Published on 09/1/2007

Central Offaly and East Offaly

Tullamore, Clara, Clonbullogue, Daingean, Edenderry, Geashill, Killeigh, Rahan, Rhode.

Offaly West and Ely O Carroll

Birr, Ballycumber, Boher, Banagher, Clareen, Cloghan, Cloghan Castle (Lusmagh) Clonony Castle, Clonmacnoise, Ferbane, Kilcormac, Kinnitty, Lough Roe, Mount St Joseph, Shannon Harbour, Shannon Bridge.Townlife in Offaly began with the monastic foundations at Clonmacnoise, Birr, Ferbane, Durrow, and many others. The more important of these monastic centres may have had upwards of 1000 people at the end of the first millenium. Some of these centres declined afterwards and places such as Killiegh and monasteroras (near Edenderry), both Franciscan centres, grew.

The wars of colonisation in the sixteenth century led to the growth of Daingean, called Philipstown (after King Philip of Spain), husband of Queen Mary. Over the period 1550 to 1620 settlements developed at Banagher, Birr, Tullamore, Edenderry and Geashill. By the 1650s Birr was the largest town in the county blossoming into one of the finest Georgian towns in Ireland in the eighteenth century. The town of Portarlington was settled by French Huguenots fleeing France after the revocation of the Edict of Nautes. Many of the fine houses here date from the 1690s to the 1750s. Tullamore in common with many other Irish towns and villages expanded in the period from the 1780s to the famine (1845 - 49) it became the county town of Offaly in place of Daingean in 1835. Clara was an important industrial town from the 1860s to the 1960s.

Since the 1980s and 1990s all of Offaly approximately eight towns and villages have greatly improved in care and appearance. While there has been significant growth great emphasis has been placed on retaining all the best features of Offaly's past faced towns and there unique historical features.

The Heritage of Offaly

Tullamore - The County Town

Tullamore is a designated heritage town on the industrial theme. Much of the growth of the town was down to expansion in distilling and milling. The town is associated with Tullamore Dew, the famous Irish Whiskey for over 100 years and a distilling history in excess of 200 years. Now it is home to the Tullamore Dew Heritage Centre situated beside the Grand Canal at Bury Quay. It is also associated with Irish Mist, the world class liqueur. The town population is in excess of 10,000 and a hinterland population of 30,000 it has ample entertainment facilities. The town of Tullamore occupies a central position in County Offaly and is the capital town since 1833. The town is situated on the Tullamore river which neatly divides it in half. To the north is the gravel ridge, the Eiscir Riada (the chariot ridge), known locally as the Arden hills, and to the south the Slieve Bloom mountains. On the east and west lie the flat boglands, relieved only on the eastern side by the stump of an extinct volcano now known as Croghan Hill.

The name Tullamore or Tulach Mhor, meaning the big mound or hill, probably refers to a hill behind Cormac Street and O'Moore Street that was formerly known as Windmill Street. In the eighteenth century the town was also known as Tullamore, a name introduced by former owners of the town, the Moore family.

The town expanded rapidly after 1785 - the year in which one of the principal streets was destroyed by a fire which started when an air balloon crashed - and expansion continued until the 1830s. After a lull the town began to expand again after 1900 and growth has accelerated since the 1980s.

Tullamore is a well preserved town providing an example of provincial town planning in some of its best moments. The streets are spacious and the houses, several of which date from the 1750s, are well finished. The town square has been restored in recent years and includes an attractive market house (now the Irish Nationwide Building Society) dating from 1789 and erected by the then owners of the town, the earls of Charleville. Nearby is a restored Victorian warehouse now incorporated in the Bank of Ireland. The town library at the eastern end of O'Connor Square occupies the site of the house where W.B. Yeats' ancestors were married in 1773.

On the western side of the square is the Bridge Shopping Centre, built in keeping with the town's architectural style. And to the right of it is the new Bridge House Hotel. At Cormac Street (on the Birr Road) and close to the railway station is the county courthouse built in the neo-classical style in 1833. It was designed by J.B. Keane and one of its two semicircular courtrooms has survived. Beside it is a gothic style jail (now Kilcruttin Centre) built in 1826. It was officially discontinued as a county jail in 1924. The last public execution in Ireland took place here in 1865 and the second last woman to be hanged in Ireland went to her death here in 1903. Of the newer style of architecture in Tullamore the best example is the new Tullamore Court Hotel at O' Moore Street, and the Tullamore Credit Union building and the reconstructed (1986) church of the Assumption at Harbour Street.

The Offaly Exhibition and Research Centre situated at Bury Quay,Tullamore (0506-21421) incorporates the Laois/Offaly Family History Centre known as Irish Midlands Ancestry. It is the home of the Offaly Historical and Archaeological Society and contains an extensive collection of material relating to the archaeology and history of the county. The premises, once a wine warehouse, have lately been refurbished. Exhibitions are frequently held at the centre which adjoins the Tullamore Dew Heritage Centre. A public reading room is available and an extensive array of local studies and copies of old photographs are offered for sale.

Tullamore Dew Heritage Centre

Tullamore is famous for its whiskey, "Tullamore Dew" and for its Irish Mist liqueur. The Tullamore Dew Heritage Centre recounts the role of distilling in the town's development and the impact of the Grand Canal Transport System. After your visit, experience a courtesy taste of Tullamore Dew.

