Old Saint Peter's Church, Portlaoise

In the 1556 Plantation of Laois it was ordered that a church be built in every town within three years (O'Hanlon and O'Leary 1907-14, vol. 1, p. 436). The earliest historical reference to the existence of a church at Maryborough is a reference to David Good who is listed as vicar of Maryborough in 1598 (Bradley 1986, 53). In 1556 the Laois 'campa', known to the English as 'Fort Protector' (LA013-041001-) or the Fort of Leix', was renamed Maryborough in honour of Queen Mary. The fort attracted settlers and a map of about 1560 shows a small walled town around the fort at that date. Maryborough was granted a market in 1567, borough in 1569 and was incorporated by charter of Elizabeth I in 1570 (Bradley et al. 1986, 49). The medieval town consists of a walled town (LA013-041006-) enclosing a large settlement with a plantation castle (LA013-041001-) in the centre and a circular tower or castle (LA013-041003-) of sixteenth century date , a church (LA013-041002-) and graveyard (LA013-041004-) and a mill (LA013-041005-). Many settlers moved into the town and the Elizabethan fiants record a particularly high number of property grants between 1569 and 1571. In 1635 the town obtained a grant of two fairs from Charles I and in 1646 the town was captured by Owen Roe O'Neill but was subsequently retaken by Lord Castlehaven (Bradley et al. 1986, 49). Situated within its own churchyard W of the sixteenth century fort (LA013-041001-) of Maryborough the remains consist of the W tower and N wall of the nave of the church. The four storey rectangular tower (int. dims. 5.3m x 5.2m; wall T 0.9m) is entered through a rectangular opening in the E wall. There is a high round arched opeing in the W wall, now blocked up and forming the back wall of a house in Church St. It was from this entrance that the tower and church were entered through. There is a blocked splayed opening or possible window in the N wall above the entrance. The first floor is marked externally by a string course above which the tower is stepped back slightly. The weathering for the sloping roof-line of the nave is visible in the E wall and indicates that the tower stood slightly NW of the church. The third floor was the belfry stage and has a round arched window in each wall. The church and graveyard was located outside the walls of the plantation fort but within the town walls, as shown on the c. 1560 map of Maryborough.

Portlaoise Gaol and Courthouse

The present structure was built in the late eighteenth century as a gaol, possibly replacing an earlier one. (The adjoining courthouse, built at the same time, replaced an earlier courthouse destroyed by fire.) It served this function until 1830, and in recent years housed the town's public library. Current plans to reconstruct it and the adjoining buildings as an arts centre necessitated an archaeological investigation, as the complex adjoined the old churchyard of St Peter's (LA013-041002-004-).

Three cuttings were excavated by Thaddeus C. Breen under licence no. 96E365 in the courtyard. In two, soil containing brick rubble with mortar fragments was found to a depth of approximately 2m below the present surface. An intact ceramic pipe 0.3m in diameter, probably a sewer, was also found at this depth. Finds from these cuttings comprised pottery of mainly eighteenth-century date (possibly some nineteenth-century), along with glass and clay pipe fragments.

In the third cutting two skeletons were found (one incomplete owing to disturbance). They were identified as male, aged 23-25 and 25-30. The causes of death could not be ascertained. Traces of a coffin were present in one case, and it appears to have been slightly too small for the corpse. The skeletons were found at a depth of 1. lm and were oriented north-south, with their heads to the south. Part of a third skeleton was noted in the baulk but not excavated. Beside them, at a lower level, was the base of a stone wall or foundation, at least 0.8m thick. The top of this wall was 1.54m below the present surface, and above this was rubble similar to that found in the other cuttings.

The presence of eighteenth- and possibly nineteenth-century material in the layer into which the burials were placed suggests that they represent part of a burial-plot attached to the gaol. The wall may be part of an earlier gaol building.