placenamesRosenallis
Ros Fhionnghlaise
A Slieve Bloom village with an early Quaker association and a church built in successive stages.
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
- Ros Fhionnghlaise · Irish · main form · validated name
- Rosenallis · English · main form
Place & story
A village beneath the Slieve Bloom
Lewis’s 1837 survey places Rosenallis on the road towards Clonaslee and Birr, within a parish extending onto the northeastern Slieve Bloom slopes. The village had a constabulary station, two schools and a Friends’ burial ground. The surrounding district supplied sandstone for hearths, chimney pieces and paving, while farming used lime to improve the soil. His population total included much of Mountmellick and belongs to the parish rather than the village alone. [2]
William Edmundson at Tinneal
William Edmundson settled near Rosenallis in 1659 after earlier homes in Antrim and Cavan. His farm at Tinneal became his lasting base, even as his Quaker ministry took him around Ireland and across the Atlantic. He and George Fox helped organise the Irish meetings in 1668–69. Imprisonment over religious disputes, including the refusal to pay tithes, interrupted his work, but he remained associated with Rosenallis until his death in 1712. [3]
The Church of Ireland church
The Church of Ireland building now recorded by the architectural inventory as Saint Brigid’s, formerly Saint Mary’s, developed in stages. Its original gable-fronted church dates from about 1795. A chancel was added during renovations in 1830, followed by a tower and side aisle around 1865. Further renovation took place about 1980. These successive campaigns explain why the surviving building represents several periods of parish investment rather than a single construction date. [4]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Laois
- Barony
- Tinnahinch
- Civil parish
- Rosenallis
- Within
- Avoley
- Coordinates
- 53.13072, -7.55175 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 1413862 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Rosenallis. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Rosenallis, A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland,1837 · Samuel Lewis
- William Edmundson · Quakers in the World
- Saint Brigid’s Church, Rosenallis, NIAH12900102 · National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.