Tullamore Catholic Church

Tullamore Catholic Church was destroyed by fire in 1983 with the exception of the bell tower and steeple. The new church (1986) has a fine interior and is of architectural interest for its steeply pitched timber structure portal frames and ceiling. There are some six windows from the Harry Clarke Studios and also contemporary stained glass.

Charleville Castle

Charleville Castle designed by Francis Johnston and its builder, Charles William Bury, first earl of Charleville, is open to the public and is considered to be one of the finest gothic houses in Ireland. The fairy tale style castle was designed in 1798 and completed over the years 1800 to 1812. This magnificent building was almost lost through vandalism while it stood vacant during the major part of this century. The main rooms with their spectacular ceilings have for the most part survived the onslaught. The castle is now occupied and the owners are lovingly attempting to preserve and restore it to its former glory. From the lady tower can be seen the four neighbouring counties. Charleville demesne includes the best extent of surviving oak wood in Offaly.

Charles William Bury commenced building his castle in1801 and completed the job in 1812. Perhaps

"IN DEFFERENCE TO THE OAK TREES. HE CALLED HIS HOUSE NOT CHARLEVILLE CASTLE BUT CHARLEVILLE FOREST ALREADY THERE WAS ONE GIANT TREE KNOWN AS THE 'KING OAK' DOMINATING. LIKE A WATCH TOWER. THE CARRIAGE DRIVE TO THE TOWN."

No one knows who planted the tree - King or peasant - or whether it sowed itself. But it seems to be a descendant of the great forests of common oak (Quercus robur) that once straddled the soggy green plains of central Ireland. Estimates of its age begin at 400 years; it might be double that. With a girth of 26 feet below its lowest branches, it is one of the oldest, largest and best-preserved oaks in the country.

Look at the span of its gigantic arms. One branch on the right of the photograph stretches 30 yards parallel to the ground. The Bury family believed that if a branch fell, one of the Burys would die, so they supported the great arms with wooden props. Of course there was nothing they could do to protect the trunk. In May 1963 a thunderbolt splintered the main trunk from top to bottom. The tree survived, but the head of the family, Colonel Charles Howard-Bury, dropped dead a few weeks later.

Town Walk

A Tullamore town trail leaflet is available at the Tourist Information Office at Tullamore Dew Heritage Centre, Bury Quay, and the walk is sign posted to facilitate the visitor.

Durrow Abbey, High Cross and Slabs: a beautiful 9th century High Cross, early Christian slabs and St. Columcille's holy well are sign posted about 3 miles outside Tullamore on the Kilbeggan road (N52). A monastery was founded here by Colum Cille in the mid - sixth century. The seventh century illuminated manuscript, the Book of Durrow, can be seen in Trinity College, Dublin and was in the Durrow monastery until the mid-17th century. Durrow Abbey house dates from the 1830's. Lord Norbury, son of the Hanging Judge, was shot here in 1838. In the Rough Guide to Ireland is a description of Durrow which is a salutary reminder of the importance of preserving our authentic heritage and not overemphasising the plastic interpretation! "A long avenue brings you to a typically Irish juxtaposition: a grand Georgian mansion next to a medieval church, which stands on the site of the monastery. A notice at the main gates gives directions to the high cross and tombstones; behind you is the formality of the avenue, ahead the well tended grounds of the house. Inside the church walls everything is different - the disused churchyard, the masonry strangled with ivy, gravestones leaning crazily on uneven ground as if the earth has opened and disgorged their contents … a spooky place, where Durrow's high cross and tombstones seem to represent sweet reason". The second Church of Ireland church at Durrow (1880s) is now a private house with its original cemetery attached.

Also in Durrow is the fine gothic style Catholic church of 1831 also with a substantial cemetery adjoining. This church has a splendid gothic interior with plaster vaulting. On the exterior watch out for the tall tower and its battlements. The corner pinnacles of the church are embellished with crockets or knobs.

The present church on the Durrow Abbey is on the site of the earlier church and was renovated in the 1720s. It is out of use since the 1880s. The High Cross is late tenth century in date.

Tihilly High Cross: Three miles outside Tullamore on the Clara road near Kildangan (not sign-posted) Cross. A monastery was founded here in the sixth century. The ruins of a medieval church survive and a High Cross nearby set in a round base. Nearly is an early Christian slab. Access by permission only is Harough the farmyard of the owner of the land on which the monastery is situated.

For further information on Tullamore see the following books:

Michael Byrne "A Walk Through Tullamore".

Michael Byrne Tullamore Catholic Parish

William Garner Tullamore: Architectural Heritage

Tullamore U.D.C. Tullamore Guide

Michael Byrne Tullamore Town Album (a photographic record).

Local histories maps and old photographs can be purchased at newsagents and at the Offaly Exhibition and Research Centre, Bury Quay, Tullamore. (0506 - 21421)

Clara is a market town and once was a large manufacturing centre where the Moate-Tullamore road crosses the Brosna river. Clara has had a strong industrial base derived from textiles since the 1760's. The Protestant church dates from 1770 and the Catholic church from the 1880's. In the vicinity of the town are fine houses, mostly built by the Goodbody family in the late 19th century. The Goodbody family have been associated with the town since the 1820's. The best reason to visit the area is the internationally famous Clara Bog. Clara is part of a great midland plain. Running east- west through the area are the Eiscir Riada Hills. From these hilltops one gets a breath- taking view of the Clara Bog on the north side and the slow meandering River Brosna on the south. The local chieftains were the O'Sionnach, or the Foxs. Their territory ran from the Brosna to the Shannon. The remains of a castle belonging to the Fox's is in Kilcoursey. Their coronation stone is not far from Clara at Clothaney - or Cloth An Sionnach, the stone of the Fox's.

