County Laois Guide (Laois)
“The O’Moore County” - in the province of Leinster. County town: Portlaoise.
Heart of the midlands, with the Slieve Bloom Mountains and Rock of Dunamase.
Landlocked in the heart of the midlands, Laois (pronounced “leesh”) is a county of quiet countryside, the wooded Slieve Bloom Mountains and the dramatic ruined fortress on the Rock of Dunamase. Long a place people drove through on the way west, it rewards those who stop with forest trails, heritage towns and an unhurried welcome.
Few counties carry their history in their name the way Laois does. Known for centuries as Queen's County after Mary Tudor, whose 1556 plantation made it one of the first parts of Ireland formally colonised, it reclaimed its ancient name - from the Loígis tribe - after independence. The county's great symbol is the Rock of Dunamase, a shattered fortress on a limestone outcrop that passed as part of Aoife MacMurrough's dowry to Strongbow and was fought over for centuries. The O'More clan resisted the plantation fiercely from these plains, and their defiance shaped the county's early modern story as much as any settler town did.
Modern Laois is a county of quiet good looks and growing confidence. The Slieve Bloom Mountains rise gently along its western edge, laced with waymarked trails and glens, while the flat farmland of the Great Heath spreads eastward. Handsome estate towns like Abbeyleix and Stradbally speak of its landlord past; Stradbally now hosts Electric Picnic, Ireland's biggest music and arts festival, every autumn. Portlaoise has boomed as a motorway-age commuter hub, and Ballyfin Demesne, a Regency mansion turned hotel, is regularly ranked among the finest in the world. It is a county many drive through - and those who stop tend to be pleasantly surprised.
Cities, towns and villages in Laois
- Portlaoise - The fast-growing county town, founded as Maryborough in 1557, today a major commuter hub and home to Ireland's high-security prison.
- Abbeyleix - An elegant planned estate town laid out by the de Vesci family, known for its heritage streetscape and Morrissey's, one of Ireland's most famous old pubs.
- Stradbally - A pretty estate village that hosts the Electric Picnic festival each year on the grounds of Stradbally Hall, along with a narrow-gauge steam railway museum.
- Mountmellick - A former Quaker industrial town that gave its name to Mountmellick work, a distinctive style of white-on-white embroidery.
- Portarlington - A border town with Offaly noted for its French Huguenot heritage, still remembered in its street names and annual French Festival.
- Mountrath - A market town at the foot of the Slieve Blooms, historically linked to St Fintan and a gateway to the mountains.
- Durrow - A picturesque estate village on the River Erkina famous for its annual Scarecrow Festival.
- Rathdowney - A tidy town in the south of the county with a strong brewing and agricultural heritage, once home to Perry's Brewery.
- Timahoe - A small village dominated by a 12th-century round tower with a rare and richly carved Romanesque doorway.
- Ballinakill - A heritage village near Abbeyleix known for its Georgian square and the nearby Heywood Gardens, designed by Edwin Lutyens.
Famous people from Laois
- James Fintan Lalor - Influential Young Ireland writer on land reform, born at Tinakill near Raheen, whose ideas shaped later land agitation and republican thought.
- Kevin O'Higgins - Free State minister and one of the new state's dominant figures, born in Stradbally and assassinated in 1927.
- Bartholomew Mosse - Surgeon born in Maryborough (Portlaoise) who founded Dublin's Rotunda, the world's first purpose-built maternity hospital.
- Cecil Day-Lewis - British Poet Laureate and father of actor Daniel Day-Lewis, born at Ballintubbert near Stradbally in 1904.
- Robert Sheehan - Portlaoise-born actor known for Love/Hate, Misfits and The Umbrella Academy.
- Zach Tuohy - Portlaoise man who became one of the most-capped Irish players in Australian Rules history, winning an AFL premiership with Geelong.
- Sue Ramsbottom - Timahoe native regarded as one of the greatest ladies Gaelic footballers of all time, captaining Laois to the 2001 All-Ireland title.
- Rory Óg O'More - Sixteenth-century chieftain of the O'More clan who led fierce Gaelic resistance to the plantation of Queen's County.
- John Keegan - Pre-Famine poet and story collector from near Shanahoe, best remembered for the ballad Caoch the Piper.
Did you know?
- Laois is the only county in Ireland that does not border a county with a coastline, making it arguably the most landlocked county on the island.
- Until 1922 the county was officially called Queen's County, named for Mary I, and Portlaoise was called Maryborough - one half of the first plantation of Ireland in 1556, alongside King's County (Offaly).
- The Rock of Dunamase was part of the dowry of Aoife, daughter of Diarmait Mac Murchada, when she married the Norman leader Strongbow in 1170.
- Stradbally hosts Electric Picnic, Ireland's largest music and arts festival, which draws around 70,000 people to the grounds of Stradbally Hall each year.
- Mountmellick gave its name to a unique form of white-on-white floral embroidery, Mountmellick work, developed in the Quaker town in the early 19th century.
- The round tower at Timahoe is the only one in Ireland with an elaborately carved Romanesque doorway, decorated with human faces and interlaced hair.
- Portlaoise is home to the Republic of Ireland's only high-security prison.
- Ballyfin Demesne, a restored Regency house in the county, has repeatedly been named among the best hotels in the world since opening in 2011.
Surnames from Laois: Moore · Dunne · Fitzpatrick · Dowling · Dempsey · Brophy · Bergin · Delaney · Dooley · Hyland · Lawlor · McEvoy