Prehistoric

The first people in Laois were bands of hunters and gatherers who passed through the county about 8,500 years ago. They hunted in the forests that covered Laois and fished in its rivers, gathering nuts and berries to supplement their diets.

Next came Ireland's first farmers. These people of the Neolithic period (4000 to 2500 BC) cleared forests and planted crops. Their burial mounds remain in Clonaslee and Cuffsborough.

Starting around 2500 BC, the people of the Bronze Age lived in Laois. They produced weapons, tools, and golden objects. Visitors to the county can see a stone circle they left behind at Monamonry, as well as the remains of their hill forts at Clopook and Monelly. Skirk, near Borris-in-Ossory, has a Bronze Age standing stone and ring fort. The body of Cashel Man indicates that ritual killing took place around 2000 BC.

The next stage is known as the pre-Christian Celtic Iron Age. For the first time, iron appeared in Ireland, showing up in the weapons used by factions who fought bloody battles for control of the land. At Ballydavis, archaeologists have discovered ring barrows that date from this time period.

The county name derives from Loígis, of which the modern county is only a part. In the 11th century, its dynastic rulers adopted the surname Ua/Ó Mórdha. They claimed descent from a member of the Red Branch Knights.

By the first century AD, the western third of Laois was part of the Kingdom of Ossory. The eastern part was roughly divided into seven parts, which were ruled by the Seven Septs of Loígis: O'More (O'Moore), O'Lalor, O'Doran, O'Dowling, O'Devoy (O'Deevy), O'Kelly and McEvoy.

Map of Ireland around 900 AD. The western third of Laois was part of the Kingdom of Osraige.

Introduction of Christianity

When Ireland was Christianised, holy men and women founded religious communities in Loígis. St. Ciarán of Saighir (called "The Elder" to distinguish him from the younger St. Ciarán of Clonmacnoise) founded his monastic habitation in the western Slieve Bloom Mountains as the first bishop of Ossory, reputedly before St. Patrick. His mother Liadán had an early convent nearby at what is now Killyon. Between 550 and 600, St. Canice founded Aghaboe Abbey and St. Mochua founded a religious community at Timahoe. An early Christian community lived at Dun Masc or Masc's fort, on the Rock of Dunamase.

The Synod of Rathbreasail that established the Irish dioceses was held near Mountrath in 1111, moving the Church away from its monastic base. As religious orders with strong ties to Rome replaced older religious communities, the wooden buildings of the early Christian churches in Laois gave way to stone monasteries. The Augustinians and Dominicans established themselves at Aghaboe Abbey, while the Cistercians took over an older religious community at Abbeyleix.

Norman invasion

The Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169–71 affected Laois as it was a part of the Kingdom of Leinster. In Laois, the fortress on the Rock of Dunamase was part of the dowry of the Irish princess Aoife, who was given in marriage in 1170 to the Norman warrior Strongbow. Advancing Normans surveyed the county from wooden towers built on top of earthen mounds, known as mottes. They also built stone fortresses, such as Lea Castle, just outside Portarlington. Several of the county's towns were first established as Norman boroughs, including Castletown, Durrow and Timahoe.

From 1175 until about 1325, Normans controlled the best land in the county, while Gaelic society retreated to the bogs, forests and the Slieve Bloom Mountains. The early 14th century saw a Gaelic revival, as the chieftains of Loígis caused the Normans to withdraw. The Dempseys seized Lea Castle, while Dunamase came into the ownership of the O’Mores. Examples of tower houses built by the Irish Mac Giolla Phádraig chieftains are found at Ballaghmore and Cullahill Castle, both decorated with Sheela na gigs.

In 1548, the English confiscated the lands of the O’Mores and built "Campa", known as the Fort of Leix, today's Portlaoise.

16th century colony and County status

A church in Emo

It was shired in 1556 by Queen Mary as Queen's County, covering the countries of Leix (Loígis), Slewmarge, Irry, and that part of Glimnaliry on the southwest side of the River Barrow.^[11] Laois received its present Irish language name following the Irish War of Independence. Laois was also sometimes spelt "Leix". Portlaoise (previously Maryborough) is the main town of the county.

