Transport

In 1839 a branch of the Grand Canal was opened from Portarlington to Mountmellick and this was of enormous benefit to industry in the area. All the boats were horse drawn, which explains the towpaths along the canal. From the early days, trade bloomed as passenger boats brought visitors to the town.

Merchant boats crowding the harbour, took away beer and textiles for sale to the markets of Dublin and other towns. The picture to the right shows the last load from Mountmellick Maltings being taken aboard a canal barge for transport to Dublin.

An extension of the Great Southern Railway connected Mountmellick to Portlaoise in 1881. Originally Mountmellick was to be included on the mainline route from Dublin to the West of Ireland. This plan, however, was dropped, with the result that Mountmellicks railway track was simply an extension of the mainline.

This resulted in Mountmellick becoming a peripheral town in the development of modern industries and it, thus, declined as a commercial centre. The last passenger service ended in 1947 and the station finally closed in 1962. The picture to the rightis a photograph of the railway station in 1898.