Timeline

Timeline Abbeyleix

6500 BC There is evidence of family life in Laois as early as 6500 BC. As society evolved from hunter gatherers to farmers and more settled society, evidence of more recent dwellings remain on the landscape and in our placenames. One of the earliest references in the area of Abbeyleix would be Rathmoyle, likely the site of an ancient Rath and probably occupied by the Tuatha de Danann.

The Island of Saints and Scholars. With the advent of Christianity, Laois was no exception to the eventual proliferation of monastic settlements. This was a gradual process evolving over centuries. Covered by the Great Wood of Leinster, this area around Abbeyleix and beyond would have been considered remote. The redeeming feature of the landscape was likely the river Nore. The most local settlement to Abbeyleix was probably Clonkeen, possibly dating from the 6th century. Perhaps not as prominent as Aghaboe and Aughmacart but it is a settlement which endured over some hundreds of years.

1167 AD One of the great watersheds of History. Diarmuid McMurrough deposed King of Leinster invited the Normans to Ireland in a bid to regain his lost territories. This would impact directly on Abbeyleix in the years that followed.

1172. Henry II brought an expeditionary force to Ireland and effectively decided, on foot of this visit, to colonise Ireland. One of the major offshoots of this decision was the influx of the major religious communities and the establishment of larger monasteries aimed at bringing the Irish Church into line with Rome.

1183. The origins of the present day town of Abbeyleix can be traced to the Cistercian Monastery established on the banks of the river Nora, about a mile distant from the modern day town. Conor O’ More made the original grant of lands in 1183 and a thriving monastery flourished here for almost four hundred years. Such was the influence of the monastery that an entire tract of land in the vicinity was known as Farran na Manach and the monks jealously guarded their area of influence.

1540. The suppression of the monasteries during the reign of Henry VIII must have been one of the final blows in changing the old Irish order. At a local level, one of the stabilities within the community was removed. The Abbeylands were leased to Black Tom Butler of Ormond and the Butlers would hold these lands for the next hundred years, though they did not hold them with impunity. The Laois Kings traded supremacy of the territory on a number of occasions.

1555. During the reign of King Philip and Queen Mary, Laois and Offaly were created shire lands and renamed Kings and Queens County respectively, names that would last for nearly four hundred years. This time also saw the plantation of Leix, probably the least successful of the plantations. The area of Abbeyleix was little affected by this initiative as it was already under the influence, if not control of the Earls of Ormond.

1599. Owney O’ More gives the Earl of Essex something to think about at The Pass of the Plumes, about three miles North of Abbeyleix, at the start of a disastrous campaign which would lose Essex his head. Unfortunately he was replaced by the greater evil of Mountjoy and Owney, the last Laois Chieftain to lead a collective of the clans of Laois in Battle, lost his own life in a skirmish defending homesteads against Mountjoy’s scorched earth policy. It is said, by his own wish, Owney’s head was cut off by his followers so that it would not grace the spikes on the gates of the Fort at Maryborough.

1607 The defeat at the Battle of Kinsale would finally result in the Flight of the Earls. Around this time also, the tribes of Laois were exercising the minds of the English and the final solution to that particular problem was banishment to Kerry. While some remained and resistance persisted, it was of a much diminished intensity and a relatively settled period followed, which heralded the expansion of English holdings and estates.

1675. Denny Muschamp, a tax farmer and property speculator, agent to Archbishop Michael Boyle, (laterally the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh and Lord Chancellor) bought the old Abbeylands at Abbeyleix from the trustees of Edward Massey. Litigation follows which will not be finally settled until 1769.

1699. Mary Muschamp marries Thomas Vesey son of the Church of Ireland Bishop of Tuam and himself a churchman. Created a Baronet, Thomas Vesey would serve as Bishop of Killaloe and laterally Bishop of Ossory. Denny Muschamp makes over the lease of the Abbeylands to his son in law, Thomas and thus begins the tenure of the Vesey’s as landlords in Abbeyleix.

1770. John 2nd Viscount de Vesci puts into action a plan to build a new town of Abbeyleix which will see the destruction of all trace of the old town. It is no coincidence that litigation regarding the estate was settled the year prior.

1773. Building commences on Abbeyleix House from a design by James Wyatt.

1775. The Morrissey family come to the emerging town of Abbeyleix and take a lease on a single story building at lower Main Street and open a general store. It will remain in the hands of the same family for almost two hundred and thirty years.

1826. Epworth Hall Methodist Church Built. It is named in honour of John Wesley’s home town. Wesley had preached in Abbeyleix.

1836. John 2nd Viscount de Vesci builds the Market House which will become the focal point for the administration of the market town of Abbeyleix.

1839. Plans to build Pembroke Terrace are put in train by the 11th Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery as part of the wedding portion of his daughter, Lady Emma, who married Lt Col Thomas Vesey, 3rd Viscount de Vesci.

1840. Contract for the building of the workhouse signed. Work was completed in 1844. Designed for 500 paupers, by 1844 there were 466 inmates and the workhouse at Donoughmore was built in 1853 to take the overflow from Abbeyleix.

1842. The Brigidine Nuns come to Abbeyleix and set up a convent. At their height they would provide both primary and secondary education in the town. In the same year the Fever Hospital was built.

1843. The South School opens as an institution for the education of children of the established church. It will be significantly extended in 1893.

1855. Fountain erected to the memory of 2nd Viscount, funded by public subscription.

1865. Railway comes to Abbeyleix. It will serve the town and district for almost a hundred years. This was the completion of the first phase of a project to join the Dublin Cork line and the Kilkenny Waterford line. Originally, the final linkage was to be between Abbeyleix and Mountrath but it was finally decided to link through Maryborough (Portlaoise). This line was completed in 1867.

1885. The North National School opens as an institution for the education of Catholic boys. It was staffed by lay teachers until the arrival of the Patrician Brothers in 1933.

1893. The foundation stone for the Church of the Most Holy Rosary is laid.

1896. Following litigation, The Preston School, endowed by Alderman Preston in the 1600’s is moved to Abbeyleix and occupies the old Assembly Rooms. Lord de Vesci is chairman of the new Board of Management. It will serve the community for seventy years.

1903. John Robert, 4th Viscount dies having no sons. For the first time the ownership of Abbeyleix Estate passes outside the immediate family line to John Robert’s nephew Yvo.

1904. The Carpet Factory, brainchild of Yvo de Vesci is opened at lower Main St. Bramley’s Motor Works and more recently Weaver Court apartments occupy the site. At its height the factory employs forty girls.

1905. Yvo decides against the erection of a fountain in memory of his late uncle and proposes the refurbishment of the market house as a more practical memorial to John Robert. The refurbishment is completed in 1906.

1909. The Hibernian Bank, which now houses the Bank of Ireland, is build at lower Main St. Abbeyleix tennis club formed the same year.

1910. Carpet Factory amalgamates with the Kildare Carpet Factory with disastrous results. Most famously, the declining factory supplies a number of carpets for the staterooms of the S.S. Titanic.

1912. S.S. Titanic sinks. William Henry Gillespie, a clerk in the carpet factory perishes and the factory closes later that year.

1914. The Great War commences. It will have a profound effect on society.

1915. Ned Mc Evoy plays on the All- Ireland winning Laois Senior Hurling Team.