Portarlington, County Laois
Portarlington
Cúil an tSúdaire | ||
---|---|---|
Town | ||
Eircode routing key R32 | ||
Telephone area code | +353(0)57 | |
Irish Grid Reference | N540125 |
Portarlington, historically called Cooletoodera[2] (from Irish: Cúil an tSúdaire, meaning "nook of the tanner"), is a town on the border of County Laois and County Offaly, Ireland. The River Barrow forms the border. Portarlington is around 70 kilometres (43 mi) west of Dublin. The town was recorded in the 2022 census as having a population of 9,288.[1]
History
Portarlington was founded in 1666, by
Year | Pop. | ±% |
---|---|---|
1821 | 2,877 | — |
1831 | 3,091 | +7.4% |
1841 | 3,106 | +0.5% |
1851 | 2,730 | −12.1% |
1861 | 2,581 | −5.5% |
1871 | 2,424 | −6.1% |
1881 | 2,357 | −2.8% |
1891 | 2,021 | −14.3% |
1901 | 1,943 | −3.9% |
1911 | 2,012 | +3.6% |
1926 | 1,954 | −2.9% |
1936 | 1,851 | −5.3% |
1946 | 2,092 | +13.0% |
1951 | 2,246 | +7.4% |
1956 | 2,720 | +21.1% |
1961 | 2,846 | +4.6% |
1966 | 2,804 | −1.5% |
1971 | 3,117 | +11.2% |
1981 | 3,386 | +8.6% |
1986 | 3,295 | −2.7% |
1991 | 3,211 | −2.5% |
1996 | 3,320 | +3.4% |
2002 | 4,001 | +20.5% |
2006 | 6,004 | +50.1% |
2011 | 7,788 | +29.7% |
2016 | 8,368 | +7.4% |
2022 | 9,288 | +11.0% |
[4][5][6][7][8][1] |
Huguenot settlement 1694
Following the failure of Henry Bennet's English colony, Port Arlington was re-established with the settlement of
Unique among the French Protestant colonies established or augmented in Ireland following the Treaty of Limerick (1691), the Portarlington settlement was planted on the ashes of an abortive English colony.[9]
Fifteen or more Huguenot families who were driven from France as religious refugees settled on the ashes of Bennet's colony, and the settlement was unique among the Huguenot settlements in Ireland in that the French language survived, being used in church services till the 1820s and continuing to be taught in the town school.
- ... and till within the last twenty years divine service was performed in the French language. In the RC divisions Portarlington is the head of a union or district, called Portarlington, Emo and Killinard ...[10]
The Church of Ireland Bishop of Kildare came to Portarlington to consecrate the new French Church, 1694.[11] The present-day Church of Ireland church sits on one of the town's main thoroughfares, still named 'French Church Street', with the original French church (1694) situated just off the market square.[12][13]
The relationship to the French influence with Portarlington is celebrated every July with the Festival Français de Portarlington.
Lea Castle
On the outskirts of the parish lies Lea Castle. The remnants of a Norman
Treascon Mass Rock lies just outside the town in an area known as Treascon. This mass rock (Carraig an Aifrinn in Irish) is located within a wooded area, and is a large stone used in mid-seventeenth century Ireland as a location for Catholic worship. Isolated locations were sought to hold religious ceremony, as Catholic mass was a matter of difficulty and danger at the time as a result of both Cromwell's campaign against the Irish, and the
The rebellion of 1798 resulted in several local men from Lea castle being apprehended and subsequently put to death by hanging in the town's market square. A memorial in the shape of a Celtic cross with the rebels' details was commissioned and erected in 1976. The memorial stands close to the perimeter wall of the French church in the market square.
