Ballyroan

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Church in Ballyroan

Ballyroan
Baile Átha an Róine

Location

WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates:
52°34′N 7°11′W / 52.57, -7.18

Irish grid reference
S464889

Statistics

Population (2006)
- Town:
- Environs:

...
1,000

Old National School (1888), Ballyroan

Ballyroan (Irish: Baile Átha an Róine) is a small village in County Laois, Ireland, on the R425 regional road. It is part of the parish of Abbeyleix. It has two churches (one of which is Roman Catholic and the other Church of Ireland), two schools (a boys school and girls school), three pubs (Whelan's, Delaney's & Scully's) and two shops.

Ballyroan is a rural village with 1,000 people living in 270 houses. It was developed by the Normans in the 1200s and is situated eight miles from Portlaoise.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] History

There was a Druids Altar in Cashel. St. Faolan founded a church in Cashel in 468, and between that time and the ninth century, seven bishops are said to have been interred in Tullore, an ancient cemetery, one of the oldest in Ireland.^{[citation needed]}

The Motte was built by the Normans towards the end of the 12th century. Conall O’Moore built a castle in the 14th century, where Nolan’s house stands today and in the stagecoach days the castle was an inn known as The Bull’s Head.^{[citation needed]}

The Brigidine Sisters came to the village in 1877. Three sisters from the Abbeyleix Community took up residence in their newly built convent on September 25, that year. Their convent and school closed in 1974 drawing the final curtain as it appeared then on Brigidine residency in Ballyroan, but not on their involvement with education.