Raheen, County Laois

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This article is about Raheen, a village in County Laois. For other places called Raheen, see Raheen, County Limerick, Raheen, County Wexford, or Raheen (estate).

Raheen
An Ráithín

Location

WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates:
52°35′N 7°12′W / 52.58, -7.2

Irish grid reference
S426904

Statistics

Population (2006)
- Town:
- Environs:

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Raheen with the Slieve Bloom mountains in the background

St Fintan's Church (1857), Raheen

Raheen (Irish: An Ráithín) is a small village in County Laois south of Portlaoise in Ireland.

1 History
2 Sport
3 See also
4 External links
5 References

[edit] History

Raheen has an imposing Catholic church, dating from 1857. The first Catholic church, a thatched chapel, was built in 1729; the site was granted by a Protestant family named Baldwin. Mr. Baldwin granted the land after seeing poor Catholics assembled at Mass in a deep pit, which is called The Mass Pit even to the present time.

“

The poorer sort of Irish natives," wrote an English tourist in 1746, "are Roman Catholics, who make no scruple to assemble in the open fields. As we passed yesterday in a by-road, we saw a priest under a tree, with a large assembly about him, celebrating Mass in his proper habit; and though at a great distance from him, we heard him distinctly. These sort of people seem to be very solemn and sincere in their religion. [1]

”

The grave-yard in the village marks the site of the old thatched chapel.

The village had quite the resistance to the crown in years gone by as during the 1916 rising some members of the IRA derailed a train by the woods in this village.