Towns & Villages

Laois Towns & Villages

A County of rich contrast, Laois is a place for people who want a different experience of Ireland. A meeting point for ancient heritage and contemporary culture, for rural tranquillity and busy towns and villages, for sophisticated luxury and rustic simplicity, Laois calls out to people who want something authentic and truly out of the ordinary.

Many beautiful heritage sites have been restored for the public to enjoy such as Emo Court and Gardens, Timahoe Round Tower, Aghaboe Abbey and Heywood Gardens. Another real treasure is the Rock of Dunamaise, which is one of the great monuments and fortresses of Ireland and offers breathtaking views of the County. There are reminders in Portarlington of its Huguenot past, Mountmellick for its lace while the estate towns of Abbeyleix and Durrow have their own unique character.

If you love nature, you’ll love Laois. Walking, cycling, horse-riding, golfing, fishing, polo, trekking, canal-cruising, it’s all to be discovered in the beautiful and peaceful countryside. The Slieve Blooms are undoubtedly one of Ireland’s most extraordinary mountain walking experiences. This mountain range, teeming with wildlife and fascinating ecology, offers an almost unlimited range of activities.

Fishing is one the best kept secrets in Laois. The rivers Nore and Barrow run through Laois as well as the Grand Can l and the many lakes dotted throughout the county. Take a visit to the Irish Fly-Fishing and Game Shooting Museum in Attanagh which is the only one of its kind in Europe.

Abbeyleix

A fine planned estate town designated one of Ireland’s Heritage Towns which are notable for the quality of their preserved historic buildings. Established by Viscount de Vesci, it is well laid out with fine town houses, public buildings and vernacular houses dating to different periods from the mid-eighteenth century. Perhaps most notable are the Market House (1906), Hibernian Bank (c. 1900), Catholic Church (Hague, 1895), Church of Ireland Church (Wyatt, rebuilt 1865) and Abbeyleix National School. The award-winning Heritage House Interpretive Centre is worth a visit. Other attractions within the town include: Sextons House and Abbey Sense Gardens.

Ballinakill

A seventeenth-century market town. The ruins of Ballinakill Castle are of a late seventeenth-century castle destroyed by Cromwellian troops. The configuration of streets around the large rectangular square is eighteenth-century. The town’s entrance from Abbeyleix is marked by two trees known as toll trees where a toll was paid by visitors to the town. The town had important fairs, a brewery, woollen and tanning factories. At Ballinakill there is excellent fishing for roach, perch and tench in Gill’s Lough and one of the finest of Ireland’s great gardens. Heywood Gardens with its lakes, woodlands and architectural features is well worth a visit. Its formal gardens were designed by the world-famous Sir Edwin Luytens and were probably landscaped by Gertrude Jekyll.

Castletown

In 1182 Hugh de Lacy built a castle here for Robert de Bigarz, and it became the center of an important Norman borough. Only fragments of the castle remain. The village itself is built around a triangular fair green. Castletown has preformed very well each year in the Tidy Towns competition, achieving the 2000 gold medal in its category. South of the village in Churchtown are the ruins of a medieval church.

Donaghmore

Originally associated with an early medieval church, and then with an early Norman fortification. It became an extensive industrial complex in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It has attractive buildings and two thriving pubs overlooking a river and an old bridge. A short distance northwest is the headquarters of Donaghmore Co-operative, once a workhouse, and now also housing a museum which is open to the public during the summer months and on request during the remainder of the year. During the Great Famine, some 10% of the local population sought refuge here. Now restored, visitors can see the original dormitories, kitchen and waiting hall, plus the agricultural museum also housed here.