Overview
Streamstown (Baile an tSrutháin, ‘townland of the stream’) sits almost exactly halfway along the 43km Old Rail Trail, the flat, traffic-free greenway that runs from the Royal Canal in Mullingar to the Shannon in Athlone. That midpoint is really the reason to stop: a restored station house with a café and playground, and free car and bike parking, rather than a village you would travel to for its own sake. If you are cycling the greenway, it is the obvious place to break the ride. If you only have twenty minutes, it is the café and the short Bee Pollinator Trail beside it.
Railway heritage
Streamstown’s Midland Great Western Railway station opened on 1 August 1851, and for over a century the line was the local link between Athlone and Mullingar. It was a junction, too: besides the main line, a branch ran south to Clara, and the down platform had two faces, the outer one used by the Clara trains. Passenger services ran until CIÉ closed them on 17 June 1963, and the line closed to all traffic in 1987.
The village grew up around the station, with a shop, post office, pub and a blacksmith’s forge that later became a motor garage. A handball alley still stands, and so does a late-nineteenth-century cast-iron water pump, a standard rural Westmeath design from the days before mains water reached the townlands.
There is a horse-racing footnote as well. On Easter Monday 1916 a local horse, All Sorts, bred at Bishoptown Stud in Streamstown, won the Irish Grand National. With the railways stopped by the Easter Rising, horse and handlers had to walk the roughly 60km home. Much later, a horse simply named Streamstown ran in the 2002 Grand National and finished ninth.
The Old Rail Trail and Bee Pollinator Trail
When the railway closed, the trackbed became the Old Rail Trail, a 43km off-road greenway from the Royal Canal in Mullingar to the Shannon in Athlone. Because Streamstown sits close to the midpoint, it works well as a turnaround or a lunch stop, whichever end you started from. The route follows the old alignment on a sealed, mostly flat surface, passing under stone-arched bridges and through woodland and farmland, and it suits walkers, cyclists, buggies and many wheelchair users.
The village is also the home of the Bee Pollinator Trail, developed by Westmeath County Council with the National Biodiversity Data Centre. Five illustrated signposts, each with a QR code, explain the native Irish bee species you might meet along the greenway and the wildflowers they depend on. It is a short, genuinely educational detour rather than a walk in its own right.
Jack’s Stop Café and the village today
The station building has a second life as Jack’s Stop Café, opened in March 2023 by local operator Jacqueline Muldoon, with a children’s playground right beside it. For families breaking a cycle, the playground is the main draw. Its opening hours vary with the season, so check ahead before relying on it for lunch.
The village around the station is a quiet place now. It once had a busy shop and post office, and today the greenway traffic and the café are what bring most people through. The Streamstown Harriers, a hunt affiliated with the Irish Masters of Harriers Association, still keeps the older rural sporting tradition going.
Practical information
- Access and parking: Free car and bike parking at the greenway access point and Jack’s Stop Café.
- Opening hours: The greenway is open at all times, year-round. The café’s hours vary seasonally, so check before travelling.
- Getting there: Streamstown is about 20km northwest of Mullingar and roughly 30km from Athlone, off the R390. The trail itself is built for cycling, and bike hire is available in both Mullingar and Athlone.
- Dogs: Welcome on the greenway when kept under control.
For trail maps and access points, see the official Old Rail Trail Greenway page.
Nearby
- Athlone Castle – A medieval fortress on the Shannon at the western end of the Old Rail Trail.
- Hill of Uisneach – The mythic ‘centre of Ireland’, with ancient monuments and long views over the midlands.
- Kilbeggan Distillery – One of Ireland’s oldest licensed whiskey distilleries, an easy add-on to a midlands day.