Geashill

The name Geashill is an anglicisation of the Irish name Géisill. Older anglicisations include Geashil, Geshill, Geshell, Geisshell and Gessill.

An ancient place named Brí Dam was situated in or near Geashill;{{cite book | last = Hogan | first = E. | title = Onomasticon Goedelicum Locorum et tribuum Hiberniae et Scotiae: An Index, with Identifications, to the Gaelic Names of Places and Tribes. Dublin - London | date = 1910 | chapter = s.v. Brí Dam}} it had its sacred tree ({{langx|sga|bile Brí Daim}}) that was mentioned in Lives of Saint Patrick. In 600 AD, Brí Dam was the place of death of king of Uisnech (according to some sources - King of Ireland) Suibne mac Colmáin, who was killed near an unidentified stream.

An Anglo-Norman settlement was built here between 1185 and 1204 by the first Lord of Offaly, Gerald Fitzmaurice Fitzgerald, an ancestor of the Earls of Kildare. Originally of motte-and-bailey design, it was a timber castle on an earthen mound, nearby were located the church and tenant dwellings. In the 15th century the wooded fortress was replaced by a stone tower house. Today, only the west wall of the castle remains.

In 1598, Lettice Digby, 1st Baroness Offaly, daughter and heir of Gerald, the Lord Offaly of the time, married a Robert Digby of Coleshill, Warwickshire, England, who was a brother of John Digby, 1st Earl of Bristol and whose son was created Robert Digby, 1st Baron Digby, of Geashill in the King's County, in 1620.{{fact|date=November 2024}}

File:Geashill, County Offaly (2) - geograph.ie - 1827184.jpg

The Digbys developed Geashill as a planned estate village. Samuel Lewis, writing in 1837, described the village as containing 87 mostly thatched houses arranged around a triangular green.{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://www.libraryireland.com/topog/G/Geashill-Geashill-Kings.php |title= Topographical Dictionary of Ireland | chapter = Geashill | last = Lewis | first = Samuel | date = 1837 |via=libraryireland.com}} Fairs were held on 1 May, 6 October and December, the latter being one of the largest pig markets in Ireland. Consisting of over {{convert|34000|acre|km2}}, the Digby estate was the largest in County Offaly.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}}

Edward Digby, the 9th Baron Digby, came into the estate in 1856, but had no money to keep it. Consequently, he evicted a large number of families from their lands. A local priest, Father Patrick Dunne, arranged for 400 people to be taken to Australia on a ship named the Erin-go-Bragh, which took a record 25 weeks to reach Moreton Bay; 51 passengers died en route.{{cite journal|last=Boland|first=Thomas Patrick|title="The Queensland Immigration Society" : a notable experiment in Irish settlement|journal=Journal of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland|date=1964|volume=7|issue=2|pages=317–18|url=http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/eserv/UQ:212719/s00855804_1963_1964_7_2_307.pdf|accessdate=22 May 2014}} Following the evictions, Lord Digby carried out extensive improvements in the 1860s and 1870s and many of the current buildings around the triangular green date from this time. The Kings County Directory recorded that Digby had "converted the village of Geashill into what it now is, one of the neatest, cleanest and best kept in Ireland".{{Cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071117033620/http://www.irishmidlandsancestry.com/content/offaly/community/kings-quinnsland.htm| url = http://www.irishmidlandsancestry.com/content/offaly/community/kings-quinnsland.htm |title=From King's County to Quinnsland - Ancestral Research, Family History, Laois, Offaly, Genealogy|archive-date=17 November 2007|url-status=usurped|website=irishmidlandsancestry.com}}

At the Paris Exhibition of 1867, Lord Digby was awarded the bronze medal for models of the village he was building. He was awarded the gold medal for three years by the Royal Agricultural Society, for improving the greatest number of cottages in the best manner in the province of Leinster. The Digbys built a house called Geashill Castle near the medieval tower house, but this was burnt down during the Civil War in 1922.{{Cite web|title=List by Places|url=http://www.r-alston.co.uk/ch_ire.htm |access-date=2021-08-04|website=r-alston.co.uk| archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20080627013908/http://www.r-alston.co.uk/ch_ire.htm | archivedate = 27 June 2008 }}

Geashill railway station opened on 2 October 1854, was closed for passenger traffic on 17 June 1963 and finally closed altogether on 30 August 1982.{{cite web | title=Geashill station | work=Railscot - Irish Railways | url=http://www.railscot.co.uk/Ireland/Irish_railways.pdf | accessdate=2007-10-14}}

There are several buses each day to Tullamore and Portarlington, and other local places.{{cite web |title=829 - Laois Shopping Centre - Tullamore Hospital |url=https://bustimes.org/services/829-laois-shopping-centre-tullamore-hospital |website=bustimes.org |access-date=23 April 2024}}

The local Gaelic Athletic Association club, Raheen GAA,{{cite web|url = https://www.offalyexpress.ie/news/sport/376549/offaly-gaa-club-makes-presentation-to-longtime-sponsors.html | publisher = Iconic Media | website = offalyexpress.ie | title = Offaly GAA club makes presentation to longtime sponsors | date = 17 April 2019 | accessdate = 8 August 2021 }} won the Offaly Intermediate Football Championship in 1981 and 2014.{{cite web|url = https://offaly.gaa.ie/roll-of-honour/ | website = offaly.gaa.ie | publisher = Offaly GAA | title = Roll of Honour - Offaly Intermediate Football Championship Roll of Honour | accessdate = 8 August 2021 }}

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{{County Offaly}}

Category:Towns and villages in County Offaly

Category:Townlands of County Offaly

Category:Civil parishes of County Offaly