Six sites, and four of them sit within a short drive of Portlaoise and Stradbally, so a day covering most of the county’s early Christian and Penal-era history is a realistic plan. Timahoe leads on the strength of its round tower, one of the best-preserved in Ireland, with an elaborate Romanesque doorway set high on the west face; the free heritage centre beside it covers St Mochua’s monastery, and the esker walk beyond turns blue with bluebells in spring, which is the one thing here that genuinely has a season.
Aghaboe, west towards the Kilkenny side, layers a 14th-century Dominican friary shell, an 18th-century Church of Ireland building reusing Augustinian stone and a tree-crowned Norman motte onto a single field. Clonenagh, a few kilometres out from Mountrath, has less standing: a late medieval church ruin, thirteen early cross-slabs in the graveyard, a capped holy well and St Fintan’s tree. It rewards reading about beforehand more than wandering.
Oughaval Wood outside Stradbally is the walk of the group, 150 hectares of beech and oak with Cobbler’s Castle, a famine-relief folly, and a Mass Rock in the trees; three waymarked loops leave the free car park. Raheen, south of Portlaoise, holds the Mass Pit and St Fintan’s church. Stradbally Hall is the outlier, private grounds that open for the steam rally.
One of Ireland's best-preserved round towers, with a Romanesque doorway high on the west face, a free heritage centre and a bluebell esker walk.
A thousand years on one field: Dominican friary ruins, a church built from Augustinian stone and a Norman motte, on a monastery founded in 576.
Founded around 548 by the austere St Fintan, and though little stands beyond a church ruin, cross-slabs and a holy well, the lore runs deep.
A field hollow where Catholics gathered for secret Mass until 1729, with the Gothic Revival church that eventually replaced the first thatched chapel.
The one you walk rather than look at: 150 hectares of beech and oak holding a famine-relief folly and a Penal-era Mass Rock, with three waymarked loops.
6 of 6 shown — tap a pin for the place.
Timahoe, laois
Timahoe's round tower is among the best-preserved in Ireland, and its elaborate Romanesque doorway – set high on the west face – is the real reason to stop. A free heritage centre next door tells the story of St Mochua's monastery, and a short esker walk turns blue with bluebells in spring.
Aghaboe, laois
Aghaboe Abbey gathers a thousand years onto one Laois field: the shell of a 14th-century Dominican friary, an 18th-century Church of Ireland building reusing Augustinian stonework, and a tree-crowned Norman motte. St Canice founded the monastery here in 576, and an 8th-century abbot, St Virgilius, went on to become Bishop of Salzburg.
Clonenagh, laois
Clonenagh, a few kilometres from Mountrath, was one of early Ireland's great monasteries, founded around 548 by the famously austere St Fintan. Little stands now beyond a late medieval church ruin, a graveyard holding thirteen early cross-slabs, a capped holy well and St Fintan's tree – but the lore runs deep.
South of Portlaoise, laois
Raheen's Mass Pit is a field hollow where local Catholics gathered for secret Mass under the Penal Laws, until a Protestant landowner named Baldwin gave ground for a chapel in 1729. The Gothic Revival church of St Fintan followed in 1857, and the old graveyard marks where that first thatched chapel stood.
Stradbally, laois
Stradbally, laois
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