Presentation Convent · Photo: A.-K._D · CC BY-SA 4.0

185buildings on the National Inventory

History of Portlaoise · National Inventory of Architectural Heritage

Portlaoise: 185 buildings on the National Inventory, 6 of them of national importance

Portlaoise is a historic town on the Sites and Monuments Record, which lists 17 archaeological sites inside it. Its oldest building dates from 1540. For every 10,000 residents, Portlaoise has 79 buildings on the record; the typical town has 48.

6of national importance 1540oldest record 17archaeological sites

On the National Inventory

185

79 per 10,000 residents
typical town: 48

Of national importance

NIAH National or International, and national monuments

Archaeological sites

Sites and Monuments Record

Oldest building

1540

the first date on its record

Homes built before 1919

typical town: 3.4%

In pictures

Portlaoise’s buildings in 20 pictures

24 of the places on Portlaoise’s record are pictured here; the others show their record card. The set includes 3 of Portlaoise’s nationally rated places. Presentation Convent and Portlaoise Courthouse lead the set.

Portlaoise CourthouseNational rating (NIAH)

Saint Peter's ChurchNational rating (NIAH)

Portlaoise Railway StationRegional rating (NIAH)

Portlaoise Methodist ChurchRegional rating (NIAH)

Bank, 17 Main Street, PortlaoiseRegional rating (NIAH)+15See all photos

Photos from Wikimedia Commons, copied to our own server, each credited to its photographer with its licence; names open the place’s page. Tap a photo to step through them full screen.

National and International

6 places of national importance in Portlaoise

Buildings the National Inventory rates National or International: of significance across Ireland or beyond. Each one opens its own page.

Court house · 1790–1820Portlaoise CourthouseMain Street, Church Street, PortlaoisePhoto: Andreas F. Borchert · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons file

Church / chapel · 1800–1805Saint Peter's ChurchGrattan Street, Coote Street, PortlaoisePhoto: Kenneth Allen · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Commons file

Convent / nunnery · 1820–1840Presentation ConventChurch Avenue, PortlaoisePhoto: A.-K._D · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons file

Fortification · 1550–1580Fort of MaryboroughChurch Street, Church Avenue, Portlaoise

Hospital / infirmary · 1830–1840Saint Fintan's Hospital (hospital / infirmary)Dublin Road, Portlaoise

Hospital / infirmary · 1930–1940Midland Regional Hospital PortlaoiseDublin Road, Portlaoise

Regional and other sites

179 more historic places in Portlaoise

Buildings rated Regional, of significance in their region, and archaeological monuments with an encyclopedia article.

All 67, A to Z

112 recorded by their type and address

112 are recorded only by their type and address: 98 homes, 4 public buildings and 4 other buildings; most date from the 19th century.

16th century2

18th century20

19th century72

20th century18

See all 112 on the map

Historic streets

Main Street has the most

Streets with three or more buildings on the record, by the address it gives.

Main Street40 on the record · 1 of national importance

Dublin Road26 on the record · 2 of national importance

Grattan Street18 on the record · 1 of national importance

Church Street16 on the record · 1 of national importance

Coote Street11 on the record

Stradbally Road10 on the record

Station Road9 on the record

Market Square9 on the record

Abbeyleix Road5 on the record

Old Abbeyleix Road5 on the record

Bank Place4 on the record

Church Avenue4 on the record · 1 of national importance

Of the 185 records, 173 give a street address.

What’s recorded

More homes than anything else in Portlaoise: 66%

Compared with the National Inventory (6%), Portlaoise has a high share of public buildings: 11%. The highest-rated include Fort of Maryborough and Portlaoise Courthouse. Counted by type, Portlaoise’s record runs to 10 kinds of building.

Homes123

Public buildings21

Churches and chapels10

Inns, shops and warehouses4

Farm and estate buildings4

Walls, gates and bridges3

Mills, stations and works3

Street furniture3

Memorials and tombs1

Other buildings13

Types as the National Inventory records them, grouped; a building keeps the type it was built as.

How old

Most of Portlaoise’s dated buildings come from the 19th century

Each building by the first date on its record.

1500–1799 three centuries10

19th century 1800–1899131

1900 and later to today44

10 of the 185 dated ones were built before 1800.

Archaeology and around

Archaeology in Portlaoise

The Sites and Monuments Record lists every known archaeological site; most are field monuments with little to see. By kind:

17 archaeological sites inside the town

Sites on the Record of Monuments and Places, the statutory list drawn from this record, are protected by law: anyone planning work at or near one must give the National Monuments Service two months’ notice.

