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Did you know that Ireland's boglands are very interesting places? Offaly is a county that is well known for its boglands. To understand how the boglands are so plentiful in Offaly, it is important to study the geography of the county.
Geography of Offaly
Offaly
This image shows a map of Ireland with the four provinces marked out in different colours and highlighting County Offaly in dark blue. Do you know which province is which?
Offaly
Offaly
This image shows a map of Ireland with the four provinces marked out in different colours and highlighting County Offaly in dark blue. Do you know which province is which?
County Offaly is one of 12 counties that make up the province of Leinster.
As it is in the midlands, it shares a border with lots of other counties. They are Galway to the west, Roscommon to the northwest, Westmeath to the north, Meath to the northeast, Kildare to the east, Laois to the south and Tipperary to the southwest.
The main mountains in Offaly are the Slieve Bloom Mountains which are in the south of the county. They are at the cross-roads of Ireland half-way between Galway and Dublin, Belfast and Cork, and Donegal and Rosslare. At their highest point, they reach 526 metres.
The River Shannon acts as a border between Counties Roscommon and Galway with County Offaly on its western side. The Grand Canal also passes through County Offaly. It enters the county on its eastern side at the village of Killan. It then passes through Daingean and Tullamore before joining The Shannon just after Clonony.
Population
The Grand Canal
The Grand Canal as it passes through Tullamore in County Offaly.
Image courtesy of The Irish TimesThe Grand Canal
Image courtesy of The Irish Times
Image courtesy of The Irish Times
The Grand Canal
The Grand Canal as it passes through Tullamore in County Offaly.
Image courtesy of The Irish TimesAccording to the census in 2006, the population of County Offaly is 70,868. 35,937 of these are males while the remaining 34,931 are females. The figure of 70,868 shows a rise in Offaly's population of 7,205 from the 2002 figure of 63,663. Offaly's population is roughly 3% of the whole population for the province of Leinster (2,295,123).