The Settlement of Laois and Offaly 1556 was an
Act of the
Parliament of Ireland
The Parliament of Ireland ( ga, Parlaimint na hÉireann) was the legislature of the Lordship of Ireland, and later the Kingdom of Ireland, from 1297 until 1800. It was modelled on the Parliament of England and from 1537 comprised two chamb ...
passed in 1556 which resulted in the creation of
Queen's County and
King's County in the midlands of Ireland, and the establishment of two shire towns at ''Maryborough'' (
Portlaoise
Portlaoise ( ), or Port Laoise (), is the county town of County Laois, Ireland. It is located in the Midland Region, Ireland, South Midlands in the province of Leinster. The 2016 census shows that the town's population increased by 9.5% to 22,050 ...
) and ''Philipstown'' (
Daingean
Daingean (; or ), formerly Philipstown, named after King Philip II of Spain, is a small town in east County Offaly, Ireland. It is situated midway between the towns of Tullamore and Edenderry on the R402 regional road. The town of Daingea ...
), named in honour of
Queen Mary I
Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, and as "Bloody Mary" by her Protestant opponents, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain from January 1556 until her death in 1558. Sh ...
and
King Phillip II. The Act was the first
Tudor attempt at
plantation in Ireland and was designed to formally open up the area to English settlement.
The Act displaced the ruling O'More (or Moore) clan of
Loígis
Loígis () is the name of an Irish tribe, as it is called by contemporary scholars. Formerly, scholars generally called the tribe ''Laoighis'' or ''Laeighis'' in Irish, ''Lagisia'' in Latin, and ''Leix'' in English. Loígis is also the name of the ...
and the O'Connor rulers of the
Kingdom of Uí Failghe
The kingdom of Uí Fháilghe, ''Uí Failge'' (early spelling) or ''Uíbh Fhailí'' (modern spelling) () was a Gaelic-Irish kingdom which existed to 1550, the name of which (though not the territory) is preserved in the name of County Offaly (Iris ...
by declaring their lands to be the legal possession of the English monarch. In 1922, ''Queen's County'' was renamed Laois and ''King's County'' was renamed Offaly. The Act was repealed by
Dáil Éireann
Dáil Éireann ( , ; ) is the lower house, and principal chamber, of the Oireachtas (Irish legislature), which also includes the President of Ireland and Seanad Éireann (the upper house).Article 15.1.2º of the Constitution of Ireland read ...
in 1962.
References
{{Local government in the Republic of Ireland, state=collapsed
1556 in law
1556 in Ireland
Acts of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801)
County Laois
County Offaly
16th century in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
Former English colonies
Tudor England