"Fáilte go Ros Cré" a Roscrea Travel Page by kit_mc

Roscrea, or Ros Cré (Wood of Cré) in Irish, is a small town located fairly centrally in Ireland, about part way between Limerick in the west and Dublin in the east.

The town first grew out of a monastic settlement and eventually into an important trading centre where cross Ireland trading routes met. The N7 skirts by the town and as a result it's fairly easy to reach Roscrea from other parts of Ireland such as Dublin, Limerick, Galway and Cork. Indeed, while staying near Roscrea, I made daytrips to to visit relatives in Wexford, Lough Derg to the west of Roscrea and a tourist trip round Clare and The Burren.

While it's a small town, there's enough here to be getting on with if you're interested in the archeology of Ireland, from Roscrea's Thirteenth Century Castle, complete with a Queen Anne style house, Damer House, in its grounds from the Eighteenth Century

In Roscrea you can do a self guided heritage walk. I was given a map at the ticket office to the castle. Worth a look are the remains of a 15th century Franciscan Abbey that acts as a portal to the town's main Roman Catholic church and the remains of St Cronan's Monastary - a round tower and the facade of the 12th century church.

Oh, and it's worth popping into Damer House in Roscrea Castle grounds if only to see what is reputedly the oldest piece of butter in the world! No, that isn't a joke....