The Press in the Troubled Times, a talk by local historian and former newspaper editor, will take place in Portlaoise Library on Wednesday 30th November at 7.30 pmRead More
Between 1937 and 1939 the Irish Folklore Commission collected folklore in primary schools across the Irish Free State. In looking back to the past they were more looking back to the time of the Penal Laws or the Famine, but here and there the more recent revolutionary period could creep in, especially under the rubric...Read More
From 1907 to 1927 the Rev. Dudley Fletcher was the Church of Ireland rector of Coolbanagher. Fletcher gives us a window into the world of southern Unionism, and allows us to say something of Protestants, the Revolution and the Irish Free State.Read More
An exhibition on Laois Cumann na mBan will be launched in Stradbally Library on Thursday 3rd November at 7 pm. The exhibition was curated by Laois native Bernadette Dunne with the support of Laois County Library as part of its Decade of Centenaries programme.Read More
The October meeting of the Genealogy Club takes place this Thursday, 20th October at 7 pm in Portlaoise Library. This months meeting will feature an informative talk on using the Irish census records for family research.Read More
In 1876 there were twenty-two landed estates in Laois reaching a value of £2,000 or over. Together they contained almost 200,000 acres, roughly half of the county. The final stage in the undoing of this particular concentration of economic and political power took place in the 1910s and 1920sRead More
Ivo Richard Vesey was born in England on 15 December 1881. He was the second son of Eustace Vesey and Constance Mary Lawley, becoming the eldest living son upon the death of his older brother Eustace Thomas Beilby Vesey in 1882. Ivo was educated at Eton College. He joined the Irish Guards and attained the...Read More
In 1922 twenty-six counties of Ireland left the United Kingdom, they did not however leave the British Empire. In this article we will explore some Irish, and more specifically Laois, connections with that wider world of the British Empire.Read More
Laois Local Studies was established to collect, preserve and make available for reference, material relating to the history and heritage of County Laois.
