Tour of St. Peter's Church Portlaoise

Built in the late-eighteenth century to the design of James Gandon, architect.

Renowned stained glass makers, Mayer & Company & Alfred Ernest Child work completed in 1880 & 1938. One window dedicated to the memory of Horace Turpin founder of Maryborough Gas Company in 1854.

Beautifully carved eagle lectern was given in memory of the Revd E L Eves (1903).

Organ installed by Bevington & sons, London and has a relatively rare Vox Humana stop.

Church also holds World War 1 memorial volumes which contain the names and details of soldiers killed. There were only 100 such volumes printed.

Plaque on the south wall of the upper level commemorates Revd Thomas Mosse. Revd Mosse married Mary Boyle, grand-daughter of Richard Boyle, Earl of Limerick.

Revd Thomas Mosse's son, Bartholomew Mosse was the founder of the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin. It was the first maternity hospital in Britain or Ireland and has been providing care for expectant mothers since 1745.

The Jacob family whom were renowned in the medical field rest here. Dr John Jacob founded the County Infirmary, while Dr Arthur Jacob discovered the membrane of the eye, afterwards called ‘Mebrana Jacobi’.

Henry William Talbot also rests in St Peter’s. He established the first newspaper in this part of the country. There is also a memorial to his son Marcus Talbot who was a member of the Canadian parliament who drowned when the steamship ‘Hungaria’ sank off Cape Sable Nova Scotia in 1860.

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