Kings County

We live in County Offaly. It is a peculiar shape. This county was not always called Offaly. It was formerly known as King’s County. King’s County was made up of five kingdoms. It was formed at the start of the plantation of 1556 because the chieftains of Offaly and Laois were fighting against England. The Queen of England, Mary, and her husband, Philip, planted them. They did a survey on the lands and then decided to call the lands after themselves. Mary called Laois 'Queens County' after herself and Philip called Offaly 'Kings County' after himself. Kings County took in five ancient Irish territories.The five kingdoms were:

1. Fáile, which was the biggest kingdom. It was ruled by the O' Connors. It was where Daingean, Geashill and Edenderry are now. The Irish for Offaly is Uibh Fháile after this kingdom. It was in the province of Leinster.
2. To the west of Fáile was Firceall. It was ruled by the O' Molloys. It was where we live now. It stretched from where Tullamore is now to about a mile from Birr. Firceall was in the province of Meath.
3. To the south of Firceall was Ely. The O'Carrolls ruled it. It was where Birr, Kinnitty and Clareen are now. It was in the province of Munster.

4. To the west of Firceall was Delvin. The McCoughlan family ruled it. It was where Banagher, Cloghan and Ferbane are now. It was in the diocese of Clonmacnois and was in the province of Connacht.
5. To the north of Firceall was a kingdom called Kilcoursey. It was the smallest kingdom and it was where Clara is now. It was the land of the Foxes in the province of Leinster.

Offaly is unusual because the kingdoms that made Offaly were in four of the five provinces. Hundreds of years ago, when people first started to speak English here, they spelt Offaly Iphaly or Affalie.