Glenary is actually a green museum to a departed era and for this reason alone is well worth a visit, writes JOHN G O'DWYER
ON A RECENT ramble in the Comeragh Mountains I passed a mock-Tudor Mansion, a hillside farmhouse, a large cross and a firing range. Now I’m sure you’re wondering how the developers got away with such blatant intrusions on the mountain environment? The answer is simple: they didn’t apply for planning permission.
Time then for righteous indignation, references to brown envelopes and calls for the removal of these monstrosities? Actually, no. You see, the structures in Waterford’s Glenary Valley are from a time when planning requirements were unheard of. The mansion is Carey’s Castle and it was once actually due for demolition after falling into dangerous disrepair, but locals protested and so it was secured and preserved.
Would Glenary be better if some forgotten planning law had maintained it, pristine and unaltered, by human hand? Probably not. Carey’s Castle tells the story of a short-lived struggle to tame the uplands. And the deserted hillside farmhouse, tells of a longer struggle lost. And, indeed, the dry stone walls, the bridle paths and field systems of Glenary seem not so much intrusions as monuments to the endeavours of previous generations. For Glenary is actually a green museum to a departed era and for this reason alone is well worth a visit.
Your Glenary walk begins at Carey’s Castle car park (see panel). From here return to the road, go right and immediately right again. Follow the Munster Way signs to the end of a minor road and then left and uphill on an increasingly muddy track. When open mountainside appears to the right leave the track and head over rough ground to a stile over a wire fence. Now part from the walking arrows and ascend east until the going levels and an altar site and Holy Year Cross appear ahead. Here there are superb views over Clonmel to Slievenamon and each year on an August Monday the faithful labour uphill in throngs to pray.
Next descend southeast on a broad track. On your right you will pass the abandoned farmstead of the Ireland family. The Irelands have long since given up the unequal struggle with the hillside and the result is that the forces of nature are now busy rewilding their once productive fields. Reflecting, perhaps, on how mountains ultimately defeat all human effort, you continue uphill to the cairned summit of Long Hill and then veer south as the route drops to a coll. Located above a wooded amphitheatre known as the Punchbowl, this makes an ideal lunch stop.
Refreshed, you now tackle the steepest pull of the day which draws you upwards to Lachtnafrankee summit. The effort is worth it, for this is an exceptional viewing point offering a 360 degree vista of the Comeragh, Galtee and Knockmealdown Mountains. Leave the summit by a wide shoulder running roughly west. This descent can be tedious but soon you reach the valley and join a track above the busy Glenary River. Cross a tributary of the Glenary and continue over a fence and into a wood where a narrow path rapidly leads to a forest roadway.
Across the river to your right there exists a field system and some overgrown ruins. This is all that remains of the once flourishing village of Glenary which in the 19th century had a population of over 200. Unable to maintain its population in affluent times it was finally abandoned in the early 1960s.
Continuing generally west along the forest roadway while keeping the river below on the right, you will, by watching carefully, observe a ruined building on the opposite bank. Cross the Glenary to visit the once-proud Carey’s Castle built by a newly- prosperous Clonmel school owning family but abandoned a half- century later. From here a track leads an easy 500m to your parking place. Note: when water levels are high in the Glenary it is inadvisable to cross at Carey’s Castle. Instead continue west to a public road where a right turn leads to your parking place, signposted right.
Glenary, Co Waterford
StartAbout 2 km from Clonmel on the R671 Clonmel/Dungarvan road and just beyond a row of houses, take a minor road left. Continue uphill until Carey's Castle car park and picnic site is signed to your left.
TimeAllow about 3 hours to complete the circuit.
SuitabilityGenerally an unchallenging outing suitable for those with just basic fitness. In mist some navigation skills are required.
MapUnfortunately both the Ordnance Survey Discovery Series sheets 74 and 75 are needed.
Refreshments and accommodationRestaurants and accommodation options are plentiful in the adjacent town of Clonmel. Information from Clonmel Tourist Office, tel: 052-22960.