Blog
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Launt Thompson
One of the most important post-American Civil War sculptors, a world traveller and a native of Abbeyleix. Lancelot (Launt) Thompson was born in Abbeyleix, then Queens County, on February 8, […]
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The Abhartach
There’s a possibility that Bram Stoker’s inspiration for his gothic masterpiece, Dracula, might stem from Irish folklore and not Romanian history. Vlad the Impaler was thought to be the original […]
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Bustles & Bicycles; The bike as a Vehicle for Social Change
A fascinating theme running through the study of history seems to be the domino effect of seemingly unrelated events on one another. For example how did a volcanic eruption in […]
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On this day 6th December 1921
On this day 6th of December 1921 the Anglo-Irish treaty was signed by a group of plenipotentiaries who believed that the treaty they were signing was the best option they […]
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Abbeyleix Baby Linen Society 1845
Sitting in the National Library of Ireland in the Manuscripts section is an account book of the Abbeyleix Baby Linen Society, started in 1845, by Lady Emma Vesey, Viscountess de […]
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Incubating Ireland: The role of the Royal Dublin Society and Royal Irish Academy in the establishment of the National Museum of Ireland
Perhaps in this decade of centenaries, the National Museum of Ireland is an institution whose collections and role in contemporary society are both more contested and more ambiguous than at […]
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Writing Women Into History
Flicking through children’s school books, reading the latest historical bestseller or checking out the history documentaries television has to offer, you would be forgiven for thinking that when it comes to the […]
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How Abbeyleix looked in 1840
What the Maps Can Tell us? At Heritage House we have a collection of Original First Edition Ordinance Survey Maps from 1839/41, which show us the entire county of Laois […]
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The Cashel Bog Body, A Bronze Age King of Laois
On Wednesday 10th of August 2011, a remarkable find was uncovered on a bog in Co. Laois. A bog body was unearthed during peat milling at Cashel bog between Portlaoise […]