9 Old Ruins to Explore in Laois

The Abbey of Aghaboe is one of the most important of the abbeys and priories in County Laois. It was founded in the kingdom of Osraige by St. Canice in the 6th century. The abbey grew into a major centre of learning, commerce and agriculture. Among the monks from the abbey was St. Virgilius, a noted geometer and astronomer who was abbot before he left Ireland and built the cathedral at Salzburg in Austria in the 8th century.

One of the most hidden of castles that dot the landscape of Ireland, right close to my aunt's house in Ballyadams, and seat to The O'Mores. According to Keating, the O'Mores have St. Fintan as their protector. Of thirteen families of Moore recorded in Burke's Landed Gentry.

Cullahill Castle was the principal stronghold of the MacGillapatricks of Upper Ossory built around 1425 and destroyed around 1650. Cullahill Castle takes its name from an ancient forest that covered Cullahill Mountain and extended down to Cullahill village. It was constructed around 1425 by the MacGillapatricks of Upper Ossory, Finghin MacGillapatrick being the possible builder.

Emo Court is a quintessential neo-classical mansion, set in the midst of the ancient Slieve Bloom Mountains. Designed by noted architect James Gandon, it features magnificent gardens and is located just 2.5 km from Emo village and 7 km from Portarlington Railway Station. Architectural features of the building include sash-style windows, pavilions, a balustrade, a hipped roof, and large dome. It is one of the few houses to have been designed by Gandon.

A walled garden by Edwin Lutyens and Gertrude Jekyll, completed in 1912. There is an elliptical garden with a central oval pool and so more.The gardens are composed of elements linked by a terrace that originally ran along the front of the house. One of the site’s most unusual featureas is a sunken garden containing an elongated pool, at whose centre stands a grand fountain.

Poet's Cottage is located in the picturesque village of Camross, County Laois. It is named after Patrick Ryan, a poet who lived in Camross between 1750 and 1825. He wrote about the natural beauty and the people of this community. This is a replica thatched cottage that gives visitors a sense of what daily life must have been like for most people in rural Ireland in the 1800s.

The Rock of Dunamase is an imposing and magnificent example of a Celtic fortification overlooking the valley of the O’Moores. Its Spectacular views of the surrounding countryside make the towering Rock of Dunamase a place of strategic importance. The rock, 46 metres above a flat plain, has the ruins of Dunamase Castle, a defensive stronghold dating from the early Hiberno-Norman period with a view across to the Slieve Bloom Mountains.

A majestic building which dates from the middle of the 19th century. It is an enlargement in classical style of a Georgian House, which had been built in 1772 to replace a yet older residence. It is an enlargement in classical style of a Georgian House, which had been built in 1772 to replace a yet older residence.

This is Ireland's oldest volunteer-run heritage railway.This narrow gauge railway is the oldest established heritage railway in Ireland. They operate predominantly steam and occasionally diesel hauled trains on a 1km line through the forest on the Stradbally Hall estate. The line is open to the public on all Bank Holiday week-end Sundays and Mondays from Easter to October and on selected other days in connection with other local events.