Allenwood

Allenwood began as a coaching stop on the Edenderry road and grew around a peat-fired ESB power station built in 1952; its cooling tower, visible from more than 30 km away, was demolished in 1997, three years after the station closed. Bord na Móna housed its bog workers in a camp at Allenwood Cross, and the village has more than tripled in size since 2002. For boaters it is a handy supply stop a couple of kilometres west of Lowtown, with the shops a short walk from the water: Glennons runs a café, bar, restaurant and takeaway, and the Spar has groceries. West of Allenwood the canal sets out across the Bog of Allen, the stretch that cost its engineers more than five years of struggle, towards Edenderry.