By local tradition, the limerick – the five-line comic verse – was born in this small Limerick village. In the mid-1700s the castle and a tavern kept by the poet Seán Ó Tuama drew a circle of Gaelic poets known as the Maigue Poets, among them Aindrias Mac Craith, the hedge-school master nicknamed An Mangaire Súgach, ‘the merry pedlar’. The two were friends from Kilmallock who traded barbed verses across the room, and Croom claims those exchanges as the root of the form. Historians don’t all accept the claim, but it’s a better reason to stop here than most villages can offer.
Croom (Irish: Cromadh, meaning ‘bend’) sits on a curve of the River Maigue, 8 km south-east of Adare and a short drive from Limerick city. The N20 has bypassed it since 2001, which is why it stays quiet. The attractions are free, outdoors and walkable in an hour or two.
Croom Castle
The castle was begun by Dermot O’Donovan in 1210, and the town was walled in 1310. It later became one of the principal residences of the Kildare branch of the FitzGeralds and changed hands repeatedly through the turbulent 17th century – restored to the FitzGeralds in 1610, forfeited after the 1641 rebellion, granted to the Duke of Richmond, and garrisoned during the Williamite war in 1691 before its defenders fell back to Limerick. It was rebuilt in the 19th century, and a substantial part of it still stands above the river. It’s best seen from the bend of the Maigue and the town park; the castle itself is a private property, not an open ruin.
Dísert Óengusa: the round tower and church
West of the village is Dísert Óengusa (Dysert Aenghusa), an early Christian hermitage founded by Óengus of Tallaght around AD 780. Two National Monuments survive on the slope here: a 12th-century round tower, about 20 m tall with its top missing and a Romanesque doorway, and the ruins of a church built in the 15th century on the older site. The church served as a parish church until 1418. It’s open ground, reachable at any time, and quietest in the early morning – a genuine slice of monastic Ireland a few minutes from the main street.
Croom Mill and the river walk
The river drove the village economy for centuries. The Earl of Kildare built a mill here in 1340; Henry Lyons demolished it and built the present Croom Mill in 1788, which ground on until 1927, its wheel turning into the early 1940s. The ruins stand along the Maigue.
Croom Town Park, free and on the riverbank, is the easy family stop: a playground, adult exercise machines, picnic areas and benches, plus a circular walk that loops through the parkland to a community orchard, passing St Mary’s Holy Well and a Mass Rock. The paths are flat and good for buggies and dog walkers. Car parking is alongside, at the Civic Centre on Main Street.
Fishing the Maigue
The Maigue is a game river, fished for trout and for salmon and grilse running up from the Shannon estuary. The banks around Croom are reasonably accessible. A state licence is required to fish for salmon and sea trout, available from Inland Fisheries Ireland; check the current season dates, water levels and any local permit rules before you go, as these change year to year.
Getting there and practical notes
- By road: Croom is just off the N20 between Limerick city and Cork. Bus Éireann serves the village. The railway station closed in 1967.
- Parking: free roadside parking near the main square, and a car park at the Civic Centre beside the town park.
- Facilities: a café, a convenience store and public toilets in the village centre; the community centre can point you to current local walks and events.
- Access: the town park and riverside paths are largely level and buggy-friendly; the ground around the round tower is grassy and uneven in places.
Nearby
- Adare – the thatched-cottage village 8 km north-west, the county’s busiest tourist stop.
- Lough Gur – a horseshoe lake ringed with stone circles and early settlement sites, a short drive east.
- Ardagh – on the Limerick Greenway, and where the Iron Age Ardagh Chalice was found.
- Bruree – the riverside ringfort of Dún Eochair Maigue, upstream on the same river.
- Ballyhoura Country – forest and upland trails to the south.
Time a visit for early light on the castle and the round tower, then read up on the Maigue Poets before you come – knowing what happened in that tavern is most of what makes Croom worth the turn off the road.