Midlands (Ireland)
The Irish Midlands ( Irish Lár na Tíre ) are a region in the Republic of Ireland . It consists of the counties of Laois , Longford , Offaly and Westmeath .
Its area is 6,524 km² (9.5% of the area of Ireland) with a population of 251,664 (6% of the Irish population). The main town is Athlone .
The region is very sparsely populated and rural; The main industries are peat and timber mining (the latter accounts for a third of the total Irish timber industry). The landscape is characterized by waterways, especially the Shannon , Ireland's longest river, and its lakes (e.g. Lough Ree ). These ways are today v. a. interesting for tourism (as well as the walking trails along the Grand Canal and the Royal Canal , both of which lead from the Shannon to the Liffey in Dublin ). A monument of early Christian Ireland is the former monastery of Clonmacnoise near Shannonbridge , Offaly, which lies directly on the Shannon and an Esker .
Two (former) whiskey distilleries are located here: the oldest whiskey distillery in Ireland (founded in 1757, closed since 1957, since then a museum), Locke's Distillery , in Kilbeggan , and the former distillery of Tullamore Dew in Tullamore (1829-1959 ) (now the Tullamore Dew Heritage Center ).
photos
Clonmacnoise monastery complex
Normannenburg near Clonmacnoise
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Irish Regions Office: Regions of Ireland: The Midlands ( Memento of the original from January 10, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed on February 13, 2012
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