A bustling market town

PORTLAOISE tends to suffer because it is associated with the large prison on the outskirts of the town as you drive in from Dublin. The prison, built in 1830, with its impressive entrance, is of architectural interest, as is St Fintan's Hospital across the road, built around the same time.

Once past the prison and the hospital, visitors will also find a busy and rapidly developing market town. The by pass is not yet finished, so it is hard to know what effect, if any, it will have on the town.

There is a lot of new building taking place, most of it concentrated around the wide James Fintan Lawlor Avenue, including the new shopping centre, the tourist office and the many new shops nearby, and the imposing County Council Offices. The main street is in direct contrast, being narrow and more intimate, with small, long established shops and pubs.

Portlaoise was originally called Maryborough, and was designed as a stronghold in the 16th century to protect the new English settlers from "the wild Irish".

. BEST POINT OF INFORMATION:

The tourist office is on James Fintan Lawlor Avenue, across the road from the new shopping centre.

. WORTH VISITING:

The old Court House, designed by Richard Morrison in 1782, is an impressive building on the corner of Main Street and Church Street. It is due to be renovated into an Arts Centre, complete with a 220 seat theatre, a gallery and a restaurant.

Continue walking down Church Street and you will see the remains of an old circular tower, thought to be part of the Maryborough Fort, surviving from the early days of the town. If you walk straight on down Railway Street towards the station you will see the fine, late 19th century Gothic Methodist church.

Another church of interest is St Peter's Church of Ireland church, on Market Square. The obelisk spire may have been designed by Gandon, and bears a distinct resemblance to the church he designed at Coolbanagher (see below for details).

. WHERE TO SHOP:

The Laois Arts and Crafts Gallery in the shopping centre is well worth a visit.

There is a wide selection of locally made crafts, from Victorian shadow boxes to spalted beech chairs. Miscellany, on Main street, sells attractive painted furniture, rugs, baskets and jewellery. Treasures, also on Main Street, sells pottery, candles and glassware.

On Church Street there is an excellent sweater shop, Sweaters and More, with plenty of local knits as well as recognised labels.

Also in Portlaoise is Kevin Hogan, a hairdresser who attracts clients from Dublin and even further afield to his salon, The Company (on Main Street).

. WHERE TO EAT:

Jim's Country Kitchen, on Church Street, offers a good lunch, where you can eat outside in the tranquil courtyard beside the cafe if the day is fine. A salad plate costs £4 (£4.50 with meat), and includes as much as you can pile on to the plate from the many salads displayed on a large kitchen table, ranging from Greek salad to couscous. Jim also sells his own jams and salad dressings.

Roundwood House, a Hidden Ireland house at Mountrath, about 10 miles west of Portlaoise, has a popular set dinner menu for £20, including eclairs of smoked trout with cucumber and dill sauce, courgette and fennel soup, apricot stuffed leg of lamb and creme brulee. Sunday lunch is available at £12.

The Killeshin Hotel does a three course lunch for £9, including savoury chicken crepes, seafood tagliatelli and poached pears with vanilla sauce.

Egan's restaurant on Main Street is open from 9a.m. to 9.30 pm.and has a variety of meals on offer. A la carte dishes include Barbery duck breast in Cointreau and orange sauce (£8.75).

If you are prepared to drive to Abbeyleix, (south of Portlaoise on the N7), the Preston House Cafe is well worth the journey. The old stone building, once a schoolhouse, is in the centre of the town, and the restaurant is open 10 a.m. to 3.30 p.m., and from 6 p.m. to 9.30 p.m. (closed Monday and Sunday night, open for Sunday lunch). Lunch includes smoked haddock chowder (£1.75), warm chicken salad with Abbey Blue cheese, croutons and walnuts (£7) and chocolate meringue roulade (£2).

. WHERE TO STAY:

Renowned for its special breakfasts. Chez Nous is a large bungalow two miles north of Portlaoise on the N7. Breakfasts include a choice of fish, pancakes, potato cakes, or Clonakilty black pudding cooked in duck fat with grated apple and carrot. Woodgrove Farm at Emo is also a popular B&B option. The average cost of a room at a B&B in the area (with en suite bathroom) is £17 a night.

