Laois Archaeology

11/11/2025

04/04/2024

20/11/2023

Made it to Gunung Padang over the weekend, said to be the oldest pyramid in the world, you might have seen it on Graham Hancock on Netflix.
Very few tourists, a real hidden gem, so hidden, in fact it was only rediscovered in 1979 by locals cutting a new tea plantation in West Java
Almost all the stones are cut with 5-sides - a sacred number in Sundanese culture.
Archaeological excavations stopped abruptly in 2014 as the site was beginning to reveal a very ancient civilised culture which may have predated the last ice age - 17000 years ago!! - all very inconclusive!
Worth a visit if your ever in

21/10/2023

Watching the kettle boil! - traditional clay stove with lemongrass tea a brewing 🍵 West Java

18/10/2023

13/09/2023

“Big Houses" Divided Land and 1923 Land Act by Terry Dunne Historian

Thursday, 14th September, 8 pm Midlands Park Hotel

€5 Entry fee or Free for Members.

Membership is available on the evening

All welcome | Email [email protected] for further details

This lecture entitled “Big House”, Divided Land and the 1923 Land Act will reflect upon Terry’s latest research, The Hogan Land Act signed into law in August 1923 was the final phase in the downfall of the landed estates and in large part the beginning of a process of land re-distribution that saw as much as 20% of farmland in the 26 counties re-distributed to small-holders. It was the major legislative effort of the early years of the Irish Free State and played a crucial role in consolidating the new state. The Act had local links in that Mountrath resident Harry Franks represented the landlord side in the conference that led up to the legislation, while Stradbally born Kevin O’Higgins was heavily involved with it, second only to his close colleague Patrick Hogan, Minister for Agriculture. This talk will look at the different strands of social conflict during the revolution which the Free State administration sought to address with the 1923 Act and will offer different examples of how the local landscape was transformed under the Act’s impact.

Terry Dunne’s current research is funded by the Royal Irish Academy. He was former Laois Historian in residence in 2021 - 2022. Terry’s research to date has focused on agrarian social conflict in pre-Famine south-east Laois and north Kilkenny.

13/09/2023

An official member & also a member of the Laois Heritage Society (no conflicts of interest 😊👌)

09/08/2023

Lots of heritage to look forward too

Check out the Laois Heritage Week 2023 Event Guide here: https://tinyurl.com/4ztu3pth
Events can still be registered on the Heritage week website for the next few days so all events can be viewed here: https://tinyurl.com/429a7v3d