First pick
Glebe Field
Park or garden
0.5 ha0.1 km of path
Centralin the middle of Roscrea
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Oliver Dixon · CC BY-SA 2.087%near a park
Outdoors in Roscrea · parks, paths & countryside
87% of Roscrea’s residents live within a 5-minute walk of a park
Footpaths add up to 6 km in the town and the kilometre around it, 0.3 for every square kilometre. 7.9% of the land within 5 km is protected for nature, the nearest site being Monaincha Bog/Ballaghmore Bog NHA. Parks and playing fields in Roscrea add up to 3.2 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical Irish town has 4.1.
Near a park
87%
of residents within 400 m
Typical Irish town: 92%
Green space
3.2 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical Irish town: 4.1 ha
Footpaths
6 km
0.3 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical Irish town: 2.1 km per km²
Protected for nature
7.9%
of the land within 5 km
Nearest: Monaincha Bog/Ballaghmore Bog NHA
Woodland
3.4%
of the town and 1 km around it
Typical Irish town: 2.7%
Against other towns
How Roscrea compares with Irish towns
Each figure against Ireland’s 321 towns and city neighbourhoods of 2,500+ (city hubs left out): the marked bar is the town’s, the line the median. Ireland has no Outdoors Grade yet: the figures are described, each against other Irish towns, and none of them counts towards the overall grade.
A park within a walk87%of residents within 400 m (a 5-minute walk)
41out of 100
Public green space3.2 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
42out of 100
Footpaths0.3 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
6out of 100
Protected for nature7.9%of the land within 5 km
85out of 100
Woodland3.4%of the town and 1 km around it, as mapped
58out of 100
Parks, paths and woods: OpenStreetMap; residents: CSO Census 2022 Small Areas; protected sites: NPWS; sea: CSO and ONS land outlines. A 0 means nothing is mapped.
Towns its size
Roscrea has the 3rd fewest footpaths per km² of 40 towns its size
The 40 Irish towns nearest in population (4,948 to 6,216 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From St Stephen's Green (7.4 km per km²) to Clonakilty (0.3 km per km²).
Footpath, km per km²
Roscrea0.3
Towns its size1.8
Co. Tipperary towns0.5
Typical Irish town2.1
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Roscrea3.2
Towns its size4.4
Co. Tipperary towns3.2
Typical Irish town4.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Roscrea87%
Towns its size89%
Co. Tipperary towns83%
Typical Irish town92%
Roscrea falls furthest behind on path per km², where 37 of the 39 others do better.
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | The sea | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | St Stephen's Green Dublin | 7.4 | 0.9% | 0.3% | 11% |
| 2 | Portobello Dublin | 7.2 | 1.2% | 0.1% | 8.8% |
| 3 | Gillabbey Cork | 7.1 | 2.6% | 0.5% | – |
| 4 | Glasheen Cork | 6.4 | 2.3% | 0.5% | – |
| 5 | Ballyboden Dublin | 5.9 | 4.3% | 0.5% | – |
| 6 | The Glen Cork | 5.7 | 4% | 1.8% | – |
| 7 | Edmondstown Dublin | 5.1 | 7.5% | 4.5% | – |
| 8 | Ballinlough Cork | 4.9 | 3.2% | 3.8% | – |
| 9 | Rathgar Dublin | 4.8 | 3.5% | 0.1% | – |
| 10 | Knocknaheeny Cork | 4.7 | 2.4% | 0.2% | – |
| 11 | Knockrea Cork | 4.7 | 3.1% | 3.7% | – |
| 12 | Woodquay and Nuns Island Galway | 4.5 | 0.7% | 14% | 32% |
| 13 | Inchicore Dublin | 4.5 | 3.9% | 0% | – |
| 14 | Ayrfield Dublin | 3.8 | 1.8% | 5.3% | 19% |
| 15 | Garryowen Limerick | 3.4 | 0.5% | 9.6% | – |
| 16 | Salthill Galway | 3.3 | 1% | 15% | 46% |
| 17 | Harmonstown Dublin | 3.2 | 3.8% | 5.3% | 23% |
| 18 | Galvone Limerick | 2.9 | 0.7% | 8.3% | – |
| 19 | Sutton Dublin | 2.5 | 0.7% | 12% | 48% |
| 20 | Lisduggan Waterford | 1.8 | 0% | 5.8% | – |
| 21 | Carrigtwohill Cork | 1.8 | 5.1% | 12% | – |
| 22 | Ballinfoile and Terryland Galway | 1.7 | 2.1% | 22% | 13% |
| 23 | Rathcoole Dublin | 1.6 | 2.4% | 0% | – |
| 24 | Blessington Wicklow | 1.4 | 10% | 1.9% | – |
| 25 | Glounthaune Cork | 1.2 | 8% | 6.1% | – |
| 26 | Passage West-Monkstown Cork | 1.2 | 3.5% | 10% | 12% |
| 27 | Inishkenny Cork | 1.1 | 4.2% | 0.2% | – |
| 28 | Ballybeg Waterford | 1 | 1.2% | 4.1% | – |
| 29 | Ardee Louth | 0.9 | 0.7% | 0.8% | – |
| 30 | Kinsale Cork | 0.9 | 1.3% | 0% | 21% |
| 31 | Ferrybank Kilkenny | 0.8 | 4.1% | 6.6% | – |
| 32 | Monasterevin Kildare | 0.6 | 16% | 2% | – |
| 33 | Carrick-on-Suir Tipperary | 0.5 | 9.9% | 4% | – |
| 34 | Ballybofey-Stranorlar Donegal | 0.4 | 7.7% | 2.3% | – |
| 35 | Carrickmacross Monaghan | 0.3 | 5.5% | 0% | – |
| 36 | Tipperary Tipperary | 0.3 | 0.7% | 0.8% | – |
| 37 | Tullow Carlow | 0.3 | 0.4% | 1.7% | – |
| 38 | Roscrea Tipperary | 0.3 | 3.4% | 7.9% | – |
| 39 | Oranmore Galway | 0.3 | 2% | 5.2% | 13% |
| 40 | Clonakilty Cork | 0.3 | 1.8% | 3.3% | 7.1% |
The map
Parks, woods, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Roscrea’s urban area.
