Overview
The Royal Canal climbs through Killucan by a flight of eight locks inside two kilometres, then runs dead level for the next 27 km. That flight, and the traffic-free Greenway that now follows the towpath, is the reason most people stop. The village itself sits on the R156 about 15 km east of Mullingar and roughly 60 km from Dublin: a wide, unhurried market street of early-19th-century limestone, with the canal 2 km to the north. Killucan and neighbouring Rathwire had a combined population of 1,370 at the 2016 census.
If you have an hour, walk or cycle the flight from the Greenway car park. It is the one thing here you will not see done better elsewhere on the canal.
History & heritage
Killucan has a longer past than its size suggests. In 1210 King John fought and won a battle here against the de Lacys, and received the submission of Cathal Crobderg O’Connor, King of Connacht. The name is usually read as Cill Lucaine, ‘Church of Lucaine’, though it may be a corruption of Etchén, the bishop of Clonfad remembered in the present church.
That church, St Etchén’s Church of Ireland, was built in 1802 on a site that has held a church since the twelfth century, and it keeps a 13th-century chalice and a 15th-century tomb. The Catholic St Joseph’s (c.1840, neo-Gothic) stands in Rathwire, and St Mary’s in nearby Raharney.
The limestone frontages along the main street are worth a slow look. Most were cut in the early 19th century by two local stone masons, Thomas and William Keegan, working under the patronage of Lord Longford. The Royal Canal reached the village in 1805 and the Midland Great Western Railway in 1848; the station at nearby Riverstown is said to have closed in 1963.
What to see and do
- The Killucan Flight and Royal Canal Greenway – the restored towpath runs traffic-free and flat past the eight locks of the flight, which lifted boats over the rise before the long level pound east of the village. It suits an easy cycle, a run or a stroll, and the main path is wheelchair-friendly, though some historic lock furniture leaves narrow gaps.
Practical information
Bus Éireann route 115C runs between Enfield, Killucan and Mullingar, with the stop near The Old Glebe; it is the useful service, not the 115A. By car the R156 gives direct access and there is free on-street parking in the village. On the Greenway, carry water and a repair kit, as services along the towpath are spread out.
Accommodation in the village is limited: Cunningham’s has guest rooms and a camping pitch, and Mullingar, about 15 minutes west, has the wider choice of hotels and B&Bs. The local GAA club fields senior footballers, having won the Westmeath Intermediate Football Championship in 2005 and stayed up since.
For lock status and waterway rules, check Waterways Ireland before a boating trip. If you are cycling, the shoulder seasons are quieter, and the towpath’s limestone walls take the best light early in the morning.