Most Depressing Towns & Villages in Ireland

dasdog · 23-06-2023 5:45pm

Swanlinbar, Co Cavan, about 1km South of the Fermanagh border.

Seems it always had its problems.

Jonathan Swift in his 1728 essay, On Barbarous Denominations In Ireland, wrote:

"There is likewise a famous town, where the worst iron in the kingdom is made, and it is called Swandlingbar: the original of which name I shall explain, lest the antiquaries of future ages might be at a loss to derive it. It was a most witty conceit of four gentlemen, who ruined themselves with this iron project. 'Sw' stands for Swift (Swift's uncle, Godwin Swift, for whose memory he had no special regard, was the instigator of the ironworks and the person named. He lost his fortune due to the mismanagement of the business), 'And' stands for Sanders (Robert Saunders of Dublin), 'Ling' for Darling (Richard Darling of Dublin), and 'Bar' for Barry (Richard Barry). Methinks I see the four loggerheads sitting in consult, like Smectimnius, each gravely contributing a part of his own name, to make up one for their place in the iron-work; and could wish they had been hanged, as well as undone, for their wit."[

bassy · 23-06-2023 5:59pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120753519#Comment_120753519

Does German John still own and drink in he's pub in dunmore??.

BagofWeed · 23-06-2023 6:06pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120753097#Comment_120753097

LOL They didn't even turn up in the actual court to get the names of those charged so you are wrong. The information here is from Garda press releases to the Nationalist. National press do occasionally turn up at the Circuit Court though. Plenty of circuit cases make local and national news.

JKerova1 · 23-06-2023 6:25pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120752793#Comment_120752793

I live there for fours years. Awful kip. Some really rough estates on the Tullow road and nothing nice to see or do there.

riddles · 23-06-2023 6:35pm

I hadn’t been to Thurles in many was passing through on the way to Shannon airport I was surprised at the level of dereliction in it. The Munster hotel I think it’s called is a particular eye sore.

billyhead · 23-06-2023 7:12pm

Dundalk is a dive well last time I was there anyway.

Economics101 · 23-06-2023 7:51pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120755606#Comment_120755606

Ah, Swanlinbar! Went through it years ago and crossing over the border, the dreary steeples of Fermanagh seemed positively cheerful by comparison. A total kip which had no redeeming features whatsoever.

mariaalice · 23-06-2023 7:54pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120755606#Comment_120755606

Thats it, could never remember the name, I have traveled fairly extensively in Ireland and Swanlinbar is really grim. I always thought it was in NI.

brokenbad · 23-06-2023 8:18pm

https://youtu.be/oSGS2Jvq3RQ

dxhound2005 · 23-06-2023 8:38pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtlDljuQ4qw&t=55s

pgj2015 · 23-06-2023 8:44pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120755676#Comment_120755676

I just drive through Dunmore, no way would I ever bother stopping there.

chosen1 · 23-06-2023 9:04pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120755606#Comment_120755606

Think this is one of the most apt nominations for the title of the thread so far.

Just did a Google Street view drive through it and it appears that maybe a school, filling station and butchers are still in business. One pub appears fresh enough but on further investigation, it's closed permanently.

Really is a sad picture of what could have been a self sustaining thriving town years ago. Towns like these along the border seem to have gotten hit more than ones who's hinterland wasn't closed off for many years.

Most of the towns mentioned so far like Tipperary, Clonmel, Longford etc. would fall more in the rough category rather than depressing, and most of these would have plenty of thriving businesses and facilities but suffer from an abundance of problem groups and families in our society.

Benmann · 23-06-2023 9:12pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120755703#Comment_120755703

What difference does it make where they got the story.?They published it. You said the business community complained and theystopped covering the courts. If that were true they would not print the garda press release. There is no difference in a press release and a journalist going to court in respect of it making the town look bad as you said. More like a dumbing down of all local papers. Most of the localpapers are owned by Malcolm Denmark and like all papers are going the way of columnists and human interest and so called health sections which are indirect advertising

How do you know the business community complained

garbanzo · 23-06-2023 9:30pm

Ballinasloe, ‘tis no place to go

Strokestown, ‘tis pretty bad

Naas they say is quite a place….

But fcuk me….Kinnegad !

mariaalice · 23-06-2023 9:36pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120756468#Comment_120756468

Got it in one, there is a big difference between the really grim places and places that have an inbred rough element, and anywhere that is both depressing, and located in a non-scenic area, cut off, and has an inbred rough element must be the grimmest of grim.

orangerhyme · 24-06-2023 1:27am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120756468#Comment_120756468

I agree.

Swanlinbar, Cavan wins.

I wonder if anyone here knows it.

You can see on Google street view it's dying a slow death but would've been lively enough in the past.

Looks like it had a few pubs (maybe 4) and shops in the past but now they're closed. Lots of dereliction on main st.

It's not a main Rd to anywhere. Isn't near anything touristic. It's not commuting distance to any city or near a big town even.

I'm actually intrigued to visit there.

I'd heard before that the partition destroyed lots of towns and villages in the north as they lost half their hinterland.

Their junior team reached the AI in 2011 and the cafe looks nice, so that's something. It also looks very well kept despite the dereliction.

Interesting article about the town dying here:

https://m.independent.ie/farming/rural-life/silence-on-main-street-post-office-closure-the-last-nail-in-the-coffin-for-this-town/37278702.html

"The usual Friday buzz from the 50 or so pensioners who used the office has evaporated as another business closed down - just like the town's pubs and drapery shops and independent grocery stores which have disappeared over the past 10 years."

