Ballyroan, County Laois

Ballyroan (Irish: Baile Átha an Róine) is a small town in County Laois, Ireland.[2] It is in the civil parish of Ballyroan and in the former barony of Cullenagh. The R425 regional road passes through the village.

Ballyroan Baile Átha an Róine
Town
Ballyroan's main street
Ballyroan Location in Ireland
Coordinates: 52°56′52″N 7°18′19″W
Country	Ireland
Province	Leinster
County	County Laois
Population  (2016)[1]	563
Time zone	UTC+0 (WET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-1 (IST (WEST))
Irish Grid Reference	S464889

History

Ballyroan is an ancient settlement, though its origins are obscure. A castle likely stood there in the Middle Ages, as one Conall Ó Mórdha, son of Daibhí Ó Mórdha, lord of Laois, is attested to have "built the castle of Baile atha in roine" in the fourteenth century.[3] The area remained in the hands of the O'Mores until the sixteenth century; it is listed in the possessions of Conall Ó Mórdha (d. 1537).

An Irish Volunteer Corps was established in Ballyroan in mid-1914.[4] They would become the only corps in Laois to support Eoin MacNeill over John Redmond during the debate as to whether the Irish Volunteers should participate in the First World War. On April 3 1920, the abandoned RIC police barracks in Ballyroan were attacked and burned.

In 1831, Ballyroan had a population of 714. In 1841, on the eve of the Great Famine, it had a population of 637.[5] The size of the village has since declined considerably. In 1996, the population was 173; in 2002, it was 142.[6]

Education

The village has a long educational history. In 1686, Alderman John Preston founded a private school in the village known as Ballyroan School, endowed with lands in Cappaloughlan. The school was in a large slated building erected at a cost of £500, which has since been demolished. Protestant boys received a free education, while Catholic boys paid £1 per quarter. In the nineteenth century, the school moved to Abbeyleix. The Brigidine Sisters came to the village in 1877 and opened a school operating under a Catholic ethos. Three sisters (nuns) from the Abbeyleix Community took up residence in their newly built convent on 25 September of that year. Their convent and school closed in 1974.

Ballyroan was home to separate boys' and girls' primary schools until 2017, when they were amalgamated into a single national school in a new building. The school is named for Pope John Paul II.

Sport

The local Gaelic football club is Ballyroan Abbey GAA. A former club was Ballyroan GAA. Ballyroan was the first village in Leinster to play football in 1889.

See also

• List of towns and villages in Ireland

• 
  Old national school (1888)
• 
  Autumn, a sculpture
• 
  Sculpture plaque
• 
  A church in Ballyroan

References

1. "Sapmap Area - Settlements - Ballyroan". Census 2016. Central Statistics Office. April 2016. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
2. "Baile Átha an Róine / Ballyroan". Placenames Database of Ireland. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
3. O'Conor, Thomas (1838). Ordnance Survey Letters: Queen's County. p. 260. Retrieved 4 June 2019.
4. "Laois 1913-1923". Ger Dooley - History. Retrieved 2019-06-04.
5. O'Hanlon, John (1907). History of the Queen's County. pp. 190.
6. "Volume 1, Population" (PDF). Central Statistics Office.