Portlaoise
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Template:Infobox Irish Place Portlaoise (older spelling Portlaoighise; former name Maryborough), is the county town of County Laois (formerly Queen's County) in the midlands of the Republic of Ireland. The name is Irish for "Fort of Laois", and properly pronounced Template:IPA; however, a partially anglicised pronunciation as "Port Laois" is common, although the inland town is not a port. The population in 2002 was 12,127.
The town was first established by Queen Mary in 1556 as "the Fort of Maryborough" and was renamed 1922 to "Portlaoise". Signs of the old garrison remain all over the town, and the old jail has been transformed into an arts centre. Nearby is the Rock of Dunamase, an ancient Celtic fortification, allegedly recorded by Ptolemy in the 1st century. Also nearby are Emo Court, an 18th-century country house designed by James Gandon; Ballyfin House, now a private school; and Mountmellick, the site of a notable Georgian square.
The town is a major commercial, retail, and arts centre for the midlands. It is home to Ireland's maximum-security Portlaoise Jail, which houses the majority of paramilitary prisoners sentenced in the Republic, and to the Midlands Prison. Both establishments are major employers in the town. There are also several hundred employed in the Department of Agriculture in the town. This is expected to increase further under the governments planned decentralisation of government departments from Dublin. The town also has a large and growing commuter population availing of the rail and motorway connections to Dublin.
The National Spatial Strategy for Ireland has identified Portlaoise as an ideal location for an inland port. This designation encourages the town to focus on the growth of distribution, logistics and warehouse uses, which ties in well with its strong transport connections.
Portlaoise stands at a major crossroads in the Irish roads network although construction in recent years of the M7 motorway, which bypasses the town, has reduced traffic congestion in the town centre. The town has a railway station served by intercity trains between Dublin and Cork and by Dublin commuter services.
Significant nearby local tourist sites, include the ruins of an 800 year old hill-top castle at Dunamaise, a large georgian estate home and surrounding guardians at Emo, and the Slieve Bloom Mountains & Forest Park.
See also
External links
- http://www.portlaoiseontheweb.com - Official website