Loígis was the subject of two organised plantations or colonisations by the Kingdom of England in 1556 and 1607. During the first plantation, Thomas Radclyffe, 3rd Earl of Sussex attempted to dispossess the ruling O'Moore clan, who had been engaging in costly raids on The Pale, and settle the area with English colonists. However, this led to a long drawn-out guerrilla war in the county and left only a small colonist community clustered around garrisons. This initial attempt at plantation is widely regarded as a failure by historians, as occupying the territory was far more costly than the money yielded from it, and the scheme attracted fewer settlers than anticipated.^[12]

The second, more successful plantation of the county took place in the aftermath of the Nine Years' War, and expanded the existing English settlements with more landowners and tenants. In 1659, a group of Quakers led by William Edmundson, settled in Mountmellick, while a group of Huguenots were given refuge in Portarlington in 1696 after their service to William of Orange in the Williamite War in Ireland.

What followed was a period of relative calm. Anglo-Irish landowners enclosed the land and built fine houses, including Durrow Castle, Heywood House and Emo Court. In 1836, a branch of the Grand Canal stretched to Mountmellick, further stimulating industry in that town.

The Great Famine of 1845–49 devastated the county. The county's workhouses could not cope with the number of destitute people seeking shelter. By the time the workhouse opened at Donaghmore in 1853, many of the poorest had emigrated or died.

The county was known as Queen's County (Irish: Contae na Banríona) from 1556 until its name was informally changed on the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. The county's name was formerly spelt as Laoighis and Leix. In the Local Government Act 2001, it is named in the list of counties as Laois, although no legislation was enacted explicitly changing the name from Queen's County, the name formally established under the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 which continued to have legal effect. When land is sold in the county the relevant title deeds are still updated as being in Queen's County.

Baronies

The county was formerly divided into nine baronies:

• Ballyadams
• Cullenagh
• Maryborough East
• Maryborough West
• Portnehinch
• Slievemargue
• Stradbally
• Tinnehinch
• Upper Ossory (later divided into Upper Woods, Clarmallagh and Clandonagh)

Towns and villages

Countryside south of Portlaoise.

Climate

For climatological information see: durrow.ie^[14] for averages and extremes.

The weather station at east Durrow was set up in May 2008. The equipment used is a Davis Vantage Pro II that measures temperature, humidity, wind speed, wind direction, rainfall and barometric pressure. This data is transmitted every 2 seconds to a website where the data can be freely accessed. The station also reports to the Irish Weather Network which displays live weather data from similar stations all around Ireland.

In addition, a Met Éireann climatological station (Number: 472) was installed in September 2010 and the data collected is sent to headquarters in Glasnevin, Dublin on a monthly basis. The climatological station measures rainfall in a manual gauge, soil temperatures at 5  cm, 10  cm and 20  cm depths, air temperature including wet-bulb, and daily maximum and daily minimum temperatures. The climatological station is a project that is envisaged to last thirty years and collect a climate profile for Durrow and Laois in general.

Local government

County Hall, Portlaoise

Laois County Council is the local authority governing County Laois. It has 19 councillors, and is divided into three local electoral areas, each of which is also a municipal district: Borris-in-Ossory-Mountmellick (6), Graiguecullen-Portarlington (6), and Portlaoise (7).^[15]

The council has two representatives on the Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly where it is part of the Midland strategic planning area.^[16]

Former districts

It was formerly divided into the rural districts of Abbeyleix, Athy No. 2, Mountmellick, Roscrea No. 3, and Slievemargy.^[17] The rural districts were abolished in 1925.^[18] Mountmellick and Portlaoise, within the former rural district of Mountmellick, had town commissioners. These became town councils in 2002.^[19] All town councils in Ireland were abolished in 2014.^[20]

National politics

Most of County Laois is part of the Dáil constituency of Laois–Offaly (5 seats), with the electoral divisions of Ballybrittas, Jamestown, Kilmullen, Portarlington South, in the former rural district of Mountmellick, in the Kildare South constituency.^[21] The constituency of Laois–Offaly existed from 1921 to 2016, and again since 2020. In 2016 to 2020 period, there was a separate constituency of Laois (3 seats).^[22][23]

It is part of the European Parliament constituency of South (5 seats).^[24]

Performing arts

The county's largest theatre is the Dunamaise Theatre in Portlaoise which opened in 1999. There are many festivals held in Laois each year including:

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