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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 Cafe . There's an adequate hotel , O'Loughlin's , on Main St (tel 0502/21305, oloughlins@eircom.net ; GBP40-55/?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 cafe/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; GBP1.50/?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 ; GBP33-40/?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; GBP33-40/?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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