Tullamore

Tullamore, town in central Republic of Ireland. The county town of Offaly, it is situated on the River Tullamore and bordered, to the north, by the Grand Canal. Tullamore has a distillery, a woollen mill, and food-processing factories. In medieval times, the town was the focus of a number of thriving monastic centres (most notably Clonmacnoise). Just north of the town lies Durrow Abbey, where the Book of Durrow was produced in the 7th century (now housed in the University of Dublin). In the early 18th century, Tullamore developed as a market town and small industrial centre; it contains some notable Georgian architecture from this period. A building of particular interest in Tullamore is Charleville Forest Castle, a large neo-Gothic mansion designed by Francis Johnston in the late 18th century and built from 1800 to 1812. In 1785 a large part of the town burned down when a hot-air balloon caught fire. The columnist and novelist Flann O’Brien grew up in the area. Population (1996) 10,039.