The modern town of Clara originated as a Quaker settlement in the eighteenth century. Clara has had a strong industrial base derived from textiles since the 1760s. The Goodbodys came to Clara from Mountmellick in 1825. This family is credited with bringing the Industrial Revolution to Clara. Robert Goodbody bought the Charlestown and Erry flour mills and developed industry in Clara using the river Brosna for power. In 1864 the Goodbodys started a jute factory at Clashawaun. The raw material came from India where it was spun and woven bags and exported all over the world.

Today many flour, meal and jute mills now stand idle in Clara, Relics of Claras' golden industrial age of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

The Quaker meeting house of the 1840s on the Tullamore road entrance to Clara looks more like a house than a church and was designed by J.S. Mulvany, architect. The building has a beautiful stone façade in fine ashlar. The round headed windows are in the Italian style.

Clara bog is a natural heritage area of great importance. It is one of the largest remaining relatively intact raised bogs in Western Europe, and provides a unique feature of landscape and geological interest stretching over an area of 1600 acres. The bog makes a habitat for unusual plants such as Sundews, Bladderworts and Bog Rosemary (the Offaly County flower). If visiting the bog it is recommended that protective clothing and waterproof footwear should be worn.

Clonbulloge village is one of the best kept in Ireland and is one of the most successful entrants in the Tidy Towns competition. The Irish Parachute Club is based there.

Daingean - formerly Philipstown is situated on the Grand Canal. When Offaly was planted with English setters in the reign of Philip and Mary (1557), the centre of the planted lands became Philipstown, the county town of the King's county. As the county was enlarged Philipstown was too far away from places in the south, and Tullamore became the county capital in 1833. The court-house here dates from the 1800s and in the burial ground in the town are the remains of Lewis Carroll's grandfather, Charles Dodgson. The remains of the old 1550s fort can still be seen at Fortfield Drive. The courthouse dates repetition from the 1800s. At Molesworth street is the Grand Canal line (1797) and also the old Daingean reformatory which now is a warehouse for the National Museum. Beside the canal at Daingean is the Castlebarna Golf club and in the vicinity is Croghan Hill.

Edenderry

Edenderry is a market town on the Enfield-Tullamore road at the edge of the Bog of Allen. Immediately south of the town is Blundell's Castle which was acquired by the second Marquess of Downshire, married to a Blundell. Most of the town was built by the Downshires, including the Corn Market (Court House) dating from the 1820's and lately restored. Edenderry derives its name (Eadon Doire) from the great oak woods that dominated the area until relatively recent times.

There are many border castles in the area around Edenderry, which stands near the edge of the English Pale, some of which belonged to the Bermingham family. Three miles north of Edenderry the remains of the medieval Bermingham church and castle of Carrickoris stand on Carrick Hill. The road to Enfield crosses Carbury Hill (4 miles East North East) from Edenderry where there is a motte. In the 14th century the castle and district were acquired by the Berminghams, but in the 15th century it was granted to ancestors of the Duke of Wellington and they built the Tudor-Jacobean stronghouse. The Catholic Church in Carbury has two windows by Catherine O'Brien: The Annunciation and SS Conleth and Brigid (1904).

Sir John Bermingham, Earl of Louth founded a Franciscan friary in 1325, two miles west of Edenderry in Monasteroris. The overgrown ruins of the friary, a dovecote on a motte and a small parish church remain there. A modern cross commemorates Fr. Mogue Kearns and Anthony Perry who were hanged at Edenderry for their part in the 1798 Insurrection. Remains of the strong Bermingham castle of Kinnafad which commands a ford of the Boyne lie three and a half miles North West of Edenderry.

The Quakers (Society of Friends) provided an enterprising spirit in Edenderry from the eighteenth to early in the twentieth century. The present meeting house dates from 1813.

The Church of Ireland church is early nineteenth century in date while close to the town is Monasteries a Franciscan monastery from 1325 to the 1520s when it was destroyed in the wats of colonisation in the sixteenth century.

The Edenderry branch line connects the town to the main Grand Canal system. The canal here is well stocked with perch, roach etc. Boats can be hired at Lowtown and Tullamore. Edenderry has an 18 hole golf course and a pitch and putt course at Derrycorris.

Geashill is an estate village on the Tullamore -Portarlington road. Early Anglo-Norman occupation is indicated by the presence of a motte, but in the later Middle Ages the district was first held by the O'Dempseys and O'Connors, and then by the Fitzgeralds, Lords of Offaly. Near the Protestant Church are the remains of the castle which was held in 1642 by Lettice Fitzgerald against her cousin Lord Clanmaliere. In the protestant graveyard is a mausoleum to the late Judge Baon Smith of Newtown. Many of the tombstone date from the early 1700s.

