Glassan
| Glasson Glasán
Glasson |
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| Village | |
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 Glasson
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| Coordinates: Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | |
| Country | Ireland |
| Province | Leinster |
| County | County Westmeath |
| Elevation | 56 m (184 ft) |
| Population (2011) | |
| • Urban[1] | 198 |
| • Rural[2] | 816 |
| Irish Grid Reference | N090467 |
Glassan or Glasson (Irish: Glasán, meaning "small stream"), also the Village of the Roses[3] is a small village in rural County Westmeath, Ireland.[1] It is 10 km (6.2 mi) north of Athlone, on the N55 national secondary road, not far from the shores of Lough Ree. The village was established to serve Waterstown House which is located on a hill south east of the village. The Harris-Temple family lived in Waterstown House which was built in the 1740s.[3] A small river known as the River Tullaghan flows through the northern end of the village and then flows south to Killinure Lough, a part of Lough Ree.
The core of the village consists of a late 18th/early 19th century terrace of two-storey rose-covered houses. Suburban development has taken place on all approaches to the village in recent times.
The village is overlooked by Caraun Hill, particularly so when approaching the village from the direction of Lough Ree. The village school was built for Isabella Harris who believed that education was one of the elements which could prevent the repetition of the distress experienced during the famine of the 1840s.
Services and businesses in the village include two pubs, Grogan's and The Villager (Formerly "The Fatted Calf")(Formerly "Farrels") both with restaurants, a restaurant in the Old Garda Barracks, a hairdresser, a play school, a Garda Station, car sales garage, panelbeaters workshop, two redundant forges, a Heritage/Community Centre (Old School House), bus repair garage, service station and supermarket, a number of B&B's, a precast and ready-mix Concrete Works, a stonemason's workshop, a defunct petty sessions court house, a former Royal Irish Constabulary Barracks, a dispensary operated by the Health Board, a house which was formerly a mid terrace church (steeple extant but not in situ) and a fake water pump installed by the Tidy Towns (Ignoring the locations of several original pumps in the village which had been stolen). Glassan also hosts two hunts; namely the Glassan Farmers Hunt and the South Westmeath Harriers.
Close to the village in an area which was originally the deerpark of the Waterstown demesne is Wine Port, so named because wine was brought from France and Spain by boat and landed here, and brought to the cellars under the house by cart.
