History

Charles Moore

Charles Moore's estate was inherited by his sister's son, John Bury. Bury of Shannon Grove, Limerick was not to have much time to exercise his influence on the estate as he died shortly afterwards, drowned in Ringsend, Dublin in 1764.

His son, Charles William Bury inherited the estate - but he could do nothing until he came of age. His coming of age was to take just under twenty one years; he had inherited the estate at the ripe old age of six months. He became the first Earl of Charleville of the second creation. Charles William Bury set about planning Tullamore with the ambition of making Tullamore comparable to the best towns of the country, in industry, prosperity and style, 'Paris of the midlands'. During his minority Tullamore suffered a period of stagnation due to the legal obstacle to obtaining sufficient title for building development.

The unfortunate incident of the Great Balloon fire or as it was described in Walker's Hibernian magazine, 'the melancholy accident' occurred in the year 1785, coinciding with the coming of age of Charles William Bury. A local gentleman whilst entertaining his guests crashed his Montgolfier hot air balloon in the town leading town fire that caused serious damage to around 100 houses in Patrick Street area. This flight of a hot air balloon was one of the first in Ireland and took place only two years after the first experiments in Paris.

Around 1785 was the beginning of a period of rapid development for Tullamore. This lasted until the end of the Napoleonic war in 1815. Also oh huge importance was the coming of the Grand Canal to Tullamore in 1798. Tullamore was to be the terminus of the Grand Canal for six years until it was extended to the river Shannon at Shannon Harbour. The canal provided a direct link with Dublin, which was of great economic benefit to the town. It facilitated the export of goods such as turf, bricks, grain for malting, whiskey and Tullamore limestone from the local quarries. The canal also proved to be essential for the distilling industry, which had blossomed in Tullamore since the 1780s. The buildings which resulted from the canal's arrival in the town were many. Vast stores were built at the harbour and along Store Street and also in 1897, the bonded warehouse which is now the Tullamore Dew Heritage Centre.

The County Jail and the County Courthouse were built in the years 1830 and 1835, respectively. The year 1833 saw Tullamore achieve county capital status. In the post Famine years the town strengthened its position as the leading town in the county.

The Earl of Charleville's influence on the town's development is interesting not only for his attention to architectural detail but also in the relatively low profile way in which he worked. Much of the physical development of the town was done through middlemen, developers or speculators. One of the most prominent of these was Thomas Acres. The building now housing the Town Hall on Cormac Street, was his home, built in 1786. Acres was influential in many of the development schemes of the late eighteenth century. He was involved in building of 140 houses in the town.