Maryborough East
Port Laoise Thoir (Irish) | |
---|---|
Sovereign state | Ireland |
Province | Leinster |
County | Laois |
Area | |
• Total | 101.82 km2 (39.31 sq mi) |
Maryborough East or East Maryborough[1] (Irish: Port Laoise Thoir[2]) is a barony in County Laois (formerly called Queen's County or County Leix), Ireland.[3][4][5]
Maryborough is the former name of the town of Portlaoise, established in 1548 and named after Queen Mary I; it was given its current name in 1929.[citation needed]
Maryborough East is located in central County Laois.
Maryborough East and West were in the Middle Ages the land of the Cinel Crimthann, an Irish clan with the surname Ó Duibh (Duffy or O'Diff).[6]
It is referred to in the topographical poem Tuilleadh feasa ar Éirinn óigh (Giolla na Naomh Ó hUidhrín, d. 1420):
Fa Dún Mascc as mín fuinn,
O'Duib for Chenel cCrioṁṫainn,
Triath an tíre fa ṫoraḋ,
Iath as míne measrogaḋ.
("Under Dun Masc of smooth land, O'Duibh is over Cinel-Criomthainn, Lord of the territory which is under fruit, Land of smoothest mast-fruit.")
Maryborough was originally a single barony; it was divided into East and West before 1807.
Below is a list of settlements in Maryborough East barony: