archaeological laois

The most celebrated and dramatic site in the county. It was purchased by the state from the estate of Lord Congleton about four years ago, and taken into its care and protection. Its name is from Dun Masg "the fort of Masg". An important fortress before the Normans, it was granted to Strongbow in 1170 by Diarmait Mac Murchada as part of his daughter Aoife's dowry, and became the Normans' most important fortification. Wiliam Earl Marshall, the most famous and honourable Norman, lived he...

The Great Heath of Maryborough is one of the most important archaeological sites in the country. The place is of the battle of Cainthinc in the third-Century, the stone called Leac Reta where the seven cantreds of ancient Leix met, iron-age ring barrows, bronze-age cultivated ridges, Rath Shane, an annual ancient assembly called an oenach, nineteenth-century horse racing and manoeuvres of the Queen's County Militia. Today it includes a GAA complex and a golf club....