Tag: abbeyleix

  • Launt Thompson

    Launt Thompson

    One of the most important post-American Civil War sculptors, a world traveller and a native of Abbeyleix. Lancelot (Launt) Thompson was born in Abbeyleix, then Queens County, on February 8, […]

  • Thumbnail for the post titled: Abbeyleix Baby Linen Society 1845

    Abbeyleix Baby Linen Society 1845

    Sitting in the National Library of Ireland in the Manuscripts section is an account book of the Abbeyleix Baby Linen Society, started in 1845, by Lady Emma Vesey, Viscountess de […]

  • Thumbnail for the post titled: Writing Women Into History

    Writing Women Into History

    Flicking through children’s school books, reading the latest historical bestseller or checking out the history documentaries television has to offer, you would be forgiven for thinking that when it comes to the […]

  • Thumbnail for the post titled: Aengus the Culdee, a saint and church reformer 8th Century

    Aengus the Culdee, a saint and church reformer 8th Century

    Today March 11th marks the death of Aengus the Culdee or Aengus Céilí Dé (Aengus the servant of God), who lived, studied and died right here in Co. Laois. Aengus […]

  • Thumbnail for the post titled: Building the Big House

    Building the Big House

    We have recently been lucky enough to come into possession of a fantastic document setting out the specification for the complete refurbishment of Donore House, Co Laois. The document dates to […]

  • Thumbnail for the post titled: The Goats Are Going Home

    The Goats Are Going Home

    This post is a follow on to one I wrote on my own blog about 2 years ago. To be honest it’s very difficult to believe that it’s that long […]

  • Thumbnail for the post titled: Mary O’Shea

    Mary O’Shea

    Mary was born on 16 August 1893 in Dublin City to Robert and Sarah McDonald. Her father was a ‘Shop meter collector’ and her mother was a nurse. When Mary was only […]

  • Thumbnail for the post titled: Francis Bacon: Home, Estrangement and Identity

    Francis Bacon: Home, Estrangement and Identity

    Bacon’s infant consciousness was forged for the most part in an Ireland ravaged by the fratricidal conflict of civil war, and Bacon’s later mature art could itself be argued to […]

  • Thumbnail for the post titled: Abbeyleix Heritage House Fresco

    Abbeyleix Heritage House Fresco

    In the midst of the most febrile activity imaginable as typical of a Renaissance Florentine art workshop, diffuse and heaving energies ordered themselves into direction through collective concentration on the […]

  • Thumbnail for the post titled: Jam Making, 1900’s style

    Jam Making, 1900’s style

    As many people will know we have a large collection of photographs and documents in our museum. While sections of this collection have been cataloged we’re still slogging through parts […]