Tullamore is the administrative seat of County Offaly. The origins of this bustling town in the center of the Irish Midlands can be traced back to the 1500s, when it served as part of the English plantation system in the region.
Disaster befell Tullamore in 1785; when a hot air balloon crashed and started a huge fire that raged on to destroy nearly 100 homes. The town eventually recovered, rising from the ashes like the symbolic phoenix that appears on the shield of the town.
Today’s Tullamore is a thriving centre of commerce and hosts headquarters or large branches of several international companies. Tullmore Retail Park was completed in 2002, and the town is also the health care centre for the region, with several prestigious existing facilities, plus a new hospital that is slated for completion in 2007.
Tullamore was given “GatewayTown” designation in 2003 and finished as a finalist in the National Tidy Towns Competition of 2004.
Tullamore Dew is a world famous Irish whiskey that was distilled here in the town from 1829 until the 1950’s, and is still produced elsewhere.