Geashill is a planned village associated with the English settlement in Ireland and was owed by the Digby family of Dorset, England from the 1620s to recent times. The village settlement was round a green with a church, castle and school in the vicinity. Cloneygowan has a similar green as does Killeigh (see below)

Killeigh is a very pleasant village of historical importance situated on the Tullamore-Mountmellick road. This 6th century foundation was the chief church of east Offaly for almost a thousand years and the earthworks now remaining do no justice to a once great centre. In 1433 all the learned and artistic people of Ireland gathered together at a festival given by Margaret O'Carroll of Offaly. The Franciscan friary was looted by Lord Deputy Grey, who stole the organ and windows from the church in the 1530's. The cemetery adjoining the Church of Ireland church off the village green commemorates old Offaly families, including the O'Connors, O'Dunnes, O'Molloys and O'Dempseys. The abbey house at Killeigh is part of the original monastic buildings of the 15th and 16th century. The village green is an estate village feature similar to Geashill and Cloneygowan.

Rahan churches: Sign posted 7 miles west of Tullamore. Key obtainable from Mrs. Joan Foran 23 College View, Rahan. A monastery was founded here in the sixth century by St. Carthach or Mochudha. The two important churches still surviving include the roofed church (obtain key) and the unroofed church further east in the same field. The roofed church was begun in the 12th century and has a fine romanesque chancel arch decorated with heads. Also of romanesque dating is a unique round window high up in the east gable. The unroofed church has a good romanesque doorway and several fine windows with animal carvings.

While in the Rahan area visit Ballycowan Castle - a Jacobean fortified house re-built in 1626 and the monastic remains and Norman Motte at Lynally.

The Jesuit retreat house and former boarding school of Tullabeg, once on a par with Clongowes, is now closed and the premises have been converted into a nursing home, together with accommodation. There is a driving range and a 9 hole golf course in the grounds.

Whilst in this area it is worth travelling to Pullough in order to see the bog oak altar fittings in the local known is the Breeches church. The altar, ambo and tabernacle are constructed from bog oak made by the local Celtic Roots company and the stained glass windows on the altar are beautiful. One is known to be by Harry Clarke, but the other is unsigned.

Rhode

Nestled in the north- eastern corner of the county and lying within seven miles of the main Dublin-Galway road is the attractive village of Rhode. The twin industries of Rhode are turf extraction and electricity generation have provided the parish and indeed surrounding ones with a healthy standard of living and local employment. Situated within one mile of Rhode village is the Grand Canal.

There are the ruins of many castles in the area. The ruins of Toberdaly castle once the demesne of the Nesbitt family commands a splendid view of the surrounding countryside. On the road to Edenderry is Ballybrittan Castle, with its well preserved castle tower and once the home of the Warrens, a prominent English military family of the late 1550s.

Ely O' Carroll and West Offaly

Birr

Birr is a designated Irish Heritage Town and well deserves it for its rich, Georgian heritage, so carefully preserved. But it is no museum piece and has a bustle and vibrancy in the old streets, its hotels, bars and fine restaurants.

Birr Castle is the oldest inhabited home in the county. Birr, set at the meeting of the Camcor and Little Brosna rivers, is an old market and former garrison town dating to the 1620s. The early monastery founded in Birr by St Brendan of Birr produced the Gospels of McRegol, named after the abbot at the turn of the 8th/9th century and now to be seen in the Bodleian Library in Oxford.

In the 16th century the O'Carrolls of Ely had one of their castles here and this was granted to Sir Laurence Parsons in the course of the Stuart plantation, c. 1620. Sir Laurence Parsons built most of the structure of the present castle. The castle was twice besieged in the 17th century and one of the towers still shows the scars of the artillery of Patrick Sarsfield, who tried unsuccessfully to take it.

The castle still remains the seat of the Earls of Rosse, but as a family home is only open to the public on special occasions. The surrounding demesne is open every day of the year, and the gardens contain many fine trees and shrubs set in a landscaped park with waterfalls, river and lake.

At the centre is the case of the Great Telescope built by the 3rd Earl of Rosse in the 1840's. This was the largest in the world until 1917. Rated with five stars in the official list of Gardens of Outstanding Historic Interest in the Republic of Ireland, and double-starred in the Good Gardens Guide, the Birr Castle Demesne has won both Bord Failte's Special Award and Property of the Year Award.

To scientists and astronomers, it offers what was, for over three quarters of a century, the largest telescope in the world; to classical purists, it offers the formal gardens and layout including the Box Hedges which figure in the Guinness Book of Records as the tallest in the world, to gardeners, it offers a collection of over a thousand different species of trees and shrubs, scientifically numbered and catalogued; to nature lovers, it offers a park with lake, rivers and waterfalls, on which you may see swans, herons and kingfishers, not to mention the wild duck for which the demesne has been a sanctuary since time immemorial; to all it offers a part of our heritage to be experienced, shared and enjoyed, summer or winter, any day of the year. Laid out around a lake at the confluence of two lovely Irish rivers, with waterfalls, fountains and bridges, the Birr Castle Demesne has now more to offer than ever, with:

- its world famous gardens being further restored, its collection of plants from all over the world being catalogued, tagged and labelled, and educational trails developed around the trees and shrubs of greatest distinction;
- its facilities now including a tourist information office, a coffee-shop, serving lunch as well as tea, and picnic and play areas in particularly beautiful locations;
- its detailed brochure being available in several languages.

Special events - Special events taking place each year include concerts of chamber music in the castle itself on the second Sunday in June and fourth Sunday in August (i.e. 13th June and 22nd August).

Opening times - Open every day throughout the year, 9 am - 1 pm and 2 pm - 5 pm January - April and October - December. May - September 9 am - 6 pm.

Birr itself has graceful wide streets and elegant buildings, and the association with the Parsons family is shown in the layout and structure of this attractive town. Many of the houses in John's Place and Oxmantown Mall have exquisite fanlight windows of the period.

