placenamesDonaghmore
Domhnach Mór
The Laois district has a history of changing administration, while a mapped castle survives only as an uncertain location.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- Domhnach Mór · Irish · main form · non-validated name
- Donaghmore · English · main form
Place & story
A short-lived Poor Law union
Donaghmore became the centre of a new Poor Law union on 7 June 1850. Its catchment extended beyond the present electoral division: fifteen elected guardians represented thirteen divisions, with two each for Borris-in-Ossory and Rathdowney. Following a petition from the guardians, the Local Government Board dissolved the union on 30 September 1886. Peter Higginbotham’s historical account records the redistribution of its divisions between Abbeyleix, Roscrea and Urlingford unions. [2]
A castle without a fixed site
In Raheenphelan Glebe, the National Monuments Service records a castle shown on the seventeenth-century Down Survey map. Caimin O’Brien’s record classifies it as an unlocated castle: the historical mapping establishes a documentary trace within the townland, but does not supply an identified surviving building. The reference is to the survey of 1654–57, preserved through Daniel O’Brien’s later copy of the county’s parish maps. [3]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Donaghmore. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Donaghmore, Co. Leix: Poor Law union history · Peter Higginbotham
- Raheenphelan Glebe castle, LA028-113: record uploaded 17 December 2007 · National Monuments Service, compiled by Caimin O’Brien
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.