| Horseleap Baile Átha an Urchair
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| — Town — | |
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Horseleap
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| Coordinates: | |
| Country | Ireland |
| Province | Leinster |
| County | County Offaly |
| Elevation | 128 m (420 ft) |
| Time zone | WET (UTC+0) |
| • Summer (DST) | IST (WEST) (UTC-1) |
| Irish Grid Reference | |
Horseleap (Irish: Baile Átha an Urchair) is a town situated upon the Offaly, Westmeath county border in Ireland, along the R446, formerly the main Dublin to Galway road. The village itself possesses a church, primary school, a garden centre, a pub, and a petrol station. Horseleap dates back to the 12th century steeped in Ui Neill, Geoghegan history.
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The village's Irish name (Baile Átha an Urchair or Áth an Urchair) was historically anglicised as Ballanurcher, Athnurcher and Ardnurcher.[1] The name probably derives from the legend that Conchobar mac Nessa was killed here.[2]
According to tradition, the English name - Horseleap - originated in an incident in which a member of the De Lacy family was forced to flee on horseback from the Mac Geoghans. On approaching his castle and discovering that the drawbridge was raised, he jumped the castle's moat on horseback. [3]
The battle of Ardnocher took place here in 1329 between the forces of Thomas Butler and William Mac Geoghegan. Mac Geoghegan won and Butler and many of his soldiers were killed.
The Midland Great Western Railway once maintained a railway station here. Horseleap railway station opened on 1 December 1876, closed to passenger and goods traffic on 27 January 1947 and finally closed altogether on 1 July 1965.[4]
According to a report in the Westmeath Examiner, the 12 foot high bronze statue of the prancing horse on the village green was commissioned in Italy by Ferrari. The story claims that in the nineties the Ferrari formula one racing team made a present of one of these statues of its famous logo to each of their F1 drivers. This one was shipped to Ireland in 1999 to be given to Eddie Irvine who had finished as runner up in the World championship for Ferrari that year. It was stored in a barn in County Tyrone and was to be a surprise to Irvine. However just before this was to take place Irvine told Ferrari he was leaving them to join the Jaguar team. Ferrari never told Irvine about the statue and it stayed in the barn for a year until a local farmer from Horseleap was in Tyrone buying cattle and was told about it. A delegation from the village was then dispatched to make the case that they had the ideal home for this statue and that they wished to purchase it. They bought the statue for a fee less than it cost to make and it was erected in 2000.[5]
Journalist Joe Saward describes the story as an urban myth, pointing out that Ferrari have denied the story.[6]
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