There were no fatalities but the loss of so many homes and livelihoods was a disaster. The Tullamore balloon was launched on a breezy day and soon collided with a chimney its fire took hold of a thatched roof, spread to another and another, until the whole of Barrack Street was ablaze. The first manned flight had been in 1783 by the Montgolfier brothers in Paris, and balloons were being sent up for amusement and publicity all over Europe. There were no great battles or sieges here, and little to distinguish the place until on Tullamore was the improbable site of the world's first aviation disaster.Īir accident investigation had not yet been invented so documentation is sparse, but it appears to have involved an unmanned hot-air balloon, with lift created by a fire burning in a basket, effectively a giant Chinese lantern. The Moore family ousted the O'Molloy clan, building the first version of Charleville Castle, and acquiring an earldom. That changed in 1570 when it became part of the Tudor plantations. Tulach Mhór means "great mound", indicating a long-vanished defensive earthwork, and Tullamore like the rest of County Offaly was an Irish territory outside the Anglo-Norman "pale" of Leinster. The town is best known for Tullamore Dew whiskey - production moved to Midleton near Cork in 1954, but resumed in the town from 2010. It's traversed by the Grand Canal, which is navigable by leisure boats from Dublin to the Shannon and beyond. Tullamore is the county town of County Offaly, and more or less in the centre of Ireland.
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