Roundwood House is an early Georgian Palladian villa and is surrounded by deciduous woodland. Stabling is available B&B costs £35 a night, and breakfast includes home made yoghurt and muesli, and fruit compote.

The Killeshin Hotel is a modern 50 bedroom hotel in Portlaoise. B&B is £33 a night. The streamlined Montague Hotel at Emo north of Portlaoise on the N7, costs £60.50 for B&B, and has 75 en suite bedrooms. O'Loughlin's Hotel on Main Street in Portlaoise costs £20 for B&B.

. NIGHT MOVES:

Don't wait until night falls before you go to Ramsbottom's grocery shop and back bar on Main Street. Where else could you do your shopping and then have a refreshing drink immediately afterwards? The decor and atmosphere are unadulterated 1950s. Such distinctive establishments used to be the backbone of the rural Irish town, and sadly there are very few left.

Portlaoise has a new cinema, off Main Street, and there are plenty of pubs in the town. The Killeshin Hotel has old time dancing on a Thursday night.

O'Loughlin's Hotel has live music in the bar at weekends. The Sally Gardens pub, on Main Street, has live rock music on Thursdays and Mondays.

In nearby Raheen Eamon A Chnoic has live music on a Saturday and traditional Irish music on Mondays and Fridays.

. DAY-TIME EXCURSIONS

The Maltings Fitness and Racket Club, on the Ballyfin Road, has a gym, two squash courts and four tennis courts. It is open to the public. There is a swimming pool on Park View.

Portlaoise Par 3, at Meelick, on the Cork Road just outside Portlaoise, is an 18 hole golf course on 50 acres. There is also Heath Golf Club, one of the oldest golf clubs in Ireland (founded in 1889), situated off the N7, three miles from Portlaoise.

Portlaoise has an equestrian centre on Timahoe Road, and also on that road you can rent a horse drawn caravan at Kilvahan Horse Drawn Caravans. Bicycles can be hired at Hamilton's Cycles in Portlaoise.

The grounds of Ballyfin House (about seven miles from Portlaoise), now a school, are a pleasant place for a ramble. The lake is very attractive and a good place to go fishing (but get permission first). There is also an old conservatory, designed by Turner (who designed the one in the Botanic Gardens in Dublin).

. OTHER ACTIVITIES:

The Rock of Dunamase cane be seen from the road to Stradbally (N80). Described by a local as "a mini Rock of Cashel" the spectacular ruin was originally a Celtic fortification. Stradbally is a picturesque little town. It has a steam traction museum which can be viewed by appointment. For those more interested in crafts, there is the Old Millrace Gallery on the main street.

Back on the N7, driving out Portlaoise towards Dublin, there is a turn off for Coolbanagher and Emo Court. Coolbanagher is a compact Church of Ireland church not far from Emo. A graceful and unpretentious building, it is the only church Gandon designed in Ireland. Built in 1786, it contains a carved stone font which dates back to the 12th century.

Gandon also designed Emo Court, for his old school friend, the first Earl of Portarlington. Building began in 1790, but the imposing neo-classical house, with its massive columns and sequoia lined drive, was not completed until 1860. The house and gardens are open to visitors, with guided tours of the house available on request.

Southeast of Portlaoise is the village of Timahoe, which has the tallest round tower in Ireland. At 30 metres tall, the tower looks spectacular lit up at night.

The scenic Slieve Bloom Walking Way stretches for 50 miles, and includes 33 valleys. Walkers often begin in the village of Rosenallis, about 15 miles northwest of Portlaoise.

. DID YOU KNOW?

Portlaoise is the birthplace of Bartholomew Mosse, the founder of the Rotunda Maternity Hospital in Dublin. Portlaoise, along with five other towns in Co Laois, is part of the Laois Sculpture Trail, created in 1994. There are six sculptors and six towns involved (Abbeyleix, Stradbally, Portarlington, Mountmellick, Mountrath and Portlaoise). The one in Portlaoise is called Instruments. Created by Mary McGinty, it is located on James Finlan Lawlor Avenue.

. WHERE'S THE LOO?

There are public toilets beside the tourist information office.

. HOW TO GET THERE:

By car take the N7 from Dublin.

By bus there are 10 buses daily leaving Busarus in Dublin, for Portlaoise.

By train there are 10 trains daily leaving Heuston Station in Dublin for Portlaoise.