Tullamore

Tullamore is the county town of County Offaly, and more or less in the centre of Ireland. It's traversed by the Grand Canal, which is navigable by leisure boats from Dublin to the Shannon and beyond. The town is best known for Tullamore Dew whiskey. The Tullamore Show is held near the town every year. It's a one-day agricultural and livestock show held on the second Sunday of August.

Understand
Tulach Mhór means "great mound", indicating a long-vanished defensive earthwork, and Tullamore like the rest of County Offaly was an Irish territory outside the Anglo-Norman "pale" of Leinster. That changed in 1570 when it became part of the Tudor plantations. The Moore family ousted the O'Molloy clan, building the first version of Charleville Castle, and acquiring an earldom. There were no great battles or sieges here, and little to distinguish the place until on 10 May 1785 Tullamore was the improbable site of the world's first aviation disaster.

Air accident investigation had not yet been invented so documentation is sparse, but it appears to have involved an unmanned hot-air balloon, with lift created by a fire burning in a basket, effectively a giant Chinese lantern. The first manned flight had been in 1783 by the Montgolfier brothers in Paris, and balloons were being sent up for amusement and publicity all over Europe. The Tullamore balloon was launched on a breezy day and soon collided with a chimney; its fire took hold of a thatched roof, spread to another and another, until the whole of Barrack Street was ablaze. Some 130 houses were destroyed. There were no fatalities but the loss of so many homes and livelihoods was a disaster. The town shield nowadays depicts a phoenix rising from the ashes, and the story grew that the town centre represents a spate of re-building after the fire, but there was similar urban development all over Georgian Britain and Ireland.

There was clearly no future in aviation, and modernising transport meant canals. The Grand Canal from Dublin reached Tullamore in 1798, a great boost to trade and industry, including the local whiskey distilleries. The canal fell into disuse in the 20th century but has been restored throughout its length for leisure boating. The other legacy industry was peat-cutting: this ramped up in the 1950s to reduce Ireland's dependence on imported fuel, and Boora Bog west of town was one of several exploited. Peat smoke is nice in trace amounts in whiskey but horribly polluting in the kilotons that began to blow west, to fall as acid rain upon the Dutch, and excavation wrecked the wetland environment. This couldn't go on, try as Bord na Móna might to cloak their operations in a green flag, and from the 1980s peat-cutting ceased and the site was reclaimed.

Tullamore has always been the county town, so local government is a significant employer, as is Midland Regional Hospital north side of town. In 2022 the population was about 16,000.

The Tourist Office is on Bridge St, open M-F 10AM-5PM, Sa 11AM-3PM.

By car
By road from Dublin follow M4 / M6 to Exit 5 at Kilbeggan, then N52 south, and reckon 70 min.

By train
Trains from Dublin Heuston take just under an hour to Tullamore via Kildare and Portarlington. They run every hour or two and continue west to Clara and Athlone then branch either to Athenry and Galway or to Roscommon, Castlebar and Westport, with connections to Ballina. A single from Dublin in 2021 was €12, see Irish Rail for timetables, fares and online tickets.

Tullamore is 500 m southwest of town centre. There are ticket machines but no staffed desk.

By bus
Kearns buses run from Birr via Tullamore to Dublin in the morning, returning in the afternoon. They take about 90 min, with multiple stops in Dublin but not Busáras or the airport. There are seven M-F between 5:30AM and 9:30AM, returning 3-6PM; one Saturday and 2-3 Sunday.

Another Kearns Bus 843 plies between Birr and Tullamore once in the middle of the day, and Bus 847 runs once Birr-Tullamore-Maynooth.

Go Ahead Bus 120C runs from Enfield via Edenderry to Tullamore, with five or six daily.

Bus Eireann 73 traverses the Midlands, twice M-Sa and once on Sunday, from Athlone to Clara, Tullamore (20 min), Mountmellick, Portlaoise, Stradbally, Carlow, Kilkenny, Thomastown, Ballyhale, Mullinavat and Waterford.

Slieve Bloom Coach 837 runs three times M-F and twice Sa from Mullingar, taking an hour to Tullamore.

Their Coach 841 runs three times M-Sa from Mountmellick via Rosenallis, Clonaslee, Cadamstown, Kinnitty and Kilcormac to Tullamore.

The main bus stop in town is along O'Carroll St.

By boat

 * "A Boat will leave Dublin on Wednesdays and Saturdays at Ten o’clock, AM: loaded or not the Proprietors pledge themselves to be punctual to the day and hour." - Dublin Evening Post 17 March 1829

Tullamore is on the Grand Canal which stretches from the Liffey at Dublin to the Shannon 30 km west of town, and is navigable throughout. The Shannon links Limerick on the Atlantic with Athlone in the Midlands and Carrick-on-Shannon to the north, whence another canal reaches Lough Erne in Northern Ireland. The Grand Canal also connects with the Barrow Navigation, which heads south through Carlow to New Ross and Waterford on the south coast. Check Waterways Ireland for current status of locks, moorings etc.

Get around
The town is small enough to get around on foot. You'll need your own wheels for outlying sites.

Buggy's Coach 835 makes a figure-of-8 around town then round the south-edge retail park.

Practical have car hire in Tullamore, but you'll probably do better to hire from the airport.

