, as the hours shift through the week.
Loughanleagh
East of town towards Kingscourt, off the R165, the hill of Loughanleagh rises to 344 m (1,119 ft) over open moorland, with a Mass Rock, a fairy fort and, on a clear day, a long view said to take in a dozen-plus counties. There’s parking near the picnic area and Mass Rock at the top, and a marked path, Adrian’s Way, leads on from there. Wear proper boots – the ground is stony and exposed.
Getting there
Bailieborough is just off the N3 corridor, roughly an hour from Dublin via Kells and Virginia, at the meeting of the R165, R178 and R191. Buses run from Cavan and Kells, but services are sparse, so check the current Bus Éireann timetable rather than turning up to wait.
If you’re here on a Thursday, the weekly market on Main Street is the easiest way to pick up local produce and get the measure of the town before you head for the lake.