Laois County Council, with funding support from Creative Ireland, announce year three of their Heritage through Art grant scheme. This grant scheme is aimed at encouraging communities and artists to work together in exploring and presenting aspects of Laois heritage through varying art forms. Closing date for application is Friday February 7th 2025Read More
Laois Heritage Office will host the 2024 Laois Heritage Seminar this Saturday, 7th December in the Midland’s Park Hotel in Portlaoise from 10am to 12.30pm. The morning will include an update on heritage activities in Laois in 2024 by Thomas Carolan, Laois Heritage Officer; a talk on the Abbeyleix Bog Invasive Species Project by Chris...Read More
Laois Heritage Society’s monthly talk for November is Memory & History: the Great Famine in Ballyfin by historian Terry Dunne. This lecture is based on new research funded by the Heritage through Art Grant supported by Creative Laois, Laois Heritage Office and Laois Heritage Society. As part of this project Terry Dunne researched, recorded and...Read More
Canon O’Hanlon is best known in Laois for his History of the Queen’s County, a two-volume work outlining the history of County Laois from the earliest times to the 20th century. Expertly researched and annotated, this is an invaluable reference work. Although an academic historian Canon O’Hanlon also valued the folklore of his native county...Read More
Laois Heritage Society's monthly talk for October is Music in Maryborough (Portlaoise) 1880-1950 by local historian John Dunne. The talk takes place on Thursday 24th October at 8pm in the Midland Park Hotel.Read More
Article by James G. Ryan on an interesting item in the De Vesci papers held in the National Library of Ireland, being a list of people who purchased Indian meal from the De Vesci Estate in July 1801Read More
Laois Heritage Society talk on 'The Vanishing Industrial Railways of Laois and the Midlands: the Challenges of Conservation' with Sean Cain, Thursday 19th September, Midland Park Hotel, Portlaoise, 8pmRead More
Laois Local Studies was established to collect, preserve and make available for reference, material relating to the history and heritage of County Laois.