In Emmet Square stands one of the oldest coaching inns in Ireland, dating from 1747 - Dooly's Hotel. The name of Galway Blazers was given to the Galway Hunt after a celebration held in the hotel in 1809 resulted in the premises being set on fire.

The column in the centre of the square dates from 1747 and was built to carry the statue of the Duke of Cumberland known as the Bloody Duke and the victor of the Battle of Culloden. The statue was removed in 1915 as it was in danger of collapse. On the Roscrea road, near the County Arms Hotel is the beautiful gothic-style Catholic church of 1817-25.

A town trail is available at the Birr tourist office that allows for pleasant fifty minute stroll through Birr commencing at the Heritage Centre at John's Mall in the Greek - style temple known as John's Hall. In the same John's mall is the monuments to the third Earl of Rosse by Foley, unvailed in 1876.

Other places of interest is the vicinity include the following:

The former Mercy Convent by A.W. Puigin.
The memorial to the Manchester Martyrs.
Crotty's church of the Crotty schism years, 1826 to 1840.
The old cemetery in the centre of the town.
Oxmantown Mall (1820s) and Oxmantown Hall (1889) and the set pieces, the Gothic style church of St. Brendan (1815) and the entrance to Birr castle demesne.
The Courthouse and Bridge (1810).
The Riverside walk and town park.

Birr is considered to be the Irish Georgian town at its best and was often described as the "model town". Writing of Birr in Country Life some years ago Mark Girouard remarked that Birr "epitomises the peculiar charm of a small Irish town at its best. It is a charm deriving not so much from the quality of the individual buildings as from the way in which they are put together - an aquatint spaciousness still scarcely soiled…"

Near the town of Birr at Crinkle is the site of a great military barrack built c. 1809 to accommodate some 1100 soldiers. It was the home of the 3rd Leinster regiment until it was destroyed in 1922.

Birr has many fine shop fronts. R. Barber, for example, in the main street is considered "one of the most perfect and beautiful examples of the art of the wood-fronted shop front in Ireland". The shop has a superb painted lettering in the manner known as "shadowed" where a three dimensional effect is given by painting on simulated shadow.

Birr Castle Demesne
Voyage of Discovery
Ireland's Historic Science Centre
Great Telescope
Award Winning Gardens

The new Ireland's Historic Science Centre features the many pioneering achievements of the Parsons family and of other great Irish scientists in the fields of astronomy, photography, engineering and horticulture. The Great Telescope built by the third Earl of Rosse in the 1840;s was the largest in the world for 70 years. Tel: 0509 20336 Fax 0509 215

Ballycumber / Boher

St. Manchan's Shrine Five miles west, beyond Ballycumber, is Boher Catholic church. In the church is the large, portable shrine made to contain the bones of St. Manchan of Lemanaghan. The shrine is now the largest and most impressive surviving Irish reliquary. It is a 12th century, gabled box of yew-wood containing the saint's relics. The floor was, apparently, of the same material; but the present floor is of inferior material and is probably a nineteenth-century replacement. One of the struts which runs into the bronze-shod feet is also a modern replacement. The box is made of four inward-sloping boards tapering in thickness. The back is made of two pieces of wood, the top one has a bevelled top, with niches cut in it at irregular intervals. This may have been for a crest to be attached. The front face board is trimmed so that it can rest flush against the opposite face below the bevelled ridge. Both faces were held together by iron pins, the heads of which are concealed beneath the uppermost ornamental base on either side.

The "gables" are triangular pieces of wood connected to the two faces by means of a rabbeted (grooved) joint; and reinforced by two pairs of wooden struts nailed to the ends of the box. The bottom of the box is raised off the ground by bronze shoes which form the feet of the shrine. The shrine is unique in that it has survived and is cared for in the same locality for perhaps 600 years, testifying to the immense religious fervour of a people who had to live through local wars and religious persecution. In the lately restored Catholic Church at Boher are fine stained glass windows the work of the Harry Clarke studies (1929).

The village of Ballycumber expanded under the patronage of the Armstrong family in the eighteenth century. It was an area where the linen industry thrived. Closing off the vista at the eastern end of the village is Ballycumber House of early eighteenth century date and for many years the home of John Warneford Armstrong (died 1857) for ever, associated with the prosecution case against the Sheares brothers who were executed in 1798.

Banagher

Banagher is a picturesque town on the east bank of a Shannon crossing. It is fortified on the Connacht side with a Martello tower and other batteries. Anthony Trollope was stationed here as Post Office surveyor and he commenced his first published book The Macdermots of Ballycloran (1847) here. The Rev. Arthur Bell Nicholls, Rector of Banagher, who married Charlotte Bronte, the authoress of Jane Eyre (1854) died in Banagher in 1906. The father of Oscar Wilde, Sir William Wilde, attended the old Cuba House school. The building, once described as the most masculine house in Ireland, no longer exists.

The ruined church and graveyard are on the site of an early monastery. The shaft of a High Cross from the monastery is in the National Museum. The Catholic church (1972) is by Robinson, Keefe and Devane and has a statue of The Madonna by Imogen Stuart.

Crank House, Banagher

This house dates from about 1760. It is a two storey, six bay Georgian townhouse with a bow front and a superb limestone doorway. The building was used as a residence up to the end of the 19th century, when a two storey granary was attached.

