The planters of Luggacurran, County Laois

A Protestant community, 1879–1927

Leigh-Ann Coffey

In late March 1922, a group of armed men forcibly evicted two protestant farmers from their homes at Luggacurran, County Laois. The evictions marked the beginning of a month long campaign of violence targeting local protestant farmers, which was only brought to an end through the intervention of the provisional government. The events at Luggacurran are often seen as an example of the disorder and sectarian violence that characterised the Irish civil war, yet communal tensions had existed in the region for decades prior to the revolutionary period.

This study considers the experiences of the Luggacurran protestants from their arrival in the area to the creation of the Irish Free State, focusing in particular on the issues of land and religion. As this study reveals, the relationship that existed between the protestants and the rest of the community was complex, and violence that occurred at Luggacurran in the spring of 1922 was motivated by more than religious differences.