Burial3 records

Castle - unclassified2 records

Church2 records

Graveyard2 records

Historic town1 record

Castle - tower house1 record

Mill - unclassified1 record

Town defences1 record

House - 16th century1 record

Ritual site - holy well1 record

Enclosure1 record

Ringfort - rath1 record

Just outside Portlaoise: 7

Clonreher HouseRegional rating (NIAH) · 800 m outside the town

Bloomfield HouseRegional rating (NIAH) · 100 m outside the town

Rathleague LodgeRegional rating (NIAH) · 700 m outside the town

WoodvilleRegional rating (NIAH) · 1 km outside the town

Lalor's MillsRegional rating (NIAH) · 2.8 km outside the town

SheffieldRegional rating (NIAH) · 2.2 km outside the town

Barracks, Abbeyleix Road, PortlaoiseRegional rating (NIAH) · 300 m outside the town

Homes by age

Pre-1919 homes are scarce in Portlaoise: 2%, against a usual 3.4%

Homes built since 2011 make up 9.4% of Portlaoise’s, above the 5.8% of the typical town. Building in Portlaoise peaked in the 2000s: 44% of the homes now standing. Portlaoise added comparatively little between the wars: 2.4% of its homes, the typical town 3.9%.

Before 1919

2.4%

1919–45

16%

1946–80

27%

1981–2000

44%

2001–10

9.4%

Since 2011

PortlaoiseTypical town

Census 2022, households by the year their home was built (CSO, Small Area Population Statistics, CC BY 4.0); the typical town is the middle Irish town of 2,500 or more.

Born here

3 notable people born in Portlaoise before 1900

From Bartholomew Mosse (1712) to William Aird (1892): their lives on one timeline, earliest first.

Bartholomew Mosse

Arthur Jacob

William Aird

170017501800185019001950

William Aird1892–1931 · Irish politician

Arthur Jacob1790–1874 · Irish ophthalmologist

Bartholomew Mosse1712–1759 · Irish doctor

Everyone born in Portlaoise → Birthplaces from Wikidata, each checked against the person’s English Wikipedia article; portraits from Wikimedia Commons.

Towns its size

Portlaoise has the 2nd most of 16 towns its size

Towns of 22,000 to 24,600 residents, by buildings on the record.

Mullingar225

Portlaoise185

Athlone181

Lucan169

Douglas51

#3 of 16for buildings on the record per resident (79 per 10,000). Mullingar, Athlone and Portlaoise lead.

Only Mullingar has more. The typical town its size has 51. One of the 16 has none.

Neighbours

Portlaoise and its neighbours

Town	People	National Inventory	National	Archaeological sites
Portlaoise	23,494	185	6	17
Mountmellick	4,905	54	0	3
Stradbally	1,404	25	0	1
Mountrath	2,070	24	0	4
Abbeyleix	1,897	35	0	0
Portarlington	9,288	68	1	14

In brief

Portlaoise in brief

The official list counts 185 places on the record in Portlaoise, 6 of them in the top tier, including Fort of Maryborough. Portlaoise Courthouse sits at the heart of it all, with 4 of the town’s places of national importance within 400 m. Only one of the 16 towns nearest its size has more recorded buildings. Main Street alone has 40 places on the record.

Of the whole list, 66% are homes. Of the 185 with a date, 131 come from the 19th century. The oldest is Fort of Maryborough, from 1550. Beyond that, per resident it sits near the middle of Irish towns of 2,500 or more.

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

The National Inventory. The State’s survey of post-1700 buildings, made county by county since 1990 (NIAH); a few records are older. It records; it does not protect.
Ratings. International and National: of significance across Ireland or beyond. Regional: in its region. Local and record-only buildings get no page here.
Archaeology. The Sites and Monuments Record (National Monuments Service) lists known archaeological sites; the national monuments to visit and the sites with an encyclopedia article get pages here.
Protection. Both registers are surveys, not protection: a building is protected by its council’s Record of Protected Structures, and no national open list joins the 31 councils’ records.
The grade. Ireland’s History grade is not built yet: the page describes, and gives no grade.

Questions about Portlaoise’s history

How many historic buildings are recorded in Portlaoise?

185 buildings on the National Inventory, 6 of them of national importance, from the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.

Which places in Portlaoise are of national importance?

Fort of Maryborough, Portlaoise Courthouse, Saint Peter's Church, Presentation Convent, Saint Fintan's Hospital (hospital / infirmary) and Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise.

What is the oldest building in Portlaoise?

Church, Railway Street, Portlaoise: the first date on its record is 1540.

Are there archaeological sites in Portlaoise?

Yes: the Sites and Monuments Record lists 17 archaeological sites inside Portlaoise.

How old are the homes in Portlaoise?

2% of its homes were built before 1919, against 3.4% in the typical town.

Are the buildings on this page protected?

Being on the National Inventory or the Sites and Monuments Record is a record, not protection by itself: buildings are protected by their council’s Record of Protected Structures, which each council keeps and no national open list gathers, so this page can’t say which are on it.

History is described here, not graded.

Source: National Inventory of Architectural Heritage and Sites and Monuments Record, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (CC BY 4.0); Wikidata (CC0).

Sources: National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (buildingsofireland.ie) · Sites and Monuments Record and the National Monuments Service’s monuments to visit · CSO Census 2022 (homes by the year built) · Photos: Wikimedia Commons, including the National Library of Ireland’s collections, each credited with its licence and copied to our own server · Wikidata and English Wikipedia for people born here · Wikidata (CC0) for other names and articles. Under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).

Contains Central Statistics Office (CSO) data, Census 2022, and Tailte Éireann boundaries (CSO Urban Areas, Small Areas, local electoral areas, constituencies), under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).