From 1916 until 1946 the house served as a technical school. In 1989, Offaly West Enterprise Society, a voluntary community enterprise group bought the house and refurbished it. It is listed for preservation in the Offaly County Council Development Plan (1986). Crank House currently houses Banagher Tourist Information Point, a craft manufacturing and retail facility, a coffee shop, an independent hostel and an exhibition area. "Well that beats Banagher" and the rejoinder, "And Banagher beats the devil" are popular well-known sayings associated with this interesting vibrant town, still a fording place on the lordly Shannon. Impressive fortifications guarding the river crossing are still to be seen.

"Beannchar na Sionna," according to local historian Val Trodd, means "the place of the pointed rocks on the Shannon". The town has a famous horse fair held annually in September.

A strong tourism presence has now revitalised Banagher. Angling and all watersports are very much to the fore. A spacious marina caters for the ever increasing river traffic, as does a new tourist information point. Cross the seven-arch bridge to Connacht to detour a little to visit Clonfert Cathedral, site of St. Brendan's celebrated monastery; the Romanesque doorway here is superb. And if you want more monastic treasures Clonmacnois is within easy reach. It is a little further north, tucked between river and bog. Why not approach it from the river on one of the river buses that cater for day journeys? Along the river banks the Shannon Callows are a treasure house of wild flowers and bird life.

Inland from Banagher the countryside soon changes from the humps of esker ridges to the "brown desert" or better still the "brown gold" of the boglands, a landscape unique in Europe.

Banagher on the Shannon and Birds of Brosnaland both by Val Trodd, will provide any visitor with hours of pleasurable reading about this picturesque town, and equally interesting countryside. Also by the same author are Midlanders (1994) and Clonmacnois and West Offaly (1998).

North of Lough Derg, the River Shannon has a very shallow gradient and in parts regularly floods its banks. The resultant wet grassland area, known as the Shannon Callows, is an internationally renowned area for wild birds and wildlife generally.

Clareen / Seir Kieran

Six miles south west of Birr is Clareen near to Seir Kieran, the site of an important monastery founded by St Ciaran (not to be confused with his more well known namesake of Clonmacnois). This may have been a pagan sanctuary in previous times, and a perpetual fire is said to have burned there. The site of the monastery is marked by earthworks, church ruins and early gravestones. There is also the sculptured base of a high cross. About half a mile south of Clareen cross-roads are St Ciaran's Bush and Stone. St Ciarán the was a contemporary of St Patrick. The present church here is modern but probably incorporates part of an older medieval church. Some figures have been inserted in the east gable of the church, and beside the church is a small cross and an old grave slab. There are also the remains of a round tower, and a church to the west of which there is a decorated base. The churchyard stands in a ten acre area which is still surrounded by traces of the old monastic wall with a ditch outside it. Cloghan- a village on the road to Shannonbridge, was once an important cross-roads village famous for its fairs. Two miles north west on this road are the well preserved (modernised) tower and bawn of Clonony Castle.

Cloghan Castle (Lusmagh) - A Brief History

History states that St. Cronan established a monastery here in 600, later thought to have been attacked by the Vikings. The Normans fortified the remains of the monastery in 1203. The monastery was a cluster of small stone buildings, which is called a Cloghan in Irish. The Normans built a defensive wall around the monastery, a part of which still exists. In 1336 Eoghan O'Madden, the greatest chief of the O'Maddens, conquered the territory of Lusmagh. He is thought to have built the present keep. The O'Maddens lost the castle in 1595 during a siege which cost 200 lives. Two companies of Cromwellian soldiers occupied the castle from 1651 - 1683 and built several extensions, including two towers. The castle figured in the Williamite Wars when the Irish Jacobite Army camped outside the gate in 1689. A number of gun metal coins, dated 1689, were found on the site.

The estate was 3,200 acres then, but was reduced after the Famine, and reduced again after 1908. It is set in 70 acres of beautiful parkland with another 80 acres of ancient woodland, which is a wildlife sanctuary. Cloghan Castle is signposted from the centre of Banagher. After Lusmagh Chapel cross continue straight ahead and take the second turn to the right.

Clonfinlough

Near Clonmacnoise is Clonfinlough where can be seen a decorated prehistoric stone. It is located in a field behind the church. The Clonfinlough stone is a large boulder laying flat on the ground in the middle of a field and is decorated with features some of which are natural and some manmade. There markings are similar to rock marking found in Spain which are said to date from the Bronze Age.

Clonony Castle

Until 1600 most of West Offaly formed the "tuath" or territory of Delvin, the land of the MacCoughlans. The MacCoughlans were renowned castle builders having castles at Cloghan, Banagher, Raghra (Shannonbridge), Coole (near Ferbane), Kilcolgan (near Ferbane) and at another dozen sites.

Among the finest of these is the lofty castle of Clonony. Built on a limestone outcrop and rising to fifty feet it dominates the surrounding landscape.

The castle has many colourful associations and just a few yards from the main entrance to the castle lies a large limestone slab which bears an inscription telling us that it was the tombstone of Elizabeth and Mary Bullyn. From the other genealogical information on this slab we know these people to be relations of Anne Boleyn, one of the wives of Henry VIII, and also, of course, of Anne's daughter who eventually became Queen Elizabeth I. In the 1620s the castle was granted to Mathew de Renzi who was born in Cologne, moved to Antwerp, London, and thence Ireland. His relationship with the MacCoughlans was curious. Initially he spoke of being ostracised by them (understandably since they had lost their lands to him) but relations improved to the extent that de Renzi later learned the Irish language. His tombstone in Athlone credits him with writing a dictionary in the Irish tongue.

