Boyle

Built in 1730, this Georgian mansion was the home of the powerful King family. They moved away in 1780 to an even grander pile by Lough Key, which burned down in 1957. King House became a barracks for the Connaught Rangers, then for the Irish army after independence, then a merchant's store. It was at risk of being demolished but the county council bought the place in 1987 and restored it. There are plush period rooms, and museum displays of Irish history interwoven with the King family and the Connaught Rangers. There's also a modern local art collection, and the town library is housed here.

Substantial remains of a Cistercian abbey founded in 1161. The style is transitional between Romanesque and Gothic, with the contrast most marked in the nave. After the Dissolution it was trashed by Cromwell in 1659 then became a military base. A Sheila na Gig flaunts her stuff above one of the central arches. There's a display area in the restored gatehouse.

Portahard Church, built in 1740, is now a museum depicting the life of Douglas Hyde (1860-1949), the great scholar and champion of Irish language and culture. He founded Conradh na Gaeilge the Gaelic League, and himself wrote many Gaelic poems. He wasn't involved in the independence movement but in 1925 was elected to the Seanad Éireann, the Senate or Upper House, for all of 3 months. Thereafter he kept away from Irish politics and had settled into a genteel academic retirement when in 1938 he was nominated as Ireland's first president. It was a non-executive role, suitable for a cultural figurehead, and he gave his inaugural declaration in Roscommon Irish. His health was poor, he barely survived a stroke in 1940, and he didn't seek a second term. Almost his last official act was to personally visit the German Ambassador and express his condolences on the death of Adolf Hitler. He's buried here at Portahard.