Ruin
Rock of Dunamase
Portlaoise, County Laois
The rock rises straight out of flat land east of Portlaoise with a ruined castle on top of it, and three counties are visible from up there.
The Rock of Dunamase is an imposing and magnificent example of a Celtic fortification overlooking the valley of the O’Moores, just outside Portlaoise, County Laois.
- Where
- Portlaoise, County Laois
- Address
- Dunamaise, Aghnahily
- Official site
- heritageireland.ie
- Map
- Directions · OpenStreetMap
- Before you go
- Opening times, prices and access change. Check with the place itself.
Nearby
The closest places on our lists, in any county.
Timahoe Round Tower and ChurchNearly 30m of round tower on the green at Timahoe, with its carved Romanesque doorway five metres off the ground.
Emo CourtJames Gandon designed this domed neoclassical house. There is a lake in the grounds and a mile long avenue of giant sequoia running up to it.
Abbeyleix BogThe boardwalk crosses a raised bog on the edge of the town. People from Abbeyleix blocked Bord na Móna's machines in 2000, and the town has looked after it since.
AbbeyleixLaid out as an estate town in the 1770s: one wide main street of limestone fronts, with the bog at the end of it.More in Laois
Slieve Bloom MountainsMountain · MountrathLow and flat topped on the Offaly border, mostly blanket bog and forestry, with Arderin the high point at 527m.
GlenbarrowWaterfall · ClonasleeGlenbarrow is where the River Barrow starts in the Slieve Blooms, with a waterfall in it and a looped trail from the car park.
Aghaboe AbbeyAbbey · BallacollaThe Dominican priory ruin and the church beside it stand on a monastic site that goes back to the 6th century.
Killeshin ChurchRuin · KilleshinThe carved Romanesque west doorway is still upright on this church ruin, on the hill west of Carlow town.
Donaghmore Famine Workhouse MuseumMuseum · RathdowneyAn 1853 workhouse near Rathdowney, kept as it was, dormitories still standing and an agricultural museum in the yard.- Durrow Leafy LoopWalk · DurrowA long looped walk on lanes and woodland paths out of Durrow village, with shorter options signed off it.
- MountmellickTown · MountmellickA Quaker town on the Owenass river. The museum there keeps the white on white Mountmellick embroidery going.
- Sleaty Church and High CrossesMonastic site · SleatyThe church ruin and two plain granite high crosses sit on the Barrow bank at Sleaty, just west of Carlow town.