20 Attractions to Explore Near Brittas Lake

The Slieve Bloom Mountains is a mountain range in Ireland. They rise from the central plain of Ireland to a height of 527 metres. While not very high, they are extensive by local standards. The terrain is too steep for farming so the slopes are forested with commercial conifers, with lanes for truck access that are firm going but with views closed in by the trees. The tops are open heath and bog.

The Slieve Bloom Way is a long-distance trail around the Slieve Bloom Mountains in Ireland. It is an 70-kilometre long circular route that can be accessed from any of the trailheads at Glenbarrow near the village of Rosenallis, County Laois.Cadamstown, County Offaly Kinnitty, County Offaly.It is typically completed in three days. The route was developed as part of the designation of the Slieve Bloom area as a European Environment Park in the European Year of the Environment.

The Kinnitty Pyramid was built in the 1830’s as a tomb for the Bernard family who lived in Kinnitty Castle at that time. The Castle was then known as Castle Bernard. The pyramid which you can see form the front of Ardmore Country House is located at the rear of St Finian’s church.

A Gothic-style castle located in County Offaly, Ireland, bordering the town of Tullamore, near the River Clodiagh. It is considered one of the finest of its type in the country. The castle itself is believed to be the most haunted building and grounds in Europe, with it appearing on Living TV's Most Haunted and Fox's Scariest Places on Earth.

Arderin is a mountain on the border of County Offaly and County Laois. It is the highest mountain in the Slieve Bloom mountains. The mountain is only Irelands 399 highest point and sits at an altitude of 527m.

Clara Bog is the finest remaining example of a raised bog in Ireland today. The nature reserve is home to many protected wildlife species. The site is protected under a number of national and international designations including National Nature Reserve, a Special Area of Conservation, Ramsar Wetland Site, Natura 2000 site, and Natural Heritage Area.

The town park is located in an important strategic position within the town with entrances from Main Street and Cormac Street. There are so many things to see and do here and also it offers a beautiful nature walk also.

Ballycowan Castle is a castle located 4 km west of Tullamore, Co. Offaly. It was built in 1589 as a fortified house by Thomas Morres.The castle was built on the previous site of the O’Molloy castle or tower house called Baile-mhic-Abhainn which was destroyed by a fire in 1557.

Poet's Cottage is located in the picturesque village of Camross, County Laois. It is named after Patrick Ryan, a poet who lived in Camross between 1750 and 1825. He wrote about the natural beauty and the people of this community. This is a replica thatched cottage that gives visitors a sense of what daily life must have been like for most people in rural Ireland in the 1800s.

Durrow is the site of one of the earliest and most important monastery founded by St Columcille about 550. Largely undisturbed, the site is an early medieval monastic complex of ecclesiastical and secular monuments, visible and sub-surface. The extant monuments at the site include a large ecclesiastical enclosure, five Early Christian grave slabs, a fine mid-ninth century high cross and so more.

Clara Bog is the finest remaining example of a raised bog in Ireland today. Raised bogs once covered 310,000 hectares in Ireland but today just 7% remains intact. This forms over 50% of the remaining area of uncut raised bog in North West Europe. The nature reserve is home to many protected wildlife species. The installation of a 1km-looped timber boardwalk with interpretive panels at Clara Bog has provided for local recreation and tourism.

The Offaly Way is a linear route of 38km linking the Slieve bloom Way (at Cadamstown) to the Sli Mor and crossing en-route the Grand Canal Way. It includes sections of riverbank, stretches of bogland, green mass paths and quiet country roadways. The trail provides a link between the Slieve Bloom Way and the Grand Canal Way.

Leap Castle is a castle in Coolderry, County Offaly, Ireland, about 6 km north of the town of Roscrea and 10 km south of Kinnitty on the R421. In 1974 the now ruined castle was bought by Australian historian Peter Bartlett, whose mother had been a Banon. Bartlett, together with builder Joe Sullivan, carried out extensive restoration work on the castle up to the time of his death in 1989.

Emo Court is a quintessential neo-classical mansion, set in the midst of the ancient Slieve Bloom Mountains. Designed by noted architect James Gandon, it features magnificent gardens and is located just 2.5 km from Emo village and 7 km from Portarlington Railway Station. Architectural features of the building include sash-style windows, pavilions, a balustrade, a hipped roof, and large dome. It is one of the few houses to have been designed by Gandon.

The Barrow Way is a 114km long distance walking trail along the River Barrow in the South East of Ireland. It rises in the Slieve Bloom Mountains in the southern midlands, and flows to join its two ‘sisters’, the Nore and the Suir, before flowing into the Celtic Sea at Waterford Harbour. It is designated as a National Waymarked Trail by the National Trails Office of the Irish Sports Council and is managed by Waterways Ireland.

This is a large castle in the town of Birr in County Offaly, Ireland. It is the home of the 7th Earl of Rosse and his family, and as such the residential areas of the castle are not open to the public, though the grounds and gardens of the demesne are publicly accessible, and include a science museum and a café, a reflecting telescope which was the largest in the world for decades and a modern radio telescope.

The Abbey of Aghaboe is one of the most important of the abbeys and priories in County Laois. It was founded in the kingdom of Osraige by St. Canice in the 6th century. The abbey grew into a major centre of learning, commerce and agriculture. Among the monks from the abbey was St. Virgilius, a noted geometer and astronomer who was abbot before he left Ireland and built the cathedral at Salzburg in Austria in the 8th century.

Leviathan of Parsonstown, or Rosse six-foot telescope, is a historic reflecting telescope of 72 inches aperture, which was the largest telescope in the world from 1845 until the construction of the 100-inch Hooker Telescope in California in 1917. The Rosse six-foot telescope was built by William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse on his estate, Birr Castle, at Parsonstown.

Monaincha Church is a 12th-century church in Roscrea, County Tipperary, Ireland. Founded in the eighth century, it soon became the most famous pilgrimage site in Munster. In fact, it was described in the 10th century as the 31st wonder of the world. Highlights include a fine Romanesque doorway and a unique high cross, made from fragments of other crosses, with carved horsemen, the crucifiction and Celtic designs forming a decorative collage.

The Rock of Dunamase is an imposing and magnificent example of a Celtic fortification overlooking the valley of the O’Moores. Its Spectacular views of the surrounding countryside make the towering Rock of Dunamase a place of strategic importance. The rock, 46 metres above a flat plain, has the ruins of Dunamase Castle, a defensive stronghold dating from the early Hiberno-Norman period with a view across to the Slieve Bloom Mountains.