Rock of Dunamase

Thirty minutes from the castle, just outside Stradbally on the road to Portlaoise, the Rock of Dunamase rises over the valley of the O'Moores.

The rock was the location of an early Christian settlement known as Dun Masc, and later became an important Anglo-Norman fortification. Dunamase Castle, a defensive stronghold dating from the early Hiberno-Norman period, looks across to the Slieve Bloom Mountains.

The climb to the top is short, and the view is the reason to make it.