IN PICTURES: English colonisation of Laois told in new Portlaoise signs

The story of colonisation of Laois is set to be told in proposed new outdoor signs that Laois County Council wants to install around Portlaoise.

Laois County Council has invited companies to bid for tenders to manufacture the directional totems, lane interpretation panels, banners, character panels and Map Boards to the specifications.

Most of the signs are directional on brown background with a easy to ready font.

Others try to tell the story of the colonisation of Laois which was directed from the Fort Protectorate in Portlaoise.

The text on one sign dates to 1530 when colonisation commenced.

"Our ancestors have been living in Laois for centuries. I celebrate the rich stories of our community by playing music and reciting poetry. We speak Irish and have our own laws and customs. The English are threatening our way of life and are
imposing their own language and rules. But our land is protected by the O’More family who fight fiercely against this foreign control," it says.

Another quote from 1599 tells the of the impact and the role played by the Fort Protectorate in Portlaoise in oppressing the indigenous Irish.

“My family were massacred and driven from their homes by English troops. I am determined to fight them. This Fort is protected well by soldiers, but we have besieged it a couple of times already.

"Further south, our men, under our leader Owny McRory O’More, have defeated the Earl of Essex at the Pass of the Plumes. There is hope we can stop the English in Laois, but they are setting up colonies like this all over Ireland and even the New World," it says.

The colonisation of Laois and Offaly was part of the famous beyond the pale strategy to occupy lands outside Dublin that were in control of Irish chieftains. The process was notoriously bloody but also saw the two counties named Queens County and Kings County.

The council hopes to award the contract in September 2022. TAP NEXT TO SEE MORE PICTURES OF THE SIGNS PLANNED.

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