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RAHEEN

CO. LAOIS · IE

Raheen
An Ráithín, Co. Laois

The Ireland's Ancient East
STOP 06 / 06

An Ráithín · Co. Laois

An Ráithín, the little ringfort. A church, a graveyard, a GAA pitch and a famine-era story about a pit where Mass was said. South of Portlaoise, north of Abbeyleix, off the main road.

Raheen is a parish more than it is a village. The centre of it is St Fintan's church and the graveyard beside it; around that there is a primary school, a GAA pitch, and the kind of road-junction scatter of houses that the midlands does by the hundred. It sits south of Portlaoise and north of Abbeyleix, off the main run, in flat green farming country.

The history here is church history and famine history, which in this part of Laois are the same thing. A thatched chapel was put up in 1729 on ground granted, the story goes, by a Protestant landlord named Baldwin who had watched poor Catholics gather for Mass in a deep pit in the field. The pit kept its name. The present St Fintan's, a plain Gothic Revival church of 1857 with a tower and porches added around 1880, replaced that chapel, and the old graveyard marks where it stood.

The one event that put Raheen in the history books happened just up the road at Colt Wood. On the night of 23 April 1916, the Saturday before the Rising broke in Dublin, local Volunteers tore up a stretch of the Waterford-to-Dublin railway line to disrupt any movement of troops up from Rosslare. The train that came along was derailed. A monument was raised near the spot in 1996.

Come to Raheen because you are passing between Portlaoise and Abbeyleix and want to see what the country looks like off the bypass - a church, a graveyard with a story in it, fields. There is no pub in the village, no shop to speak of, nothing laid on for visitors. That is the honest measure of the place, and for some travellers it is exactly the right size.

Population

a few hundred in the parish; the village itself is a church, a school and a scatter of houses

Founded

Chapel parish from 1729; current St Fintan's church 1857

Coords

52.9653° N, 7.3697° W

01 / 06

At a glance.

Three things every local will eventually mention. Read these and you've already understood more than most day-trippers do.

01 The name

An Ráithín - the little ringfort.

Like a thousand townlands across the midlands, Raheen is named for the earthwork that came before it. The ráth is long gone under the fields, but the name kept it. The village proper is small - a church, a graveyard, a primary school and the houses around them.

The letter → 02 The Mass Pit

A chapel granted in 1729 by a Protestant landlord who saw the poor at Mass in a pit.

The story goes that a Mr Baldwin saw Catholics gathered for Mass in a deep hollow and gave ground for a thatched chapel. The hollow is still called the Mass Pit. The graveyard by St Fintan's marks where that first chapel stood.

Stories & lore → 03 The rising

Colt Wood, 23 April 1916 - the night before the Rising, the line came up.

Laois Volunteers tore up a section of the Waterford-Dublin railway at Colt Wood near here on Easter Saturday, derailing a train. A monument went up near the spot in 1996. One of the few places in the midlands where 1916 left a physical mark.

Stories & lore →

02 / 06

Stories & lore.

The reason to come back. The things every local will eventually tell you about, usually after the second pint.

A chapel granted in 1729

The Mass Pit

Before Catholic Emancipation, Mass in penal-era Ireland was said where it could be said - in fields, at rocks, in hollows out of sight. The Raheen story is that a Protestant landowner named Baldwin came upon a crowd of poor Catholics at Mass in a deep pit in his ground and, moved by the sight, granted land for a proper thatched chapel in 1729. The hollow has been called the Mass Pit ever since. The chapel itself is long gone, but the graveyard beside the present church marks where it stood. It is a small, plain piece of penal-era memory, told without monuments, kept alive in the name of a field.

Gothic Revival, plain and parish-sized

St Fintan's, 1857

The church that replaced the old thatched chapel is St Fintan's, a detached Gothic Revival Catholic church dated 1857 and built over the years that followed. Around 1880 it gained a tower and the projecting porches you see now; the interior was remodelled again around 1980. It is on the national record of protected structures as a building of regional architectural, artistic and social interest. It is not a cathedral and does not pretend to be - it is a working country parish church, the kind that anchors a midlands townland, and it is dedicated to St Fintan, a name that recurs all across this corner of Laois.

The line came up the night before the Rising

Colt Wood, Easter 1916

On the night of Saturday 23 April 1916, the day before the Rising began in Dublin, Volunteers from the Laois (Queen's County) brigade went out to Colt Wood, between Portlaoise and Abbeyleix near Raheen, and tore up a section of the Waterford-to-Dublin railway. The aim was to cut the line so that British troops landing at Rosslare Harbour could not be moved quickly up to the capital. A train ran onto the broken track and was derailed onto its side. It was one of the very few actions of Easter Week outside Dublin, and one of the first. A monument to the men who did it was erected near Colt Wood in 1996.

03 / 06

Things to do outside.

Wear waterproofs. Bring a sandwich. Tell someone where you're going if it's the mountain.

St Fintan's church and graveyard Not a walk so much as a slow look. The 1857 church, the old graveyard beside it that marks the site of the 1729 chapel, and the quiet ground around. This is the centre of Raheen and most of what there is to see.

A few hundred metresdistance

20-30 minutestime

Lanes toward Abbeyleix Back roads south to the Heritage Town of Abbeyleix. Flat, slow, hedge-lined, the ordinary green midlands. Walk it for the country, not for sights.

6 km one waydistance

1.5 hourstime

04 / 06

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar-May

The fields green up and the lanes are at their best. Lambs in the hedgerows.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun-Aug

Long bright evenings over flat farming country. Quiet.

◉ Go

Autumn

Sep-Oct

Honest low light, the fields turning. A good time for the graveyard and the lanes.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov-Feb

Short days, wet ground, muddy verges. There is no shelter laid on here, so pick your day.

◐ Mind yourself

05 / 06

What to skip.

Honestly? Don't bother.

If a local was sitting beside you, this is the bit where they'd lean in.

Expecting a village centre with pubs and shops

There is no pub in Raheen village and nothing in the way of a high street. It is a church, a school, a GAA pitch and houses. For a pint, a meal or a bed, Abbeyleix to the south or Portlaoise to the north is where you go.

Hunting for the ringfort

The ráth that gave Raheen its name is long gone under the fields. The name is the only thing left of it. Do not spend the afternoon looking for an earthwork to photograph - there is nothing to find.

Getting there.

By car

Off the road between Portlaoise and Abbeyleix in south-central Laois. From Portlaoise head south; from Abbeyleix head north about 6 km. Easiest reached by car - the lanes are signposted locally rather than off the motorway.

By bus

No direct village service to rely on. Bus Éireann and Local Link routes serve Portlaoise and Abbeyleix; check timetables, as rural stops are limited.

By train

Nearest station is Portlaoise on the Dublin Heuston to Cork main line, frequent services to Dublin in around an hour. From there it is a short drive or taxi to Raheen.