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Daingean (; or Daingean Ua bhFáilghe), formerly Philipstown, named after King Philip II of Spain (then King of Ireland by jure uxoris), is a small town in east County Offaly, Ireland. It is situated midway between the towns of Tullamore and Edenderry on the R402 regional road. The town of Daingean had a population, as of the 2022 census, of 1,223. It is the principal town of the Daingean Catholic Parish. www.catholicireland.net The other main poles of this parish are Ballycommon, Kilclonfert, and Cappincur.
The town was once the seat of the O'Connor clan, who were chieftains of the surrounding area of Offaly. Its current name of Daingean, from Daingean Ua bhFáilghe, means fortress of the Uí Fáilghe clan, a name that it derived from the medieval island fortress of O'Connor Faly. In 1883, Tullamore replaced Daingean as the focal point of the county, being on a railway line. As a result, Philipstown was demoted from county town to village and as a result lost most of its political status. With the foundation of the Irish Free State in 1922, the village was renamed Daingean, at the same time as County Offaly replaced the old style of King's County.Title deeds to land still show the name "King's County" in 2019.
In the 1850s, Philipstown Gaol was used to detain people who were convicted and sentenced to transportation to Australia while they waited for a ship to transport them. Many of them died in the jail after spending several years waiting to be transported.
Public buildings in Daingean include the courthouse, whose design is locally attributed to James Gandon, and a Reformatory, known as St Conleth's Reformatory. The remnants of a military barracks (known as the footbarrack) gives its name to the bridge leading out of the town towards Tullamore - the footbarrack bridge. There are the remnants of a Church of Ireland (Anglican) church and a functioning Roman Catholic church. A number of these buildings are no longer used for their original function. The courthouse, for example, has functioned as a town hall, dance hall and bingo hall, having been renovated in the 1980s.
A bog body, given the name Old Croghan Man, was found near Daingean in 2004 and featured on the BBC Two Timewatch programme in January 2006.
A book called From the Quiet Annals of Daingean was written and published by John Kearney of Daingean in December 2006. www.connorsgenealogy.com - Ireland Parish History Books (recovered 5 January 2008)
While there is a local farming economy, many of the people from Daingean work in Tullamore or commute further afield. Daingean is surrounded by the Bog of Allen and Bord Na Mona (BnM) remains a local employer, however the number employed is much reduced from the heyday when local people made a living working at the briquette factory and on the bog. The ESB power station at nearby Rhode was also a significant employer before its closure. Even in the period of high unemployment in the 1980s, the ESB and BnM trained local men in their apprenticeship programmes.
Publican Matt Farrell was murdered in the town on 1 April 2009. A €10,000 reward was offered for information when the crime had not been solved several months later.
Daingean is served by a Bus Éireann commuter bus service through route 120.
The nearest railway station is Tullamore railway station, approximately or 15 to 20 minutes away.
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