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Heritage
All Counties
Abbeyleix Heritage House
AbbeyleixCo. Laois
Web: www.heritagehousemuseum.com
Email: abbeyleixlaois@eircom.net
Tel: +353 (0)57 8731653
Housed in the historic north boys' school, the museum at Heritage House will transport you back in time allowing you to journey with the pre-Christian warring tribes of Laois, witnessing their conversion to Christianity and the rise of monastic Laois. Learn of the Norman influence, the suppression of the monasteries at the hands of Henry VIII and our progress through plantations, the influence of the landlords and our brush with the industrial revolution. Learn how an enterprising landlord created much needed work for women and in a landlocked county exported carpets worldwide even carpeting the staterooms of the ill-fated Titanic.
Donaghamore Famine Workhouse Museum
DonaghamorePortlaoise
Co. Laois
Web: www.donaghmoremuseum.com
Email: info@donaghmoremuseum.com
Tel: + 353 (0)505 46212/4
This workhouse museum is a unique attraction in Ireland and aims to tell the story of the families who lived and died within the workhouse walls during and after the Great Famine. The museum is housed in a restored workhouse originally built in the early 1850s. As a result of the great famine of 1845-1849 about 1,200 people, or 10% of the population of the area, were forced to seek refuge here. The building acquired a new lease of life in 1924 when the Donaghmore Cooperative Society began operations. It was later owned by Avonmore Foods plc who donated it for use as a museum in 1989. On visiting Donaghmore you will see the original dormitories, a kitchen and a waiting hall authentically restored. The building today houses an agricultural museum.
Rock of Dunamaise
StradballyCo. Laois
Web: www.laoistourism.ie
Email: info@laoistourism.ie
Tel: +353 057 8664132
Mapped by Ptolemy in 140 A.D., plundered by Vikings in 842 A.D., the dowry of a princess in 1169, seat of the O'Mores of Laois in the 14th century and attacked by Cromwell's forces in 1650, the Rock of Dunamaise is one of the great monuments and fortresses of Ireland. Situated on the Portlaoise / Stradbally road, the Rock of Dunamaise offers breathtaking views of County Laois. Today, the Rock of Dunamaise is managed by the State.
Stradbally Steam Museum
StradballyCo. Laois
Web: www.irishsteam.ie
Tel: +353 (0)57 8641878
Mobile: (0)86 1258813
The museum houses many steam, fire and farm engines. These include a Land Rover Fire Engine, which was stationed at Stradbally fire station in approximately 1950. A Guinness loco engine is also displayed, which was used around the streets near the Guinness Brewery, in Dublin over fifty years ago and there is even a homemade steam tractor. The Irish Steam Preservation Society holds its Steam Rally here during the August Bank Holiday. The Stradbally Hall Narrow Gauge Railway is the longest established steam powered narrow gauge railway in Ireland. The railway runs on bank holidays, and on request.
Mountmellick Museum
MountmellickCo. Laois
Email: themuse@mdasiltd.ie
Tel: +353 (0)57 8624525
The main focus of the museum is to conserve and display original pieces of Mountmellick Work (Embroidery) and to protect the memory of Mountmellick's rich Quaker industrial past. Mountmellick Work is unique as it is the only form of embroidery from the nineteenth century, which can claim to be entirely Irish in origin and design. Its importance in social history is immense as can be evidenced in the museum.