In the 1830s, the castle belonged to Edmond Molony, a barrister-at-law. A description of Clonony in 1838 states that Molony was a counsellor who "was bred to the law and retained a very proper veneration for it." He kept two flagstaffs on the battlements of Clonony which he used for the purpose of commemorating his professional triumphs. His wife died in January 1839 and was interred in St. George's Chapel in London. The epitaph on her monument erected by her husband is extremely long, having more than 300 words, including the immortal lines:

        She was hot, passionate and tender,
        A highly accomplished lady,
        And a superb drawer in water colours.

Kinnitty is situated on the Birr-Mountmellick road. To the south and east rise the Slieve Blooms, which are full of beautiful scenery and have well signposted routes. Kinnitty is worth a day trip for its pleasant ambience, historic sites and village pubs. The Protestant Church has a curious stone in the porch inscribed with a cross and contains stained glass windows by Catherine O'Brien and Ethel Rhind.

One and a quarter miles to the north east is Castle Bernard, which was formerly the property of the Department of Forestry. The castle is believed to be by the Pain brothers and dates from the 1830s. It was destroyed in the "Troubles" of the early 1920s and rebuilt and is now a luxury hotel. There is a shaft of a tenth century High Cross on the terrace with figure carvings including a Crucifixion on one face, and an Adam and Eve on the other. This could be a relic of a monastery founded in Kinnitty in the sixth or seventh century.

One and a half miles north north west of Kinnitty at Drumcullen on the north of the Camcor is a fragment of the head of a High Cross which could be from the monastery founded by St Barrind in the 6th century. Beside it is a Norman motte of the early 13th century. In the old cemetery in Kinnitty village is a curious Bernard tomb of the 1830s in the shape of a pyramid - one of the few mausoleam in the county. Across from the cemetery of the Church of Ireland is the former rectory where the Hollywood film director Rex Ingram (Hitchcock) lived as a child. The old schoolhouse in the village is now a community centre and the visitor can enquire here for details of places to visit and to stay.

Lough Roe

Lough Roe, an amenity forest park, is to the rear of Gloster. Take the minor road north through the rolling landscapes of Coolderry to Leap Castle. At Leap the view across to Slieve Bloom Mountains is quite spectacular. Leap Castle was once the principle stronghold of the O'Carrolls of Ely. It is a late 15th century towerhouse with later buildings on the wings.

Shannon Harbour - this village developed after 1800 as the terminus of the Grand Canal through the Irish midlands. Now a somewhat sleepy village with its old canal hotel in ruins, it has received a new lease of life from the growth of pleasure traffic in the canal since the 1970's.

Shannonbridge is situated on the Cloghan-Ballinasloe road and is a fortified river crossing with a small well preserved, early 19th century fort built to secure the Connacht bridgehead.

On the opposite side the Shannon is joined downstream by the River Suck. This area is renowned for bream, rudd and hybrids and has outstanding potential for the coarse angler. The town is well known for its bars and music and throughout the summer is a hive of activity.

Whilst in Shannonbridge go for a tour on the Clonmacnoise and West Offaly Railway, which will take you in a luxury train coach on a five and a half mile guided tour on the Blackwater Bog. This gives a golden opportunity to discover many aspects of Ireland's peatlands and is a must for visitors who want an authentic experience. The area holds one of the largest concentrations of breeding waders in these islands including Lapwing, Redshank, Sandpiper and Godwit. Extensive hay meadows hold large numbers of corncrake - one of the few places in the world where this globally threatened species is still common.

Many species of migrant wild birds are also frequent visitors while otters, fox and ferret mink are common residents.Banagher, Shannon Harbour, Shannonbridge and Clonmacnois are excellent places to visit for wildlife watching on the callows.

CLONMACNOISE lies on the east bank of the River Shannon, four miles north of Shannonbridge. After Armagh, Clonmacnoise was the most important ecclesiastical centre in Ireland. Many kings of Tara and Connacht were buried here, as well as other rulers and eminent people.

The monastery was founded by St Ciaran who came down river from Lough Rea in January 545. Since the founding of Clonmacnoise it has been ravaged many times, by fire, plundered by the Vikings, the Irish themselves, and the English. It was finally the English in 1552 who made Clonmacnois a complete ruin with all the altars, images, books, bells and even the glass in the windows carried away as booty.

Clonmacnoise at its prime was more than a monastery. It was a monastic city with houses, workshops and some twelve or thirteen small churches and oratories. Today there are the fragments of no more than eight churches left, together with two round towers, a cathedral, high crosses, graveslabs and a 13th century ringwork castle. The last High King of Ireland, Roderick O'Connor, who died in 1198 was buried here.

In this peaceful rural setting on the banks of the Shannon it is easy to imagine life in the days of the Vikings and when the nobles of Europe sent their sons to be taught here. On a sunny summer's day the prospect is quite pleasant, but on a winter's day with the wind whipping up the Shannon they must have been very tough to survive such a life. A new interpretative centre provided at Clonmacnois in 1993 enhances the appreciation of this site for visitors and serves as a museum for some of the important monuments on the site. Pope John Paul visited the Monastery in 1979. Upwards of 150,000 people visit the site each year.

