Promoting the Natural and Built Heritage of County Laois
Anti-tithe meeting at the “Great Heath” 1838. By Jackie Hyland The tithes were a church tax or levy on agricultural produce and livestock. From the middle ages, the church had received this levy, notionally one-tenth of earnings, for the support of the clergy. This tax sometimes collected in kind from agricultural produce had been converted […]
Col. James Fitzmaurice – Ireland’s Greatest Aviator by Teddy Fennelly World War One hastened the advancement of aircraft technology. From use as an experimental armament of war in 1914, its enhanced mobility, stability and speed had established the airplane as an essential weapon of warfare by the time hostilities ceased in 1918. When peace was […]
The Earl Grey Scheme and the Emigration of Girls from the Workhouses of Laois During the Great Famine, dozens of teenage girls left the workhouses of Laois bound for Australia. Their emigration was part of a British government scheme to provide the British colony with wives and domestic servants, and to rid the workhouses of […]
Crime and Punishment in Queen’s County: Agrarian Crime of the 1830s and Famine Crime 1845–1849 During the famine, there was widespread fear that the suffering of famine victims would erupt into the violent crime that would threaten property and property owners. There was the widespread talk of insurrection and outrage among resident landlords, merchants and […]
Queen’s County 1919 – 1923: Attacks on Big Houses and Protestant Landowners Terence Dooley, in his book ‘The Decline of the Big House in Ireland’, wrote that between 1919 and 1923 ‘landlords, largely because of their socio-political, economic and religious backgrounds, were to suffer outrage and intimidation on a scale the like of which […]
