Donaghmore Famine Workhouse Museum

📍 Ballyhegadon Glebe, Laois

🏛️ Attraction

Last updated: 29 June 2026

Overview

The Donaghmore workhouse was built too late to do much good. Construction ran from 1850 to 1851, and the first inmates arrived in July 1851 as overflow the Abbeyleix and Roscrea union workhouses could no longer hold; the building only opened properly in September 1853, by which point the worst of the Great Famine was four years past. The figure you’ll hear most – that around 1,200 people, roughly 10% of the area’s population, were driven to seek relief – belongs to the Famine years of 1845 to 1849, not to this building. What survives is one of the few Irish workhouses kept largely intact, on the edge of Portlaoise in County Laois, and the reason to come is the way it’s told: through local guides rather than a wall of touchscreens.

If you only have an hour, take the guided tour rather than wandering on your own. It runs about 90 minutes across both the workhouse and the agricultural museum, and the human detail – who came here, what the rules were, how families were split at the door – is the whole point.

Inside the workhouse

The place was designed to be grim on purpose. Under the Poor Law, workhouses ran on a principle called ‘less eligibility’: conditions inside had to be worse than those of the poorest labourer outside, so that no one entered unless they had no other choice. The original layout has barely changed. The restored dormitories hold rows of wooden bunks and iron bedsteads under narrow windows that did little against a winter draught, and the kitchen still shows the kind of minimal rations the system allowed.

A copy of the book Purgatory of Misery is kept on site, and it’s worth twenty minutes if you want the documented detail behind what the rooms only suggest.

From workhouse to creamery

The building stopped being a workhouse in September 1886, and its second life is half the interest. It served as a British Army barracks in the early 1920s, then in 1927 became the home of the Donaghmore Co-Operative Society creamery, later absorbed into Glanbia. That creamery era is what the agricultural side of the museum grew out of when it opened to the public in 1999. The site is owned by Laois County Council and run by the Donaghmore Famine Workhouse and Agricultural Museum CLG.

The agricultural museum

Housed in the same complex, the agricultural collection is built almost entirely from tools and machinery donated by local families: butter-making equipment, horse-drawn implements, household items and farm gear running up to the 1960s. It’s a deliberate contrast – from the institutional poverty of the workhouse to the working rural life that came after – and on a wet afternoon it’s the part children tend to linger in.

Visiting

  • Allow 1–1.5 hours for both buildings; the guided tour covers them together in about 90 minutes.
  • Audio guides are available for a small extra charge if you’d rather go at your own pace.
  • School and group visits can be arranged outside regular hours by appointment, with interactive, curriculum-linked tours for school groups.
  • Accessibility: there’s level access to the main exhibition areas, with accessible parking and toilets and assistance dogs welcome, but some of the historic upper rooms are reached by stairs only. Quiet spaces or a tailored tour can be requested in advance.

One thing to check before you set out: the weekend and bank-holiday hours are seasonal. The museum is open Monday to Friday, 11am to 5pm, all year, but on Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays it only opens (2pm to 5pm) from June through September – it’s closed on those days in winter. Last admission is half an hour before closing, and at weekends it’s worth phoning ahead.

Getting there

The museum is signposted off the M7 (Junction 15) and the N80, a short drive from Portlaoise town centre, and there’s free on-site parking with accessible spaces and room for coaches and minibuses near the entrance. By public transport, the nearest train station is Ballybrophy – about a 40-minute walk, or a few minutes by car – and TFI Local Link Route 831 serves the area with connections to nearby towns.

If you’re building a day around it, the workhouse sits well alongside:

Practical information

Opening hours Monday–Friday: 11am–5pm, all year. Saturday, Sunday and bank holidays: 2pm–5pm, June to September only (closed those days in winter). Last admission 30 minutes before closing.

Admission

  • Adult: €5
  • Family (up to 4): €10
  • Seniors / Students: €3
  • Groups (10+): €4

Contact

Prices and hours change – check the website before travelling, especially for a weekend visit.