Tullamore

Tullamore is the county town of Offaly, and is a lively bustling urban area, but within less than an hours walk in any given direction, you are in the serenity and scenicness of some of the nicest scenery that the Irish midlands has to offer.

The Canal is the focal point of the town, from where you can walk to neighbouring villages of Rahan and Daingean (from Daingean there is a bus back if you head on time).

Bolands Lock in Tullamore - on the walk to Daingean along the Grand Canal

Bolands Lock in Tullamore – on the walk to Daingean along the Grand Canal

The architecture of Tullamore is an example of some of the best planned towns that the British ever built from our time in the United Kingdom, and we also have spectacular innovative buildings showing the progressive modern vision of Ireland since independence.

Talking of independence, the first armed incident of the 1916 rising was not in Dublin but in town here in the old Sinn Féin offices down the street from the current Garda barracks.

The Barracks itself was the old army barracks which once held a detachment of Germans when a German city was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, some of whom are buried in the local cemetery up at Lloyds Town Park.

The town park itself is opposite the imposing Court House. and the adjoining jail which is now an enterprise centre. The architecturally interesting prison warders houses are now a mixture or residential and lettings.

Wall details at Charleville Castle - site of festivals hauntings and one of Irelands most important Druid Schools

Wall details at Charleville Castle – site of festivals, haunting’s, and one of Ireland’s most important Druid Schools

Some important Fenians were imprisoned there, and there were many executions there.

To find out the full story, visit and tour the town, have a drop of Tullamore Dew, call in by the Offaly Historical Society and find out the details for yourself!