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 The Act was repealed by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