Vicarstown is an attractive port on the Grand Canal. It is also a useful base for walking, cycling, boating and fishing. Buildings of attraction include the 1860s Grattan School and Grattan Lodge that were built in 1882 by Henry Grattan’s Grand-daughter Lady Pauline Grattan Bellew.
Mountmellick was founded in the seventeenth century within a curve of the Owenass River. At the outset it was a town of great industry and prosperity dominated by the enterprise of the Quaker community and later served by the Grand Canal. The Mountmellick Development Association which commissioned the conversion of a grain mill into a Business Park/Enterprise Centre for industry wishing to locate in the town exemplifies the towns enterprise. There is a Quaker museum and exhibitons in this pleasing town with a fine square, architecturally impressive houses, shops and ecclesiastical buildings.