Moate: Greenway, Culture and History

Moate brings together Irish culture and local history with the Old Rail Trail and Dún na Sí Amenity & Heritage Park. This makes the town interesting for travellers who don’t want to limit their days to just one kind of experience: art and traditional culture are available alongside a Greenway route, walking paths and insights into the town’s history. Which of these aspects appeals to you most may also play a part in choosing Moate as a holiday destination.

Art, Music and Irish Traditions

Tuar Ard is a contemporary arts centre with professional performances, music and dance events, as well as its own exhibition gallery. Those interested in performing arts and exhibitions will find a range of cultural offerings in one place. The programme includes performances as well as music and dance; the gallery complements these stage events with an exhibition space.

At Comhaltas Teach Cheoil, the Scéal exhibition and courses celebrate Irish culture. Traditional music, dance, singing and the Irish language are among the topics. Alongside the arts centre’s offerings, Irish traditions are therefore also explicitly in the spotlight. If you enjoy discovering different forms of cultural expression while travelling, you can consider these venues as distinct points of interest when planning your visit to Moate.

Another notable place is the golf course at Moate Golf Club, which includes a medieval bull ring. This combination of a golf course and a medieval structure is an unusual detail of the town’s history. It differs from the performance and cultural offerings and may appeal to travellers who also look out for historical features during their stay.

The Old Rail Trail and Dún na Sí

The Old Rail Trail is a 43 km Greenway from Athlone to Mullingar that passes through Moate. The route follows the historic line of the Midlands Great Western Railway. Along the way are restored station houses, and the path also runs beneath stone arch bridges. This keeps the former railway line visible along the Greenway. When planning your trip, Moate is therefore a stop along a longer route, not its endpoint.

Dún na Sí Amenity & Heritage Park is directly accessible from the Old Rail Trail Greenway. The park in Moate covers 27 acres and offers scenic walking paths. It also features native Irish woodland and a turlough. These features give the park its own distinctive landscape and complement the railway line’s surroundings with woodland and walking paths. If you like to divide your time between culture and nature, you can take both into account when deciding whether to visit Moate.

Local History in the Streetscape

Moate’s buildings also tell the story of the town’s past. The courthouse was built in the 1830s, replacing an earlier jail and courthouse in Newtown. Several Quaker houses also stand on the main street. Together with the medieval bull ring on the golf course, these places provide different historical points of interest: a 19th-century courthouse, houses on the main street and a medieval structure.

When choosing a holiday apartment or house, you can first ask yourself which of these interests you want your trip to focus on. Moate is worth considering as a destination if you’d like to explore the town itself, Irish culture, local history or the Old Rail Trail. If the longer Greenway route is particularly important to you, bear in mind when planning that it connects Athlone and Mullingar and passes through Moate. Tuar Ard and Comhaltas Teach Cheoil offer different themes for art and traditional culture; the park adds walking paths, woodland and a turlough to the mix.

Discover More Places

If you’d like to add more places to your trip plans, you’ll also find Kinnegad, Multyfarnham, Killinure, Castletown Geoghegan, Castlepollard, Crookedwood, Killachonna and Ballydavid here.

For the broader travel overview: County Westmeath.