Castle

Not marked on the 1841 or 1907 editions of the OS 6-inch maps. Reference to a castle belonging to Hugh de Lacy here (O'Flanagan 1933, 324). Situated within Abbeyleix Demesne. No visible surface remains. Described in the OS letters as 'his castle and residence were at Leix or Leas, called Abbeyleix from a Cistercian Abbey founded there A.D. 1183 by one of the O'Mores. Here also Hugh de Lacy constructed a castle to curb this powerful sept in 1174 (O'Flanagan 1933, vol. 1, p. 103). In 1984 workmen unearthed the collapsed rubble of a building in area of parkland to the N of Abbeyleix House. An estate map of 1734 in Abbeyleix House shows that of the late seventeenth or early eighteenth century house of the de Vesci family was in the vicinity of the collpased rubble. There was nothing in the rubble to indicate a building earlier than the late seventeenth century. The rubble may have been the material from the destroyed seventeenth century house that was the predecessor to the present Abbeyleix House that was built in 1773. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Laois' (Dublin Stationery Office, 1995) compiled by P. David Sweetman, Olive Alcock and Bernie Moran. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 17 December 2007