Editing Portlaoise (section)

==History==
[[File:World War 1 memorial monument, Portlaoise.jpg|left|thumb|World War 1 memorial monument]]
The site of the present town is referred to in the ''[[Annals of the Four Masters]]'', written in the 1630s, as ''Port Laoighisi''. The present town originated as a settlement around the old fort, "Fort of Leix" or "Fort Protector", the remains of which can still be seen in the town centre. Its construction began in 1548 under the supervision of the then Lord Deputy Sir Edward Bellingham, in an attempt to secure English control of the county following the exile of Celtic chieftains the previous year. The fort's location on rising ground, surrounded to the south and east by the natural defensive barricades of the [[River Triogue]] and an [[esker]] known locally as 'the Ridge', greatly added to its strategic importance.

The town proper was established by an Act of Parliament during the reign of [[Mary I of England|Queen Mary]] in 1557. Though the early fort and its surrounding settlement had been known by a number of names, such as Governor, Port Laois, Campa and Fort Protector, the new town was named '''Maryborough''' (IPA [ˈmarbrə]) and the county was named Queen's County in Mary's honour. In about 1556, Portlaoise acquired its first parish church—Old St Peter's—situated to the west of Fort Protector. Although first built as a Catholic church, due to Queen Mary's re-establishment of Roman Catholicism, the church was used for Protestant services after the accession to the English throne of Mary's half-sister, [[Elizabeth I of England|Elizabeth]].

The area had been a focus of the rebellion of [[Rory O'More|Ruairí Óg Ó Mórdha]], a local chieftain who had rebelled and had lost his lands, which the Crown wanted to be settled by reliable landowners. For the next fifty or so years, the new English settlers in Maryborough fought a continual, low-scale war with the Gaelic chieftains who fought against the new settlement. The town had been burnt several times by the end of the 16th century.

[[File:Maryborough 1839 Ordnance Survey Map.png|thumb|Ordnance Survey Map, 1839, showing Maryborough]]
Maryborough was granted a market in 1567, and then in 1570, a charter of [[Elizabeth I of England|Queen Elizabeth I]] raised the town to the rank of [[borough]]. This allowed the establishment of a Corporation of the Borough, a body which consisted of a burgomaster, two bailiffs, a town clerk, and a sergeant at arms, as well as various other officers, burgesses and freemen. The [[Maryborough (Parliament of Ireland constituency)|Maryborough Division]] was represented by two members in the [[Parliament of Ireland|Irish Parliament]] until 1800. The [[Act of Union 1800|Act of Union]] ended this franchise, and it became part of the electorate of [[Queen's County (UK Parliament constituency)|Queen's County]] until 1922. The town's Corporation itself existed until 1830.

In 1803–04, a new [[Church of Ireland]] church was built to replace the Old St Peter's; it was the first building to be erected on the new Market Square. The building is attributed to architect [[James Gandon]]. Other notable buildings constructed in Maryborough in the 19th century included the Court House on Main Street, built in 1805; the County Gaol built in 1830 to a design by [[William Deane Butler]]; and the neo-classical [[St. Fintan's Hospital]], built in 1833 on the Dublin Road.

The city of [[Maryborough, Victoria]] in [[Australia]] was named in the 1850s after his birthplace by James Daly, a gold commissioner,

In 1929, a few years after the foundation of the [[Irish Free State]], the town was renamed ''Portlaoighise'' (later simplified to ''Port Laoise''), and the county was renamed County Laois.<ref>[http://logainm.ie/131233.aspx Port Laoise] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717190214/http://logainm.ie/131233.aspx |date=17 July 2011 }}, Placenames Database of Ireland.</ref>