Green: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces and woods, named or not.© OpenStreetMap contributors · NPWS · Sport Ireland · CSO
Places to walk
Parks to walk in, in and around Roscrea
The biggest is Glebe Field, 0.5 ha (1 acres).
Named parks, gardens, commons and woods in the town or within 400 m of it, from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); pieces of one name that touch are one place. Sizes are the whole site; directions go to a point inside.
Close to home
How close Roscrea’s homes are to a park
Each square is 1 in 100 residents: green lives within 400 m of a public park, garden or playing field (CSO Census 2022 Small Areas against OpenStreetMap).
Within 400 m (87%)Further (13%)
Roscrea87%
Co. Tipperary towns83%
Typical Irish town92%
About 700 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees.
Protected areas
7.9% of the land around Roscrea is protected for nature
Special Areas of Conservation, Special Protection Areas and Natural Heritage Areas designated by the National Parks and Wildlife Service, within 5 km of the town’s edge.
Inside Roscrea0%
Within 5 km7.9%
Co. Tipperary towns3.4%
Typical Irish town1.8%
3 protected sites lie within 5 km of Roscrea. Ireland’s National Parks have a block of their own on this page; much of their land also lies inside these sites.
Protected sites: National Parks and Wildlife Service designated site boundaries (CC BY 4.0), 2026; land within 5 km from CSO Small Areas and, over the border, ONS. Overlapping sites are counted once.
National Parks
Burren National Park is 74 km away
Ireland’s National Parks within 100 km, and the nearest always, by direction and distance from the town’s edge; circle size shows each park’s area.
National ParkThe 5 km around the town
National Park
Burren National Park
74 km west21 km²
National Park
Wicklow Mountains National Park
84 km east223 km²
2 of Ireland’s six National Parks are within 100 km of Roscrea.
National Park boundaries: National Parks and Wildlife Service, generalised to 50 m (CC BY 4.0, © Government of Ireland), 2022. Distances from the town’s outline (CSO Small Areas).
Footpaths and woods
6 km of footpaths cross Roscrea
Footways that aren’t pavements, paths, bridleways, steps and tracks open on foot, and mapped woods and forest, in the town and 1 km around it, each beside the county’s and Ireland’s typical town of 2,500+.
Footpaths
5.8 km
over 19.8 km² of town and the 1 km around it
Woodland
3.4%
about 0.7 km² of mapped woods
Km per km², town and 1 km around · mapped on OpenStreetMap
RoscreaCo. Tipperary townsTypical Irish town
Footpaths0.3
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
RoscreaCo. Tipperary townsTypical Irish town
Woodland3.4%
0%50%100%
Roscrea has less footpath per km² than 94% of Irish towns and more woodland than 58% of Irish towns.
Footpaths and woods: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), Geofabrik extract, October 2026. Woods are mapped cover, private and Coillte forests included.
Footpaths & trails
Footpaths in and around Roscrea
6 km of footpaths are mapped in Roscrea and the kilometre around it, 0.3 km for every square kilometre (the typical Irish town has 2.1).
No waymarked trail starts within 5 km of Roscrea; its footpaths are counted above.
Trails: Sport Ireland National Trails Register (CC BY 4.0), registered trails within 5 km; footpaths: OpenStreetMap (ODbL). Coillte’s own forest trails and recreation sites aren’t included: Coillte’s terms limit its data to research or private study. Its trails on the National Trails Register are listed.