Rotten borough
The
Prior to the legislative Union between Great Britain and Ireland, this borough sent two Members to the Irish Parliament; since 1800 it has returned one to the Imperial Parliament, and so close has been this corporation, that for 50 years previous to the last general election, the nominee of the Dawson family, commonly a total stranger to the borough, was always returned without a contest. According to the Parliamentary Returns of May 1829 and June 1830, the number of electors, resident and non-resident, was 15; that is, all the members of the corporation.[15]
Geography
Portarlington is split by the River Barrow, with County Offaly on the north bank and County Laois on the south Bank; the town is mostly flat, with some slight street undulations. The town was partially built on the river's flood plain. More recent drainage improvements has resulted in fewer floodings to areas close to the town.[citation needed]
Crossing the river into County Offaly, the land becomes marshy and wet with extensive peat bogs. These peat bogs are broken by some glacial hills, one such hill is called Derryvilla Hill; these hills have been used for gravel and sand production.[citation needed]
The southern end of the town is dominated visually by another glacial hill, know locally as Corrig (or Carrick) hill.[16] This hill is topped by a stone structure or spire. This spire was built the latter half of the 19th century. Next to the spire is the town's water supply reservoir. The reservoir uses the gravity afforded by the hill to supply water to the town below.[citation needed]
Demographics
County Laois suffered during the Great Famine (1845–1847), and the county's population dropped from over 153,000 in 1841 to just over 73,000 by 1881.[17] Famine graveyards are known locally.[18]
The population of Portarlington itself doubled between the 2002 and 2016 census (from 4,001 to 8,368 people),[19][20] reaching 9,288 in 2022.[1] According to the 2022 census, 79.2% of inhabitants were born in Ireland, with Poland (5%), the UK (4.4%), and elsewhere in the EU (4.8%) representing other places of birth of the population.[1] Reflecting the development of new housing in the early 21st century, the same census suggested that a majority of residents (59.81%) were living in private homes built after 2001.[1]
Transport
Portarlington is a focal point of the
Public transport by road includes, as of January 2017, one intercity bus service which operates direct to Dublin. It is operated by JJ Kavanagh and Sons, and serves UCD once a day up and return.[citation needed] There is a local-link town service operated by Slieve Bloom Coaches linking Portarlington with Portlaoise and also with Tullamore.[22]
An additional private operator, Dublin Coach (known locally as 'the green bus' due its livery), operates an hourly service to Kildare Village Outlet via Monasterevin.[citation needed] A weekday service by JJ Kavanagh and Sons to NUI Maynooth University and Institute of Technology, Carlow operates during the college term.[citation needed]
Education
Coláiste Íosagáin is the main secondary school in Portarlington.[23] The school, which is located on the Offaly side of the border, runs Transition Year, Leaving Cert Applied, and Leaving Cert Vocational programmes.
There are three primary schools, all located on the Laois side of the border.[citation needed]
There is also a third level education college providing courses for post-secondary pupils as well as adult education courses.[24]
In media
In 2012,
Events and culture
Culture
The People's Museum, situated within the Catholic Club on Main Street in Portarlington is small but holds many different exhibits ranging from local memorabilia to a Bronze Age Celtic dagger.
Portarlington, its Savoy cinema (now closed) and the nearby Lea Castle appeared in the 1993 Irish film Into the West. The town is also mentioned in Christy Moore's song "Welcome to the Cabaret", featured on his 1994 album Live at the Point.
Outdoor pursuits of angling and hunting are available.
French Festival
A French festival, sometimes known as the Festival Français de Portarlington, has historically been held in the summer.[25] The festival has typically run over a weekend, with live music, dance, sport, history, food and a parade. Portarlington's French influence and "Huguenot connections" are celebrated with street entertainers as well as French musicians playing on the opening day. No event was held in 2018.[26]
Sport
Sports clubs in the area include the
Portarlington RFC is the local rugby union club. It was founded in 1974 and competes in the Leinster League.
Association football (soccer) clubs include Gracefield FC, Arlington AFC, and Portarlington Town FC, each of which competes in the Combined Counties Football League of the Leinster Football Association.[citation needed]
Other sporting clubs in the area include Portarlington Kestrels Basketball Club, Portarlington Lawn Tennis Club, Portarlington Taekwondo and Portarlington Golf Club.[citation needed]
Notable people
- Peter Burrowes (1753–1841) – Irish barrister and politician
- Richard Pennefather (1773–1859) leading Irish judge, went to school in Portarlington
- Edward Carson, Baron Carson(1854–1935), Irish barrister, politician and judge, went to school in Portarlington
- John Wilson Croker (1780–1857), politician and essayist, creator of the term Conservative for the British political party, went to school in Portarlington
- Feargus O'Connor (1794–1855), Chartist leader, went to Thomas Willis's school in Portarlington and attempted to elope with the headmaster's daughter
- Jonathan Swift (1667–1745), prolific writer and satirist, wrote large part of his famous work Gulliver's Travels in Woodbrook House in Portarlington[27][28]
- Hugh Emerson, former footballer with Laois and Portarlington GAA[citation needed]
- Lily Champ, a gardener and writer from the town[citation needed]
- Cathal Berry, TD for Kildare South and Portarlington resident.
See also
- List of towns and villages in Ireland
- Market Houses in Ireland
Further reading
- Dempsey, Karen (2017), "Lea Castle, Co. Laois: the story so far", The Castle Studies Group Journal, 30: 237–252
- Goode, P.J (2008). O'Dempsey Chronicles. Cloneygowan Press. ISBN 9780955914003.
