Glassan
{{short description|Village in County Westmeath, Ireland}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}
{{Use Hiberno-English|date=March 2021}}
{{Infobox settlement
|name = Glasson
|native_name = {{Irish place name|Glasán}}
|native_name_lang = ga
|other_name = Glassan
|settlement_type = Village
|image_skyline = Glassan, County Westmeath - geograph.ie - 1826726.jpg
|image_caption = N55 road through the village
|pushpin_map = Ireland
|pushpin_label_position = right
|pushpin_map_caption = Location in Ireland
|subdivision_type = Country
|subdivision_name = Ireland
|subdivision_type1 = Province
|subdivision_name1 = Leinster
|subdivision_type3 = County
|subdivision_name3 = County Westmeath
|established_title =
|established_date =
|unit_pref = Metric
|area_footnotes =
|area_total_km2 =
|population_as_of = 2022
|population_footnotes = {{cite web|url = https://citypopulation.de/en/ireland/towns/westmeath/13199__glassan/ | website = citypopulation.de | title = Glassan (Ireland) Census Town | access-date = 18 April 2025 }}
|population = 218
|population_density_km2 = auto
|coordinates = {{coord|53.4706694|-7.8638418|dim:100000_region:IE|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
|elevation_footnotes =
|elevation_m = 56
|blank_name = Irish Grid Reference
|blank_info = {{iem4ibx|N090467}}
|website =
|footnotes =
}}
Glassan or Glasson ({{Irish place name|Glasán}}){{cite web |title=Glasán/Glassan |url=https://www.logainm.ie/en/50866 |website=logainm.ie |access-date=11 October 2023}} is a small village in rural County Westmeath, Ireland.{{cite web|title=Glassan (ED 009 Glassan (pt.)), Co. Westmeath|url=http://www.cso.ie/px/pxeirestat/Database/eirestat/Profile%201%20-%20Geography/Profile%201%20-%20Geography_statbank.asp|work=CD114: Population and Percentage Change 2006 and 2011 by Sex, Towns by Electoral Division, CensusYear and Statistic|access-date=3 January 2016|author=Central Statistics Office}} It is {{convert|10|km|mi|abbr=on}} north of Athlone, on the N55 national secondary road, not far from the shores of Lough Ree. As of the 2022 census, Glassan had a population of 218.
History and layout
The village, sometimes known as the "the village of the roses",{{Cite web|url = http://mickcoplen.com/History/Waterston/Waterston.htm|title = WATERSTON: The rise and fall of a South Westmeath estate.|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120207015840/http://mickcoplen.com/History/Waterston/Waterston.htm|last = Coplen|first = Richard|archive-date = 7 February 2012|access-date = 29 June 2014}} was established and laid out to serve Waterstown House, the remnants of 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. The village was laid out as a straight street without a central square or common. At the south end the school was built to educate the children of the employees of the big house. This 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 Great Famine of the 1840s.{{fact|date=April 2025}}
The core of the village consists of a late 18th/early 19th century terrace of two-storey rose-covered houses. Modern residential developments took place on all approaches to the village in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.{{fact|date=April 2025}}
A small river, the River Tullaghan, flows through the northern end of the village and then flows south to Killinure Lough, a part of Lough Ree. The village is overlooked by Caraun Hill.
Close to the village, in an area which was originally the deer park 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.{{citation needed|date=March 2020}}
Amenities
Services and businesses in the village include two pubs, both with restaurants, a restaurant in the old Garda barracks, a hairdresser, Garda station, automotive sales and repair garages, a heritage/community centre (in the old school house), service station and supermarket, a number of B&Bs, a 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.{{fact|date=April 2025}}
Glassan also hosts two fox hunts; namely the Glassan Farmers Hunt and the South Westmeath Harriers.{{fact|date=April 2025}}
Waterston House
The village of Glasson was built to service Waterston House, home of the Temple-Harris family. It is one of a number of Irish villages which were built to service an estate, or 'Big House'. Other examples include Celbridge (associated with Castletown House), Westport (Westport House) and Durrow (Durrow Castle).Irish Architectural archive{{nonspecific|date=April 2025}}
All that remains of Waterston House is a corner of two of the original facades, the remains of the house basement, the farmyard, the walled garden, a pigeon loft and some minor structures. What is lost is the rest of the house, the decorative terraced gardens, the castle on an island on the lake, the canals, woods, and shipyards.{{citation needed|date=March 2020}}