Abbeyleix Heritage Company was formed in 1993 with the aim of preserving the unique history of the planned estate town of Abbeyleix. With this in mind it was determined that a heritage center should be established and the old North or Boys School was identified as a suitable location. This building had been used as school for more than a century but had then been abandoned following the the merger of the North School and Convent Primary School to form Scoil Muire, a new co-educational national school. Heritage House was officially opened on 17 May 1997 by Enda Kenny TD, Minister for Tourism at the time and current Taoiseach.

Heritage House offers a wide range of facilities and services to tourists, groups and members of the public.

These range from rental of meeting rooms, group tours, genealogy services, a research room and reference library, to a playground and picnic area

Kids Camps

Abbeyleix Heritage offers a range of themed Kids Camps through out the year. The themes are chosen to reflect the calendar and the history of the area, they include the award winning Kids Shipwreck Dig Workshop, that won the national Children’s Event award from the Heritage Council for Heritage Week 2013, Brigid’s Cross Workshops, Viking, Celtic and Medieval Shield Making, Illuminated Manuscript Making and costume making.
These camps are held regularly though out the year and can be organised and tailored especially for visiting groups. Follow us on Facebook or Twitter, or check out our News & Events section of our website for news of upcoming camps. If you would like to have a workshop or camp organised for your group contact us for more information.

Meeting Room

The Mulhall Community Room is available for booking on an hourly, daily and half daily basis. It is equipped with Audio Video facilities and has been used for meeting, conferences, training and many other purposes. Contact us for more information or to view the facilities. Discounts are available for voluntary and charitable groups.

Playground

We have a beautiful wooden playground on our property. It includes a toddler area with sand pit, multi-play area and basket swings. The area for older children includes a climbing frame, zip line, swings, slide and carousel. Picnic benches are also available in the playground

Research Room

 We have a Research Room that offers the opportunity to study the history of Abbeyleix and Co Laois, as well as local businesses including Abbeyleix Carpet Factory and Morrissey’s Pub. Our archive collection includes a reference library and a large number of primary source documents, including shop and undertakers ledgers, school roll books and maps.

Group Tours

 Abbeyleix Heritage welcomes all groups, large and small, to Heritage House, the Sexton’s House and the town of Abbeyleix.
We can give customised tours of our centre, concentrating on any historic periods or events required and of our second property, the Sexton’s House. We can also give tours of the historic planned estate town of Abbeyleix, showing the important buildings and telling stories of days gone by.