- Le Fanu, Thomas Philip, ed. (1908). Registers of the French Church of Portarlington, Ireland. Vol. 19. Huguenot Society of London.
- Mathews, Ronnie (1999). Portarlington, the inside story. ISBN 0863350275.
- Powell, John Stocks (1994). Huguenots planters Portarlington. Frenchchurch Press. ISBN 0951629921.
- Powell, John Stocks (2012). Portarlington 1800–1850 the combined registers of Portarlington. Frenchchurch Press. ISBN 9780953801091.
References
- ^ a b c d e f "Interactive Data Visualisations: Towns: Portarlington". Census 2022. Central Statistics Office. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
- ^ "Portarlington / Cúil an tSúdaire". logainm.ie. Placenames Database of Ireland. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
- ^ Rev. M. Comerford Collections relating to the Dioceses of Kildare and Leighlin Vol 2 (1883).
- ^ "Census for post 1821 figures". Archived from the original on 20 September 2010. Retrieved 25 July 2009.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 7 May 2016. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Northern Ireland Census of Population". Archived from the original on 17 February 2012. Retrieved 24 August 2013.
- ^ Lee, JJ (1981). "On the accuracy of the Pre-famine Irish censuses". In Goldstrom, J. M.; Clarkson, L. A. (eds.). Irish Population, Economy, and Society: Essays in Honour of the Late K. H. Connell. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press.
- hdl:10197/1406. Archived from the originalon 4 December 2012.
- ^ Hylton, Raymond Pierre (1987), "The Huguenot settlement at Portarlington, 1692–1771", in Caldicott, C.E.J.; Gough, Hugh; Pittion, Jean-Paul (eds.), The Huguenots and Ireland: anatomy of an emigration : [proceedings of the Dublin Colloquium on the Huguenot Refuge in Ireland 1685–1985, 9th–12th April, 1985, Trinity College Dublin, University College Dublin], Dun Laoghaire: Glendale Press, pp. 297–315
- ^ A Topographical dictionary of Ireland Page 465 Samuel Lewis – 1837
- ^ Raymond Hylton Ireland's Huguenots and their refuge, 1662–1745: an unlikely haven Page 194 2005 "The Bishop of Kildare did come to Portarlington to consecrate the churches, backed by two prominent Huguenot Deans of ... Moreton held every advantage and for most of the Portarlington Huguenots there could be no option but acceptance ...
- ^ Grace Lawless Lee The Huguenot Settlements in Ireland 2009 Page 169
- ^ Raymond P. "The Huguenot Settlement at Portarlington, ...
- ^ See also John S. Powell, The Portarlington maces and its borough history 1669–1841 2011
- ^ Inquiry held 21, 23, and 24 September 1833, before John Colhoun and Henry Baldwin
- ^ "Carrick Wood". coillte.ie. Coillte. Archived from the original on 28 January 2020. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
- ^ "Tracing stories of the Famine". Leinster Express. 2013. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
- ^ "Laois Burial Grounds Survey 2011" (PDF). Laois County Council. 2011. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
- ^ "Demographic context" (PDF). Offaly County Council Development Plan 2009 – 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 October 2008. Retrieved 28 June 2008.
- ^ "Sapmap Area - Settlements - Portarlington". Census 2016. Central Statistics Office Ireland. 2016. Archived from the original on 12 January 2018. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
- ^ "Portarlington station" (PDF). Railscot – Irish Railways. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 March 2011. Retrieved 5 September 2007.
- ^ "Portarlington". Slievebloomcoaches.ie. Archived from the original on 6 March 2014. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
- ^ "Coláiste Íosagáin - Secondary School in Portarlington, Co. Laois, Ireland". www.colaisteiosagainport.ie. Archived from the original on 1 December 2016. Retrieved 30 November 2016.
- ^ "Home - Portarlington Further Education & Training Centre".
- ^ "The French Festival". Portarlington Community Development Association. Archived from the original on 3 September 2021. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
- ^ "Portarlington French Festival organisers CANCEL this year's event". laoistoday.ie. 17 April 2018. Archived from the original on 3 September 2021. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
- ^ "The house that begat Gulliver's Travels is not for the little people". independent.ie. Independent News & Media. 8 July 2007. Archived from the original on 30 October 2013. Retrieved 26 May 2013.
- ^ "Jonathan Swift's Works - Gulliver's Travels". Mygullivertravels.com. 16 December 2010. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 17 June 2019.