Ballaghmore (historically ''Bellaghmore'', from ) is a small village located on the western side of

County Laois County Laois ( ; ) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and in the province of Leinster. It was known as Queen's County from 1556 to 1922. The modern county takes its name from Loígis, a medieval kingdom. Hist ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, southwest of

Portlaoise Portlaoise ( ), or Port Laoise (), is the county town of County Laois, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Midland Region, Ireland, South Midlands in the province of Leinster. Portlaoise was the fastest growing of the top 20 largest town ...

. It is approximately east of

Roscrea Roscrea () is a market town in County Tipperary, Ireland. In 2022 it had a population of 5,542. Roscrea is one of the oldest towns in Ireland, having developed around the 7th century monastery of Crónán of Roscrea, Saint Crónán of Roscrea, p ...

. The village is in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of Kyle in the historic

barony Barony may refer to: * Barony, the peerage, office of, or territory held by a baron * Barony, the title and land held in fealty by a feudal baron * Barony (county division), a type of administrative or geographical division in parts of the British ...

Clandonagh Clandonagh () is a barony in County Laois (formerly called ''Queen's County'' or ''County Leix''), Republic of Ireland. A barony was a historical subdivision of a county; mainly cadastral rather than administrative. Etymology Clandonagh barony ...

Amenities

The village has a

hurling Hurling (, ') is an outdoor Team sport, team game of ancient Gaelic culture, Gaelic Irish origin, played by men and women. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goa ...

club (

Kyle GAA Kyle GAA is a Gaelic Athletic Association hurling club in County Laois, Ireland. Located near Ballaghmore on the County Laois-County Tipperary border, the club colours are blue and white. History Kyle won its only Laois Senior Hurling Champ ...

) and a Roman Catholic church (Saint Molua's). Saint Molua's church was built in 1812, and extensively renovated in 1978. The main industry in Ballaghmore is farming.

Ballaghmore Castle

The village is mainly known for Ballaghmore Castle. The castle derived its name from the Bealach Mor, the ancient road to

Munster Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...

on which the castle is located. Ballaghmore Castle was built in 1480 by the Irish chieftain

Mac Giolla Phádraig Mac or MAC may refer to: Common meanings * Mac (computer), a line of personal computers made by Apple Inc. * Mackintosh, a raincoat made of rubberized cloth * Mac, a prefix to surnames derived from Gaelic languages * McIntosh (apple), a Canadian ...

, translated as McGillpatrick / ''Son of the Servant of Patrick'' (nowadays often called simply '' Fitzpatrick''). Like other castles at the time, Ballaghmore Castle was damaged by Cromwellian forces in

1647 Events January–March * January 2 – Chinese bandit leader Zhang Xianzhong, who has ruled the Sichuan province since 1644, is killed at Xichong County, Xichong by a Qing archer, after having been betrayed by one of his officer ...

during the

Laois-Offaly Plantation Plantations in 16th- and 17th-century Ireland () involved the confiscation of Irish-owned land by the English Crown and the colonisation of this land with settlers from Great Britain. The main plantations took place from the 1550s to the 162 ...

. A Mr Ely restored the castle in 1836 and found a hoard of gold on the land in the process. Ely was killed by an angry farmer and never lived in the castle. The uninhabited building was used as granary and fell into disrepair until it was bought by its present owner in 1990. Of all the castles of

Upper Ossory Upper Ossory () was an administrative barony in the south and west of Queen's County (now County Laois) in Ireland. In late Gaelic Ireland it was the túath of the Mac Giolla Phádraig ( Fitzpatrick) family and a surviving remnant of the once l ...

, it is the only one which is still habitable.

Sheela na Gig

A feature of Ballaghmore Castle is the

Sheela na Gig A sheela na gig is a figurative carving of a naked woman displaying an exaggerated Human vulva, vulva. These carvings, from the Middle Ages, are Grotesque (architecture), architectural grotesques found throughout most of Europe on Architecture ...

which is carved in a corner stone of the outer front-facing wall. The Sheela na Gig is depicted as a half-dead woman with a contorted face and fully exposed vagina. The emphasis on the female reproduction organs in combination with her deathlike appearance is associated with the cycle of birth and death.

References

External links

Ballaghmore Castle official siteFitzpatrick Clan Society
{{County Laois Towns and villages in County Laois FitzPatrick dynasty Castles in County Laois

Amenities

Ballaghmore Castle

Sheela na Gig

See also

References

External links