County Offaly

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
County Offaly
Contae Uíbh Fhailí
map
Vereinigtes Königreich Donegal Leitrim Sligo Mayo Galway Galway Roscommons Cavan Longford Monaghan Louth Westmeath Fingal Meath Dublin South Dublin Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown Clare Limerick City and County Offaly Kildare Wicklow Tipperary Laois Carlow Wexford Waterford City and County Cork Kilkenny Tipperary Waterford City and County Limerick City and County Kerry CorkCounty Offaly in Ireland
About this picture
Basic data
Country: Ireland
Administrative headquarters: Tullamore
Province: Leinster
Irish name: Uíbh Fhailí
Surface: 1990 km²
Residents: 78.003 (2016)
License Plate: OY
lili rere
Coat of arms and flag of County Offaly

Offaly ( Irish County Offaly ) is a county ( county ) in the Irish province Leinster that the counties Galway , Roscommon , Westmeath , Meath , Kildare , Laois and Tipperary borders.

geography

The county consists largely of a plain that is bounded to the west by the River Shannon . Only in the southeast do the Slieve Bloom Mountains rise . The Grand Canal , which connects Dublin with Ballinasloe , runs through the county .

history

Historical map

Stone Age traces can be found at the Greenville menhir .

In the Middle Ages, the Principality of Offaly was located here, which in addition to today's county also included parts of Tipperary , Laois and Kildare . This principality has long been under the rule of the O'Connor clan. Turlough O'Connor (1088-1156) who lived at the time of the Synod of Rathbreasail (1111 in Offaly) and Roderick O'Connor (1116-1198) were kings of Connacht . In the 16th century it came to the English crown. In 1556 the county was established under the name King's County .

economy

Agriculture consists of cattle, sheep and pig breeding as well as the cultivation of wheat and brewing barley. There is a textile industry, distilleries, as well as furniture manufacturing and jute processing.

politics

Offaly forms a constituency that sends three MPs to the Irish Parliament ( Dáil Éireann ). In the 2016 election, Fianna Fáil , Fine Gael and Sinn Féin each won one seat.

The distribution of seats in the county council after the local elections on May 23, 2014:

Political party Seats
Fianna Fáil 8th
Fine Gael 3
Sinn Féin 3
Non-party 5

Cities

Birr Castle

Attractions

There are only two large stone graves in Offaly. They are in the Slieve Bloom Mountains. Because of their poor state of preservation, it is impossible to classify them. They are located in Ballywilliam in Barony Ballybritt and in Gorraun in Barony Clonlisk.

Personalities

Coordinates: 53 ° 13 ′  N , 7 ° 36 ′  W