Upper Woods


Upper Woods or Upperwoods is a barony in County Laois, Republic of Ireland.

Etymology

Upper Woods barony is named after the forests of the Slieve Bloom Mountains.

Geography

Upper Woods is located in northwest County Laois, bounded to the northwest by the Slieve Bloom Mountains.

History

Upper Woods was part of the ancient Kingdom of Ossory. Around 1150 it was ruled by the Ua Dubhsláine clan; the area was then called Tuath-an-Toraidh. A member, Daniel Dulany the Elder, born in Upperwoods, became an important figure in colonial Maryland.
It is referred to in the topographical poem Tuilleadh feasa ar Éirinn óigh :
Ard taoiseach tuaiṫe an toraiḋ
Ón Choill aoiḃinn Uachtoraiġ
Ó Duḃsláine, fial an fear
Ón tsliaḃ as áille inḃeaġ
Upper Woods was formerly a part of the Upper Ossory barony, established by 1657; in 1842 it was divided into three cantreds: Upper Woods, Clandonagh and Clarmallagh.

List of settlements

Below is a list of settlements in Upper Woods barony: