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Dunamase, County Laois
Photograph: Kent Clemmons · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Province of Leinster

County Laois

Laois

“LEESH” · the Loígis people, from Loígis, a people and their kingdom

Known as The O'Moore County. For the O'Mores, lords of Laois, who fought the first plantation in Ireland for decades after their lands were confiscated in 1548 and the Fort of Leix was built where Portlaoise stands now.

Did you know? The Rock of Dunamase came to Strongbow as the dowry of Aoife MacMurrough — the marriage that opened Ireland to the Normans.
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Laois by the numbers
Leinster province 91,657 people · 2022 census 1,720 km² · 23rd of 32 by size County town Portlaoise -28% in the Famine · 153,930 people in 1841, 111,000 in 1851 (approx.) 11 baronies · 1,111 townlands 1930s folklore · the Schools' Collection ↗ 26 surnames 5 towns on the site 678 daily Irish speakers Highest point Arderin, 527 m 1 senior All-Irelands 30 notable people born here 692 historic buildings recorded Everything on the site about Laois ↓
Carlow Cavan Cork Donegal Dublin Clare Galway Kerry Kildare Kilkenny Laois Leitrim Limerick Longford Louth Mayo Meath Monaghan Offaly Roscommon Sligo Tipperary Waterford Westmeath Wexford Wicklow Antrim Armagh Down Fermanagh Londonderry Tyrone

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The history of Laois

Hunter-gatherers passed through Laois about 8,500 years ago; Neolithic farmers left burial mounds at Clonaslee and Cuffsborough, and the Bronze Age a stone circle at Monamonry. Cashel Man suggests ritual killing around 2000 BC. The county is named after Loígis, whose rulers took the name Ó Mórdha — O'More — in the 11th century; the eastern part was divided among the Seven Septs of Laois, the western third belonged to Ossory.

Early saints worked here: Ciarán of Saighir, reputedly before Patrick, Canice at Aghaboe and Mochua at Timahoe, and the Synod of Ráth Breasail, which set up Ireland's dioceses, met near Mountrath in 1111. The Rock of Dunamase was part of Aoife's dowry when she married Strongbow in 1170, but by the early 14th century the O'Mores had it back. In 1548 the English took the O'More lands and built the Fort of Leix, today's Portlaoise.

In 1556 Mary I made the area Queen's County, and it was planted twice, in 1556 and 1607; the first attempt is generally judged a failure. Quakers settled at Mountmellick in 1659 and Huguenots at Portarlington in 1696. The Famine devastated the county, and Irish was still spoken into the 1870s. The name Queen's County was informally dropped in 1922, but no law ever formally changed it, and land deeds in Laois are still written that way.

Drawn from the History section of the Wikipedia article on County Laois ↗, rewritten here and adding nothing it does not say; licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. The chronology above is this site's own; where the two differ, the article is the one to check.

The land — from Wikipedia

Laois is the 23rd in both in area and population of Ireland's 32 counties. It is the seventh-largest of Leinster's 12 counties in size and tenth largest in population. The county is landlocked and, uniquely, is doubly landlocked, not bordering any other county which touches the coast.

For climatological information see: durrow.ie for averages and extremes.

The weather station at 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 [https://www.durrow.ie/weather 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.

Places of interest

County Laois also has a mixture of castles, mansions, forts and old structures that are now in ruins but are still worth visiting.

Read the full article ↗ · Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Clans & surnames of Laois
Behan Ó Beacháin Gaelic sept · “descendant of Beachán — from beach, 'bee'” Bergin Ó hAimheirgin Gaelic sept · “descendant of Aimhirgin, 'wondrous birth'” Brophy Ó Bróithe Gaelic sept · “descendant of Brothe” Cronan Ó Crónáin Gaelic sept · “descendant of Crónán — a pet form of Crón, 'dark' or 'swarthy'” Deegan Ó Duibhginn Gaelic septs (several) · “descendant of Dubhcheann, ‘black head’” Delaney Ó Dubhshláine Gaelic sept · “descendant of Dubhshláine, 'dark one of the Slaney'” Dempsey Ó Díomasaigh Gaelic sept · “descendant of Díomasach, 'the proud'” Dooley Ó Dubhlaoich Gaelic sept · “descendant of Dubhlaoch — dubh, 'dark', and laoch, 'warrior'” Doran Ó Deoráin Gaelic learned family · “descendant of Deoradhán, 'the exile, the pilgrim'” Dowling Ó Dúnlaing Gaelic sept · “descendant of Dúnlang” Drennan Ó Draighneáin Gaelic sept · “descendant of Draighneán, ‘blackthorn’” Duff Ó Duibh Gaelic sept · “descendant of Dubh, 'the black' or 'dark'” Dunne Ó Doinn Gaelic sept · “descendant of Donn, 'the brown-haired' (or the god of the dead)” Fitzpatrick Mac Giolla Phádraig Gaelic dynasty (Norman-styled) · “son of the devotee of Patrick” Gorman Mac Gormáin Gaelic sept · “son of Gormán, 'the noble dark one'” Grace Grás Norman · “le gras — 'the stout'” Harrigan Ó hArragáin Gaelic sept · “descendant of Anradhán, 'warrior, champion'” Horan Ó hArracháin Gaelic sept · “descendant of Anradhán, 'warrior, champion'” Kealy Ó Caollaidhe Gaelic sept · “descendant of Caollaidhe” Lalor Ó Leathlobhair Gaelic sept · “descendant of Leathlobhar” McEvoy Mac Fhíodhbhuidhe Gaelic sept · “son of Fíodhbhadhach, ‘of the wood, woodman’” Moore Ó Mórdha Gaelic sept · “descendant of Mórdha, 'majestic'” Mulhall Ó Maolchathail Gaelic sept · “descendant of Maolchathail, ‘servant of St Cathal’” Regan Ó Riagáin Gaelic sept · “descendant of Riagán, 'little king' (or 'impulsive')” Treacy Ó Treasaigh Gaelic sept · “descendant of Treasach, 'the fierce, the warlike'” Tynan Ó Teimhneáin Gaelic sept · “descendant of Teimhneán, 'dark, grey'”

Tap a name for its full page — story, homeland map and neighbours. Or see all surnames from County Laois, with the other counties each name is tied to.

Towns, saints and legends of Laois

Towns. Portlaoise Port Laoise (23,494, 2022), Mountrath Maighean Rátha (2,070, 2022), Portarlington Cúil an tSúdaire, Abbeyleix Mainistir Laoise, Mountmellick Móinteach Mílic. What every town name means →

Saints. St Canice (11 October).

Legends set here. Slieve Bloom — where Fionn was reared. On the atlas →

First names that belong here. Laoise, Fintan, Éimhín, Laoiseach.

Irish in Laois today

At the 2022 census, 33,538 people in Laois said they could speak Irish. 678 speak it every day outside school, and 1,933 weekly.

3 primary schools here teach entirely through Irish (2025/26, 436 pupils).

CSO, Census 2022, table SAP2022T3T2CTY. Every county compared →

The top of Laois

Arderin (Ard Éireann), 527 metres, in the Slieve Bloom, on the county boundary and shared with a neighbouring county.

Rivers and loughs: River Barrow, River Nore.

MountainViews, via Wikipedia. Every county's highest point → · Rivers and loughs →

Laois in the All-Ireland

Hurling: 1 senior title (1915); 2 finals lost.
Football: no senior title; 2 finals lost.

Every county's All-Ireland titles →

Born in Laois

From Wikidata: people whose recorded birthplace is in the county, who have a Wikipedia article and are no longer living, with dates shown only where the article confirms them, ordered by how many languages Wikipedia covers them in. Traditional birthplaces of early saints are as Wikidata records them.

People in Laois, census by census

Laois had 153,930 people in 1841 and has 91,657 now (-40%). Its peak was 153,930 in 1841; its low point 44,595 in 1966, -71% of 1841. It has never regained the population it had before the Famine.

1821183118411851186118711881189119011911192619361946195119561961196619711979198119861991199620022006201120162022
134,275145,851153,930111,66490,65079,77173,12464,88357,41754,62951,54050,10949,69748,43047,08745,06944,59545,25949,93651,17153,28452,31452,94558,77467,05980,55984,69791,657

Census returns as tabulated in the county's Wikipedia article. All 32 counties, 1821 to today →

Hidden Laois — the places the buses miss
  • Rock of Dunamase
    A fortress on a rock over the midland plain, sacked by Vikings out of Dublin in 845. Diarmait Mac Murchada is said to have given it with his daughter Aoife to Strongbow in 1170 — a dowry that helped bring the Normans in. Cromwell’s men blew it up in 1650.
  • Aghaboe Abbey
    Canice’s 6th-century monastery in Osraige — ‘the little field of the cow’. Burned in 1234, and again in 1346 when the shrine holding his bones and relics was destroyed. The ruin standing today is the Dominican friary raised on the site in 1382.
On the ground in Laois
  • Timahoe · round tower · complete · 29 m
  • 5 castles · Ballaghmore, County Laois, Cullahill Castle, Dunamase, Lea Castle, Tinnakill Castle

Every pin is placed by its documented coordinates. All the monuments of Ireland →

Everything on the site about County Laois

The county

History

Monuments and heritage

Coast and country

People and culture

Quick answers
What is the Irish name for County Laois?

Laois. Laois is one of the 12 counties of Leinster (Cúige Laighean).

Who ruled County Laois in the Middle Ages?

Around 1014 it was held by Kingdom of Leinster (Mac Murrough); by 1450, O'More & O'Connor Faly. The full era-by-era chronology is on this page.

What surnames come from County Laois?

Names historically associated with Laois include Behan, Bergin, Brophy, Cronan, Deegan, Delaney, Dempsey, Dooley, among others.

What does Laois mean?

Laois, said “LEESH”, means the Loígis people — from Loígis, a people and their kingdom. One of the very few county names that is simply a people's name, unchanged. Called Queen's County under English administration until 1922.

What is the population of County Laois?

91,657 at the 2022 census, against 153,930 in 1841, before the Famine.

What is the county town of Laois?

Portlaoise. County Laois covers about 1,720 km², which makes it the 23rd largest of the 32 counties.

Who are famous people from County Laois?

Among the best-known people born in Laois are Cecil Day-Lewis, Thomas Parnell, Kevin O'Higgins, Thomas A. White, William Russell Grace, Patrick Lalor. The full list, with their birthplaces, is on this page.

What did the Famine do to County Laois?

The census counted 153,930 people in Laois in 1841 and 111,000 in 1851 (the 1851 figure is approximate): a change of -28% in ten years, through death and emigration.

Sources for this page

A clean copy for school projects or the family file; collapsed sections print in full.

The chronology of who held the county is this site's own reading of the standard histories onto today's county borders, and says so where the fit is rough. Quoted passages are marked and licensed. Spotted an error? Say so — corrections are credited.

Trace your ancestors in Laois

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