There are taxi ranks at the railway station and on William Street. Operators are Mac's Cabs (+353 57 935 1111), DC Cabs (+353 57 953 0500) and Tullamore Taxis (+353 87 996 2264).

See

 * along Cormac St is a large park with fountains and a large play area for kids. There's a bowls pitch, a skateboard park, and plenty of parking. The graveyard holds two victims of the Battle of Tullamore, fought on 22 July 1806 between the King's German Legion and Irish militiamen. Problem was, they were supposed to be on the same side against Napoleon, but a punch-up led to a mass brawl with 3 deaths and 42 injured.
 * is a village 7 km west of town with remains of a monastery from the 11th and 12th century.
 * is a peat bog 20 km west of town where peat was extracted commercially 1950-1970, but which is now reclaimed as a wetland and recreation area. The original lough has been drained but extraction created two new lagoons, which have walking trails and hides for bird-watching. "Sculpture in the Parklands" are a series of sculptures dotted around the area. It's free to visit any time.
 * to the east rears up to 238 m, so it's prominent in this low terrain and has wide views. Ascend from Croghan village to its south. On its eastern slope is an old graveyard and the remains of a medieval church, while at its western foot lie the remains of a medieval settlement, church and castle. Old Croghan Man, who died circa 200-300 BC, was found nearby, but was young, tall and high-status when he was tortured and killed: he's now on display in the National Museum in Dublin.
 * is a village 7 km west of town with remains of a monastery from the 11th and 12th century.
 * is a peat bog 20 km west of town where peat was extracted commercially 1950-1970, but which is now reclaimed as a wetland and recreation area. The original lough has been drained but extraction created two new lagoons, which have walking trails and hides for bird-watching. "Sculpture in the Parklands" are a series of sculptures dotted around the area. It's free to visit any time.
 * to the east rears up to 238 m, so it's prominent in this low terrain and has wide views. Ascend from Croghan village to its south. On its eastern slope is an old graveyard and the remains of a medieval church, while at its western foot lie the remains of a medieval settlement, church and castle. Old Croghan Man, who died circa 200-300 BC, was found nearby, but was young, tall and high-status when he was tortured and killed: he's now on display in the National Museum in Dublin.
 * is a village 7 km west of town with remains of a monastery from the 11th and 12th century.
 * is a peat bog 20 km west of town where peat was extracted commercially 1950-1970, but which is now reclaimed as a wetland and recreation area. The original lough has been drained but extraction created two new lagoons, which have walking trails and hides for bird-watching. "Sculpture in the Parklands" are a series of sculptures dotted around the area. It's free to visit any time.
 * to the east rears up to 238 m, so it's prominent in this low terrain and has wide views. Ascend from Croghan village to its south. On its eastern slope is an old graveyard and the remains of a medieval church, while at its western foot lie the remains of a medieval settlement, church and castle. Old Croghan Man, who died circa 200-300 BC, was found nearby, but was young, tall and high-status when he was tortured and killed: he's now on display in the National Museum in Dublin.

Do

 * What's on? Tune in to Midlands 103 FM or read the Offaly Independent or Offaly Express.
 * IMC Cinema is within the Bridge Centre in the middle of town.
 * Grand Canal has a firm towpath, good for strolling, cycling and fishing.
 * Gaelic games: Offaly GAA play hurling and Gaelic football at O'Connor Park, off Arden Rd R421 just north of the canal. The stadium is sponsored as Bord na Móna O’Connor Park and has a capacity of 20,000. It's also the home ground of (and owned by) the town club, Tullamore GAA.

Buy

 * Bridge Centre is the main mall within town. Shops include Dunnes Stores, Vodafone, music shops, clothes and shoe shops.
 * Tullamore Retail Park is 1 km southeast of town, on N420 near the junction with N52.
 * Tullamore Food Fayre is an indoor Farmers Market held on Kilcruttin Business Park facing the railway station. It's held Sa 10AM-2PM.

Eat
The main restaurant strip is along High St / William St, and a block west on Patrick St and Main St.

Drink

 * Bridge House Bar is within the hotel on Distillery Lane, see Sleep. There's a late bar and music venue.
 * Tullamore D.E.W. is a range of some half a dozen whiskeys plus limited editions. The standard offering is Original, a blend of pot-still, malt and grain whiskey; some of the latter may be brought in from elsewhere. They produce a ten-year old single malt but the others are blends, with various cask finishes.
 * Killbeggan: see County Westmeath for products of the present-day distillery, which stands just north of the Offaly county boundary.
 * Tullamore D.E.W. is a range of some half a dozen whiskeys plus limited editions. The standard offering is Original, a blend of pot-still, malt and grain whiskey; some of the latter may be brought in from elsewhere. They produce a ten-year old single malt but the others are blends, with various cask finishes.
 * Killbeggan: see County Westmeath for products of the present-day distillery, which stands just north of the Offaly county boundary.

Connect
As of March 2021, town centre has 5G from Eir and Three, but you'll struggle to get a signal from Vodafone.

Tullamore Library is on Bridge Lane at O'Connor Square.

Go next

 * Birr Castle is 35 km south-west. Walk around the demesne and see the giant Victorian telescope.
 * Slieve Bloom Mountains are 25 km south of the town and have many walking and hiking trails.
 * Clonmacnoise is an ancient monastery 40 km west on the banks of the River Shannon.
 * Athlone is a historic city 40 km north west on the banks of the Shannon.