Fort Protector - Laois education Centre

Fort Protector
Nayaab Khalid

The Birthplace of the British Empire
• The town grew up around a fort established by
English settlers in 1548.
• This happened half a century before the
founding of Jamestown, Virginia which marked
the beginning of English colonisation in America.
• So without any exaggeration it can be claimed
that Portlaoise was the birthplace of the British
empire.

• The O’Moores of Laois and O’Connors of Offaly had
terrorised the English settlers of the Pale and
extorted black rents from them following the failure
of the Silken Thomas rebellion. When in 1547 they
rose in rebellion again, military expeditions were
dispatched under St. Leger (and later Bellingham) to
subdue them.
• The military campaign was successful. Giolla Patrick
O Moore and Brian o Connor were defeated and
brought under arrest to England. There, their lives
were spared but their lands confiscated. The fort of
Laois, from which the town is named, began in
1547-48.

Portlaoise
• A historic town founded over four hundred years
ago to advance the English colonisation of Ireland.
• Nowadays many of its historic remains lie concealed
from the thousands of people who pass through it
every week.
• The relative dearth of easily visible historical
remains is partly due to the violence of Portlaoise’s
early history, but also to the rapid growth and
expansion of the town in recent years.

Portlaoise
• The present town grew around the old fort, the
construction for which began in the year 1548
under the supervision of the lord deputy Sir
Edward Bellingham.

Who Built It?
•Lord Deputy
Sir Edward
Bellingham

Its Purpose
• The fort was built primarily for military and
political purposes.
• Its situation on rising ground southeast of the
river Triogue and with the Esker ridge forming a
natural defensive barricade to the east made it
of strategic military importance.

Why was it Built?
• Lord Deputy Sir Edward Bellingham was
anxious to fortify Laois following his repression
of the natives and the exiling of their chieftains
earlier in the year.
• It was built to protect the English who were
brought in the O’Moore territory and also to
guard the southern flank of the Pale.

The Fort
• The fort was initially named fort of Leix or Fort
Protector in honour of the Earl of Somerset, the
Lord Protector of England.
• However in 1557, under two important Acts passed
in the parliament of King Philip and Queen Mary, the
town was renamed Maryborough and the county
was given the title Queen’s County.
• In the year 1558 the fort of Maryborough was
garrisoned and for the next half century the
O’Moores, the native chiefs of Laois, waged war on
the settlers.

The Fort
• The fort occupied the area where Fitzmaurice
Place, the convent and the old Vocational
School (the tech) stand today.
• The only visible remains of the fort are a circular
tower and small portions of the wall.
• The fort was initially called Fort Protector in
honour of the earl of Somerset, Lord Protector of
England.

Maryborough
• In 1570, Queen Elizabeth granted a charter of
incorporation and throughout the second half of
the 16 th century, Maryborough remained the
only town in the county.
• This charter raised the town of Maryborough to
the rank of Borough. The corporation of the
Borough consisted of a Burgomaster, two
bailiffs, Burgesses and freemen, a town clerk, a
Sergeant at arms and inferior officers.

The Corporation of the Borough
• The town returned two members to the Irish
Parliament until the Act of Union when the
franchise was abolished. The corporation of
Maryborough lasted until 1830.

• During the war of 1641, it was captured by
Catholic forces and nine years later by Oliver
Cromwell’s troops.
• In the late 1650s, with a population of 198 (150
Irish, 48 English) Maryborough was the third
largest town in the county behind Ballinakill
(204) and Mountrath (223)

Cromwellian Rule
• During Cromwell’s reign in Ireland, Maryborough
was taken and the fort was demolished by the
Cromwellian forces under Colonels Hewson and
Reynolds.
• It was out of the ashes of this devastation of the fort
that the town of Maryborough arose and became a
market town and the administrative centre of the
area.
• The town was the seat of the Queen’s County
Assizes and the HQs of the County Constabulary
force.
• In 1922 the town was renamed Portlaoise.

• The early fort was variously known as governor, port
laois, Campa and Fort Protector.