Guided tours are available throughout the summer and several books and pamphlets on Clonmacnois have been published including an excellent guide by Con Manning published by Government Publications. The setting of Clonmacnoise brings together many of the elements of the Offaly landscape. It is situated on a gravel ridge (esker) overlooking the River Shannon (Ireland's largest river). The other major components in the landscape are the raised bog and the callows where the corncrake can still be heard. The entire Clonmacnoise area is of importance ecologically as well as historically with its eskers, callows, raised bogs, bare limestone rock (at Clorhane near Shannonbridge), the remnant of a lake at Finlough and Mongan Bog to the north of the Athlone road.

CLONMACNOISE
Con Manning (1994)

It is just an accident of History that Clonmacnoise today is not an important cathedral town and major crossing point of the Shannon. Such was its great importance between c. 700 and 1200 AD, that its population would probably have confidently expected this major centre of piety, learning, trade and craftsmanship to have continued to grow in importance up to the last day. How lucky we are that it declined, and that instead of a busy modern town with its traffic and noise strangling the much-altered remnants of an early monastery, we find the extensive remains of buildings and crosses surviving in the peace and quiet of their outstanding rural setting on the banks of the Shannon.

Ironically, in its present-day unspoilt tranquillity, it probably more closely resembles the site which St Ciaran chose for his monastery in the mid-sixth century than the clamorous, busy, congested settlement it grew into some centuries later. Of all the monastic centres of this period in Ireland, Clonmacnoise was second only in importance to Armagh, and probably surpassed Armagh in its artistic and literary achievements.

Ferbane is situated on the Clara-Cloghan road. Half a mile south of the town on the south bank of the Brosna stands Gallen Priory (now the Convent of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Cluny). The Priory is said to get its name from St. Canoc, who was born in Wales and who formed a monastery called Gallen of the Britons. In the Middle Ages the monastery became an Augustinian priory. The monastery was founded in 1492. The present church was probably built in the thirteenth century. The site has a significant collection of early Irish graveslabs many of which are now attached to the rebuilt gables of the church. These stones are all of the eight to eleventh century in date.

Kilcormac is a small town on the Tullamore-Birr road, at the feet of the Slieve Bloom mountains. There is a missal preserved in Trinity College, Dublin, which belonged to a 15th century Carmelite priory in the town. The Catholic church dating from the 1860's is one of the finest of the smaller churches in the county and unusually contains memorials to local Catholic gentry some of whom had strong European connections.

There is a treasure here well worth breaking a journey to stop off and see, and it is the sixteenth century pieta which is kept in the catholic parish church, just off Main Street. The pieta is a statue of Our Lady holding the body of Jesus after he had been taken from the Cross. The scene was a very popular subject for sculptors in the Middle Ages.

The Kilcormac Pieta is different, being carved from a block of solid oak and measuring 5 ft. x 3 ft. It is a very beautiful carving and is thought to be the only one of its kind and era in Ireland. It is a subject of great devotion in the area and the wonderful story of its survival, which was passed on by word of mouth for generations, was finally written down by a former parish priest of Kilcormac, the late Father Andrew Shaw in his published history of the parish.

t is thought that the pieta is of Spanish origin and, according to tradition, it was donated to the parish by a rich lady in the sixteenth century. It was placed in the parish church, which at that time was in Ballyboy, about one mile from Kilcormac. There it remained until 1650 when Oliver Cromwell's army was reported approaching from the direction of Cadamstown. Everyone gathered up their possessions and prepared to flee to the woods when two women thought of the Pieta. They rushed to the church, took the Pieta outside and buried it in a heap of rubbish. Later, under the cover of darkness, a number of men brought it out and re-buried it in a bog, where it was to lie for over sixty years.

Had the Pieta not remained safely preserved in the bog for those years, it is unlikely that it would have survived to this day. During the years of persecution, the churches in Kilcormac and Ballyboy were reduced to ruins. To return to the Pieta, it is thought that sometime between 1700 and 1720, only one man remained alive who knew where it was buried, and, according to tradition, he was carried on his deathbed to point it out. The carving was carefully recovered and when it was examined it was found to be in perfect condition. It was then placed in the church that had recently been built in Kilcormac, the whole parish was overjoyed to have their valued Pieta among them again. It almost left the parish some years after that when a priest, who was moving to Borrisokane, took it with him! However, the parishioners brought it back and it has remained in the parish church of Kilcormac to this day. In the grounds of Kilcormac Catholic church and built into the north wall of the churchyard is a medieval Crucifixion panel possibly from a tomb-chest of late sixteenth century date. Although defaced it is possible to see the figure of Christ flanked by two foliate stems.

The town of Kilcormac (Cormac's Church) where the oak-carved Pieta now rests was called Frankford for some 400 years before reverting to its ancient title. Frankford would appear to relate to Francis Magawley who founded the town on a ford across the Silver River.

When travelling on the road to Kilcormac make a detour to visit Rathlihen Cemetery, a pre Famine graveyard and medieval church ruins which are well worth a visit. Turn left off the main road about a mile from Blueball towards Mountbolus. The road to Rathlihen is signposted on the right hand side. Take great care going down the lane to the graveyard as it is very narrow. The graveyard has been brought to its present beautiful condition by Mrs Daly of Ladywell.

Three miles north west of Kilcormac, excavations in Lough Boora in the 1970's uncovered the earliest known traces of human activity in the Midlands. These dated from about the eight millennium B.C., Stone axes which were discovered indicated a temporary fishing and hunting community.