![]() PEPPER'S LANE
Known by this name from at least 18391, the lane today
leads In 1850, there were three houses in Pepper's Lane, but just one of them was occupied (by John Russell).
In 1901, only the Connolly family was living here, succeeded a decade later by Michael Ireland, his wife Sarah and their adult children William and Annie.
Also in the house on Census Night was their grandson, four-year-old John Ireland (whose eventual son and namesake lives on the New Road today).
In those days, and well into living memory, the lane led to Meehan's farm, with a narrower one branching off towards the rear entrance
of various premises on Main Street.
An archaeological excavation here in 1996 - conducted by Portlaoise native Dominic Delany -
unearthed the remains of the mill-race channel
2.5m wide and 1.5m high, one section of which had an arched roof of stone and brick.
[For more information on the history of the mill, please see the Odlum's Mill pages of this website].
One man recounted to me how, on a summer's evening, he had entered the dry channel and made his way under
the Lower Square as far as - he estimated - Shaw's
corner where he was driven back by rats. No, it wasn't Indiana Jones.
1 A map from that year also shows an 'Old Tannery' in this immediate vicinity. 2 Portlaoise. A Historical Account. Michael Parsons. Lecture given to the Laois Heritage Society, February 20, 1980 and subsequently published in the the Society's Bulletin. 3 The Royal Irish Constabulary. A complete alphabetical list of officers and men, 1816-1922. Jim Herlihy. Four Courts Press 1999. |
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