goodly barrow

goodly barrow
Café, Museum, Crafts and Books
step back into river time

the old canal store

Goresbridge
087 244 0551 R95 W8FY

The Museum

Come and see maps, artefacts and panel displays about the history of waterways navigation from the time our earliest ancestors dared the Barrow. Watch video interviews with elders whose lives were entwined with the commercial waterways. History students: take up one of the open questions and have your work hosted here. Visit us ...the old way. Drop in. Make your own contributions. More..

'Barge Cinema'

Within the cabin of the old 47M, you can watch over 40 minutes of extraordinary cinematic footage, shot on the Irish Waterways between 1940 and 1961. Excerpt...

The Goodly Voyage

After two years working with Lilliput Press, we are delighted to announce a limited print run of ‘Goodly Barrow’ by T.F. O’Sullivan, available here. The recovery of our now shared name from the 16^th century poetry of Edmund Spenser, is just a small taste of the learnedness and breadth of this timeless book. More...

COLM TÓIBÍN

soups, salads & Goodly Bowls

Paula's recipes

HOt drinks

re-fuelling

Nice cake

Too nice

Bryan Donnelly

Distinguished metal craftsman Bryan, has created a selection of traditionally forged artefacts, exclusive to Goodly Barrow. More..

Kate O'Neill

Kate has provided us with a unique selection of silver pendants and earrings specially commissioned for Goodly Barrow. More...

Klaus Hartmann

coming soon

Walking & cycling

The Barrow way has lovely walks for all. The track or towpath was built for horses pulling boats between St. Mullins and Athy. So, a Barrow walk has the ease of a level canal-side walk with the wild beauty of Ireland's most spectacular river valley. It's also great for an easy-going bike trip.

Goresbridge is a great place to start. It's easy to get to. There are lovely short and long walks in both directions. There is good accommodation nearby and the village has fine pubs, a good shop and even a library. And of course the Goodly Barrow is here with more information and a good place to relax for your pre-walk planning or your cycling pitstop.

Your Barrow way...

Use our distance chart - so you know when to turn around and head back to us!

If you want to do a one way walk, check the daily timetable of the Kilbride Coaches bus between Graiguenamanagh and Goresbridge via Borris.

We recommend the Sport Ireland Barrow way route maps.

kayaking

In 2022 Goodly Barrow is teaming up with Barrow kayaking guru Charlie Horan's, 'Go With the Flow'. We plan to have some of Charlie's guided and self-guided kayaking groups using our premises as their base. We also plan to become a centre where groups can be introduced to the history of navigation, waterways environmental appreciation, and of course, learn to safely enjoy river adventure. We'll keep you posted...

BECOMING ‘GOODLY’

Why goodly? The Barrow has been called many other names by the people along its banks. One Carlow reference, 'the sulky old river,' better fits with the fearful respect and deathly ancient beliefs that echo the length of Barrow valley. The 'goodly' reference to the Barrow first used in a 1568 blurb by an agent touting these lands to prospective English planters. The 'goodly Barrow' was reused in Edmund Spenser's 1596 Faerie Queene verses. The description suggests that neither man actually visited the Barrow. The name was made irresistible by the allusion to it in the title of Tadhg O’Sullivan’s wonderful book, with a trip down the Barrow providing the spine around which his learned historical perspectives meander.

For more:

Come view our panels on the ancient history of the river. To find out more about the museum or the restoration and conservation project, please leave your contact details with the team or use the form below