Castlepollard (Irish: Baile na gCros or Cionn Toirc)[2] is a village in north County Westmeath, Republic of Ireland.

The village's official Irish name is Baile na gCros (anglicised Ballinagross), meaning "town of the cross (or crossroads".

[2] However, the name Cionn Toirc (anglicised Kinturk), meaning "head of the boar", has also been applied to the village.

Cionn Torc (Kinturk), a valley between the lakes, was granted 'in capite' by the ageing Queen Elizabeth I to Captain Pollard.

Serving as Commissioner for Supplies during the War of the Three Kingdoms, Pollard sat in the Irish Parliament, and became High Sheriff of the county in 1692.

On 23 May 1831 members of the paramilitary Royal Irish Constabulary force (which Britain established to police Ireland) arrested a man following a fight at Castlepollard's fair.

Spasmodic violence broke out around this time (particularly in Kilkenny, Wexford, and Cork) when the police entered local fairgrounds to enforce seizure orders on cattle for non-payment of tithes.

Surrounded by buildings from the Georgian period, a sculpture on the square depicts a scene from the locally centred legend of the Children of Lir.

The sisters operated a Mother and Baby home there for many years; the property was sold to Midlands Health Board in 1971.

[6] In the early nineteenth century, the main village and the Pollard family properties underwent a reconstruction program.

[citation needed] Later additions to the built environment include multiple housing estates, the Area Office of the Westmeath County Council,[8] and the Castlepollard Community College's new school building (2004),[9] both on the Mullingar Road.

While Bus Éireann route 111 (Cavan to Dublin via Trim) previously served Castlepollard,[10][11] this is no longer the case.

The village has number of retail outlets, serving a hinterland covering parts of North Westmeath.

Castlepollard Celtic Football Club, founded in 2004, caters for underage soccer in the area with teams ranging from Under 7's to Under 16's for boys and girls.

Also known as Pakenham Hall, the original 17th-century fortified house (c. 1655) was remodelled first as a Georgian mansion in the 1730s, then as a large Gothic Revival castle.

The castle was worked on by several well-known architects operating in Ireland during the early-to-mid nineteenth-century, including Francis Johnston, James Shiel and Sir Richard Morrison.

A number of other structures are located on the grounds, including the gate lodge which fronts the Granard Road facing Castlepollard.

The two-storey limestone building was designed by Shiel (a noted architect of his day and former clerk of Francis Johnston) c. 1820 whilst making renovations on the main house.