When to get out
The best walking months in Roscrea: May to September
Met Éireann’s 1991–2020 averages for the town’s 1 km square and the daylight at its latitude. Outlined months have long days, highs of 15 to 30 °C and little rain for the place.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 8.1 | 9.8 | 11.7 | 13.9 | 15.8 | 16.9 | 16.4 | 14.7 | 12.6 | 10.5 | 8.6 | 7.6 |
| High (°C) | 8 | 9 | 11 | 13 | 16 | 19 | 20 | 20 | 17 | 14 | 10 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 96 | 78 | 73 | 66 | 67 | 75 | 76 | 83 | 77 | 100 | 103 | 102 |
April is the driest month (66 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 20 °C). Winter days are short, about 7.6 hours of daylight in December, and 103 mm of rain falls in November, the wettest month. The climate in Roscrea →
Things to do
5 playgrounds
Mapped on OpenStreetMap in the town and 2 km around it; each count per resident beside Irish towns’ typical town of 2,500+. Beaches are on the coast’s list, from the EPA.
Every named place, with directions
Playgrounds 5
Plus 5 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), Geofabrik extract, October 2026. Unnamed places are counted, not listed.
Gardens & nature
A garden or nature site to visit near Roscrea
Gardens, national parks, nature sites and islands within 15 km of the town’s edge, each with its own page.
Golden Grove ForestNature site · In Roscrea
Its pagePlaces to visit: Fáilte Ireland open data (CC BY 4.0), OpenStreetMap and Wikidata.
Next door
Next to Roscrea
The nearest towns of 1,000+ within 20 km, coloured by the share of the land within 5 km protected for nature.
BirrRathdowneyTemplemoreRoscrea
Under 1%1–10%10–25%25–50%50%+
| Town | Near a park | Green space, ha per 1,000 | Paths (km/km²) | Protected within 5 km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roscrea | 87% | 3.2 | 0.3 | 7.9% |
| Birr 17 km | 71% | 2.4 | 0.8 | 5.2% |
| Rathdowney 18 km | 81% | 1.6 | 0.2 | 0.4% |
| Templemore 18 km | 100% | 4.4 | 0.3 | 0.5% |
In Templemore, 100% of residents live within a 5-minute walk of a park, more than here.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Green space nearby. The share of residents (CSO Small Areas, by where people live) within 400 m of a park, garden, common or playing field mapped on OpenStreetMap. Mapping is uneven: a town whose parks nobody has mapped looks greyer than it is.
- Protected areas. Land in a Special Area of Conservation, Special Protection Area or Natural Heritage Area within 5 km, overlaps counted once. Protected for nature doesn’t always mean open to walkers.
- Footpaths and hiking routes. Footways that aren’t pavements, paths, bridleways, steps and tracks open on foot, in the town and 1 km around it, from OpenStreetMap. Trails are the registered ones within 5 km; a trail often follows mapped paths, so the two aren’t added.
- Woodland. Woods and forest as OpenStreetMap maps them, private and Coillte forests included: mapped cover, not access.
- No grade yet. Ireland’s grades don’t include the outdoors yet: these figures describe the town and stand beside the median Irish town.
Questions about the outdoors in Roscrea
What is the biggest park in Roscrea?
Glebe Field, 0.5 ha (1 acres). Ashbury Field (0.1 ha) is second. 2 named parks, gardens and playing fields are in the town or within 400 m of it.
Is there protected countryside near Roscrea?
Yes: 7.9% of the land within 5 km is protected, across 3 sites. The nearest is Monaincha Bog/Ballaghmore Bog NHA, 2.0 km from the edge of town.
How many people in Roscrea live near a park?
87% of residents live within 400 m, about a 5-minute walk, of a park or playing field; in the typical Irish town it is 92%.
When is the best time of year for walking in Roscrea?
On the town’s 1991–2020 averages and its daylight: May to September, when days are long, highs reach 15 °C and rain is light for the place.
Is Roscrea near a National Park?
The nearest of Ireland’s six National Parks is Burren National Park, 74 km west of the town’s edge; it covers about 21 km². One more is within 100 km.
Sources
Where Roscrea’s outdoors figures come from
- Parks, woods and paths. OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL): parks, woods and footpaths, Geofabrik extract, October 2026
- Protected sites. National Parks and Wildlife Service: designated sites (SAC, SPA, NHA), 2026
- Trails. Sport Ireland: National Trails Register, 2026
- Residents. CSO: Census 2022 Small Areas (residents)
- National Parks. National Parks and Wildlife Service: National Park boundaries, generalised to 50 m (CC BY 4.0), 2022
- Weather. Met Éireann: 1991–2020 averages (Copyright Met Éireann)
Protected sites: National Parks and Wildlife Service (CC BY 4.0). Trails: Sport Ireland National Trails Register (CC BY 4.0). Bathing water: EPA (CC BY 4.0). Parks, woods and paths: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Not on this page yet: Coillte’s forest trails (its terms) and bike routes.
Contains Central Statistics Office (CSO) data, Census 2022, and Tailte Éireann boundaries (CSO Urban Areas, Small Areas, local electoral areas, constituencies), under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).