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PORTLAOISE |
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PORTLAOISE is best known for its top-security jail and mental
hospital - they're both on the same street, known to locals as Nuts 'n'
Bolts Road. The prison was founded in 1547, when the O'Mores held the
fortress of Dunamase to the south, as a fortification under the name of
Fort Protector. The town itself is pretty unremarkable, though it does
have a useful tourist office James Fintan Lawlor Ave (May-Sept Mon-Sat
10am-6pm; open sporadically at other times; tel 0502/21178) offering
information on the whole county; reached by car by taking the bypass and
stopping at the car park beside the new shopping mall, or, more easily,
on foot by walking along Main Street and turning right down the small
alley beside Dowling's Café . There's an adequate hotel , O'Loughlin's ,
on Main St (tel 0502/21305, oloughlins@eircom.net ;
£40-55/¬50.79-69.84); though it's advisable to continue to Abbeyleix
where the accommodation is generally of a higher standard. You'll have
no trouble finding somewhere to eat , however: possibilities range from
the hospitable home-cooking and open fires of the Kitchen café/restaurant
(tel 0502 62075) in Hynds Square (a small courtyard off Main St), to the
excellent Kingfisher Indian restaurant, a little further down Main St (tel
0502 62500), in a fine converted redbricked building that once acted as
the town's bank. Drinking options are vast as the town boasts 22 pubs in
all. You could also head a few miles out of town on the Dublin Road to
the thatched Treacy's , supposedly the oldest family run pub in Ireland
(founded in 1780), which now sits somewhat uncomfortably on an island
between a motorway and a main road but still fulfils its role of serving
travellers on the long haul from Dublin to the west.
The most impressive site in the local vicinity, not only physically but
also historically, is the Rock of Dunamase , two or three miles east on
the Stradbally Road (N80) - the easiest way to reach it is by car;
follow the signs from the roundabout at the end of the cobbled Main
Street. An extraordinary, knobbly mound encrusted with layer upon layer
of fortifications, it's a great place for gazing out, beyond the flat
surrounding countryside, to the Slieve Bloom hills to the north and the
Wicklow Mountains in the east. There are suggestions that Dunamase was
known to Ptolemy under the name of Dunum , and to the Celts as Dun Masc
, it was valuable enough to be plundered by the Vikings in 845. Today,
the hill is crowned by a ruined castle of the twelfth-century king of
Leinster, Dermot MacMurrough. He invited Strongbow to Ireland to marry
his daughter, Aoife, and included Dunamase in her dowry. The castle was
taken back into Gaelic control by the bellicose O'More family at the end
of the fourteenth century, though they surrendered their lands to the
Cromwellian forces under Charles Cook in 1641. In 1645 Dunamase again
fell into Catholic hands for a brief period before its destruction by
Cromwell's army in 1650. The earthworks five hundred yards to the east
of the fortress are still known as Cromwell's lines.
STRADBALLY (literally "street-town"), a few miles southwest of Dunamase,
is notable chiefly for the narrow-gauge railway at Stradbally Hall,
where a nineteenth-century steam locomotive, formerly used in the
Guinness brewery in Dublin, runs six times a year. Of most interest in
the town is the Steam Museum (Mon-Fri 11am-1pm & 2-4pm; £1.50/¬1.90)
recently renovated and restored by the Irish Steam Preservation Society.
Enthusiasts will be in steam heaven among the plethora of related
exhibits, though many of the mechanical artefacts will be of interest to
non-steam buffs too. In August, Stradbally is a must for the steam
engine rally that attracts all manner of steam-operated machinery and
vintage cars from throughout the country (call the tourist office in
Portlaoise for further details tel 0502/21178). On weekends a lively
traditional music session can be found in Dunne's bar, while you can
stay in solid comfort at Tullamoy House , a stone-built
nineteenth-century farmhouse set in its own parkland, three miles east
out of town on the Athey road (closed Nov-April; tel 0507/27111,
tullamoy@indigo.ie ; £33-40/¬41.90-50.79).
Once a busy halt on the Grand Canal, VICARSTOWN , four miles north of
Stradbally on the R427 (about ten miles from Portlaoise) is now just a
few houses and some crumbling stone warehouses clustered round a
humpback bridge, although it's showing new signs of life with rented
barges and boats mooring along its quays as a result of the increased
use of the canal. It's chiefly remarkable for the spirited traditional
music sessions on Monday nights in Turley's bar (aka The Anchor Inn ) -
be there by nine and sit tight. Accommodation is available on the other
side of the water at Crean's , officially known as The Vicarstown Inn
(tel 0502/25189; £33-40/¬41.90-50.79). The green beside Turley's is a
good spot for camping and this stretch of the canal is ideal for a
pleasant stroll.
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