Promoting the Natural and Built Heritage of County Laois
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 […]
The History of The Maltings, Portlaoise. By Mervyn McGahey The Maltings in Portlaoise was established in 1866 by John Wrafter, Clonaslee, Licensed Maltster. This is according to the stone over one of the main entrances. The site is located at Coote Street, Portlaoise and encompasses approximately 6.5 statute acres. There are indications that malting had […]
Portlaoise: Forty Historical Facts. By John Dunne 1. The town grew up around a fort established by English settlers in 1548. In 1557 it was named Maryborough in honour of Queen Mary. 2. In October 1920, the Town Commission passed a resolution that Maryborough be renamed Portlaoise. In recent years, a local historian attributed the […]