If you're relying on 50 pensioners for a buzz, you know you're in trouble.

"Local Fianna Fail councillor Sean Smith remembers when the town had 12 pubs, three drapery shops and numerous grocery and butcher stores."

babyducklings1 · 24-06-2023 1:38am

There was a thread like this on boards before thing is what could a place do to become nicer

. See a lot of run down buildings badly in need of a coat of paint and front upgrading, un maintained overgrown roundabout grasses/ flowers, awful potholes , uneven roads, graffiti on building, maybe more of a city problem but still part of our landscape/ cityscape, it all leads to a terrible first impression of a place. And then litter. It’s a shame as places could look so much nicer.

Nigel Fairservice · 24-06-2023 2:04am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120757631#Comment_120757631

A few years ago I had to make contact with the local guard in Swanlinbar. Never heard of the place before that. It took me weeks to track the guy down but in the meantime my inability to get anyone at the station was causing me a bit of grief at work. When I was on my way home from Enniskillen a few years later I saw a sign for Swanlinbar and took a small detour there. I stopped by the Garda station and the building looked condemned. It was hard to believe anyone even worked in it. The village has a fine Top Oil service station though! You'd have the village seen in 2 minutes.

orangerhyme · 24-06-2023 2:36am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120757670#Comment_120757670

The garda station will be next to go. Then the primary school.

You can see there's some community groups making an effort like here:

https://www.swanlinbar.ie/swanlinbar-places-to-visit/

But some places are beyond redemption.

Some parts of Cavan get fishing tourism but this seems to be away from there.

I don't know anyone who's ever visited Cavan for any reason.

mariaalice · 24-06-2023 9:33am

Swanlinbar could use it's grim status as tourist attraction? Cavan is very scenic in parts all the lakes but also lovely rolling countryside a lot of very good farming land, some very large farms and hidden wealth.

Count Dracula · 24-06-2023 10:35am

If i had the time or the energy I would transfer all the mentions on this ugly thread and pin them on a map.

It seems like every town in the country is named.

Irish people are inherently snobbish, that is the truth.

Ugly thread. I have been across the country and met people from almost every town mentioned here, all of them great places filled with greater people.

ednwireland · 24-06-2023 10:41am

reminds of watching the rte series "hands" and them going round businesses in towns and villages. shoemakers, tailors carpenters blacksmith potters. and vibrant mainstreets where you could get everything for life at the time.

we now have cupboards of penny's or dunnes clothes every gadget imaginable. but we seem to have lost the community.

even the busy tourist town I live in if it wasn't for an aldi and lidl in the town you would be struggling.

mariaalice · 24-06-2023 11:30am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120758364#Comment_120758364

It's not about the people though it's the place.

Finty Lemon · 24-06-2023 11:53am

In no particular order, and focussing on the 'depressing' part of the thread

Granard co Longford- used to regularly drive through there. There's nowhere as eerie as Granard on midweek night in October

Clogheen co Tipp- Magnificent mountain backdrop, but the street itself is permanently in shadow. Try the chipper at you own peril

Cootehill co Cavan- guarded day and night three drunken c*nts standing at the confluence of two derelict streets

Portarlington co Laois- miserable looking from every approach road.

Rathkeale co Limerick- depression on wheels

Hacketstown co Carlow- it is hard to shake the sadness hanging over this place

Newtownhamilton co Armagh- a waste of Semtex

orourkeda1 · 24-06-2023 1:03pm

Portlaoise.

Dublin is deteriorating. I was born and rasied and it seems that someone somewhere is trying to strangle the life out of the city and they won't be happy until it is dead.

orangerhyme · 24-06-2023 6:37pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120758876#Comment_120758876

Dublin's a victim of its own success really.

orangerhyme · 24-06-2023 6:42pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120758364#Comment_120758364

It's not the people.

These towns and villages and the people who inhabit them are just victims of geography and socioeconomic forces.

These places are full of lovely people who contribute to their community through sport, tidy town committee, arts, culture, etc but some places are just slowly dying.

Young people leave and never come back to start a family.

Who knows, maybe remote working and virtual reality will mean people will repopulate rural areas for a better quality of life.

dxhound2005 · 24-06-2023 7:15pm

The repopulation is happening apace.

Every county recorded population growth between 2016 and 2022. The data collected during Census 2022 shows that all counties experienced both natural increase and positive estimated net migration in the six years since the previous census.

Increases in population since 2016 ranged from 5% in Donegal, Kilkenny and Tipperary to 14% in Longford.

orangerhyme · 24-06-2023 8:19pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120760520#Comment_120760520

Yeah I was surprised by that. The likes of Cavan, Longford, Leitrim all had population increases.

Maybe it's a dead cat bounce and they're just 20 years behind rural areas in Spain and Italy.

batman1 · 25-06-2023 8:59am

Moving further north...

Sligo. Just depressing with little to do. Worst road design anywhere.

Letterkenny. Locals look depressed. Main street empty of people. Bookies, chippers and money transfer/spice shops. Has a 'rough' air about it.

Coleraine. Nuff said

Ballymena. Oh my...

Strabane.

Toome

Most of the 'red/white/blue' kerbed towns and villages in NI have a strange way about them.

As someone said, villages along the border that are in no man's land.

Most Depressing Towns & Villages in Ireland

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