Evidence of ancient settlement in the area includes a number of standing stone, rock art, ring fort and tower house sites in the townlands of Garrykennedy, Lisheenbrien and Lisheentyrone.[3]
The local Roman Catholic church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, was built in 1872.[4] A former Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) barracks, at the top of the hill in Portroe, was built c.1830.[5]
On Loughtea Hill, one of the Arra hills southwest of Portroe, a 20 metre high stainless steel cross was erected in 2002. It was raised to mark the millennium and to replace an earlier cross placed there following the 1932 Eucharistic Congress in Dublin.[6]
Bus Éireann route 323 serves the village. It travels to and from Limerick and Nenagh.[7] The bus stop is situated either side of 'Portroe cross' at the bottom of the village.[citation needed]
Community
A viewing point, overlooking Lough Derg to the west of Portroe, on the R494
Organisations based in the Portroe area include Portroe GAA club,[8] an apostolic society,[9] a church choir,[10] a Tidy Towns committee,[11] a youth club,[12] and the Arra Historical & Archaeological Society[13] Representatives of the village also participate in events like Scór, the cultural branch of the GAA.[14] An annual 'vintage day' is held locally to raise money for charity.[15]
The local community hall is used for events, classes and by local clubs. A pre-school lies adjacent to the hall.[16] There is also an old handball alley next to the former primary school in Portroe.[citation needed] The current national (primary) school, Scoil Mhuire, had an enrollment of 128 pupils in 2025.[17]
There is a diving club situated on the outskirts of Portroe in an area called Killoran. The club use an old flooded quarry reaching depths of 39m.[18]
Sport
Portroe GAA is the local Gaelic Athletic Association club.[8] A senior hurling team, representing Portroe, won their first-ever North Tipperary Senior Hurling title in 2012 in McDonagh Park in Nenagh. Liam Sheedy, who played his club hurling with Portroe and inter-county hurling with Tipperary, was twice the manager of the Tipperary hurling team. Portroe also fields camogie teams.[19]
Demographics
As of the 2016 census, Portroe had a population of 461,[20] up from 411 people as of the 1996 census.[21] By the 2022 census, the population was 459.[1]
↑ "An Port Rua / Portroe". logainm.ie. Irish Placenames Commission. Archived from the original on 25 September 2021. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
↑ Farrelly, Jean; O'Brien, Caimin, eds. (2002). The Archaeological Inventory of County Tipperary. Vol. 1 - North Tipperary. Dublin: Government Stationery Office. ISBN9780755712649.
↑ "Lough Derg Way". everytrail.com. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 24 October 2020. A sixty-foot stainless steel cross weighing more than four tonnes was erected (2002) on Cloneybrien Hill near Portroe, to commemorate the millennium and to replace a cross that was placed on the spot to mark the Eucharistic Congress in 1932.
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