Portlaoise

History

The site of the present town is referred to in the Annals of the Four Masters, written in the 1630s, as Port Laoighisi. The present town originated as a settlement around the old Fort, "Fort of Leix" or "Fort Protector", the remains of which can still be seen in the town centre. Its construction began in 1548 under the supervision of the Lord Deputy, Sir Edward Bellingham, in an attempt to secure English control of the county following the exile of Celtic chieftains the previous year. The Fort's location on rising ground, surrounded to the south and east by the natural defensive barricades of the River Triogue and an esker known locally as 'the Ridge', greatly added to its strategic importance. An Act of Parliament established the town proper during the reign of Mary I in 1557. Though the early Fort and its surrounding settlement had been known by a number of names, such as Governor, Port Laois, Campa and Fort Protector, the new town was named Maryborough (IPA [ˈmarbrə]) and the county was named Queen's County in Mary's honour. In about 1556, Portlaoise acquired its first parish church—Old St Peter's—situated to the west of Fort Protector. Although first built as a Catholic church, due to Mary's re-establishment of Catholicism, the church was used for Protestant services after the accession to the English throne of Mary's half-sister, Elizabeth. The area had been a focus of the rebellion of Ruairí Óg Ó Mórdha, a local chieftain who had rebelled and had lost his lands, which the Crown wanted to be settled by reliable landowners. For the next fifty or so years, the new English settlers in Maryborough fought a continual, low-scale war against the Gaelic chieftains who opposed the new settlement. The town had been burnt several times by the end of the 16th century.…

Most-observed species

• Common Buzzard

  Buteo buteo (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  201
• Rook

  Corvus frugilegus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  183
• Eurasian Blackbird

  Turdus merula Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  177
• European Robin

  Erithacus rubecula (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  176
• Common Wood-Pigeon

  Columba palumbus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  174
• Hooded Crow

  Corvus cornix Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  163
• Common Chaffinch

  Fringilla coelebs Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  149
• Barn Swallow

  Hirundo rustica Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  149