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Upper Ossory () was an administrative barony in the south and west of Queen's County (now County Laois) in Ireland. In late Gaelic Ireland it was the túath of the Mac Giolla Phádraig (Fitzpatrick) family and a surviving remnant of the once larger kingdom of Ossory. The northernmost part of the Diocese of Ossory and medieval County Kilkenny, it was transferred to the newly created Queen's County, now known as County Laois, in 1600. In the 1840s its three component , Clarmallagh, Clandonagh, and Upperwoods, were promoted to barony status, thereby superseding Upper Ossory.
In 1541, during the Tudor reconquest of Ireland, Barnaby Fitzpatrick (Brían Óg Mac Giolla Phádraig) was created 1st Baron Upper Ossory upon the surrender and regrant of his lands to and by Henry VIII, legitimating his lordship in the eyes of the Dublin Castle administration. Queen's County was created in 1556 from unshired lands northeast of Upper Ossory. In 1575, Henry Sidney, then Lord Deputy of Ireland, wrote "Upper Osserie is so well governed and defended, by the valor and wisedome of the Baron that nowe is as ... it made no matter, if the countrie were never shired, ... and yet united to some shire it shal be".Collins & Brydges 1812, p.295 Fitzpatrick preferred to be subject to the new English planters in Queen's County rather than his Ormond enemies in Kilkenny. By letters patent of 21 July 1600 Upper Ossory was formally transferred to Queen's County.Collins & Brydges 1812, p.299 An exception was made for an area around Durrow, which remained an exclave of the Kilkenny barony of Galmoy. This was at the behest of the Earl of Ormond, who was lord of the manor of Durrow, and wanted to have Fitzpatrick raiders tried at the assizes of Kilkenny, where he could ensure a conviction.
After Arthur Chichester was made Lord Deputy in 1605, the lordship of the Fitzpatricks effectively ended. A 1621 inquisition in Maryborough (now Portlaoise) ruled that the king, James I, was lord of Upper Ossory, and he proceeded to grant George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham extensive lands in the barony. As late as 1639, a statute refers to "upper Ossory, alias Mac Gil Patricks country".
The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 split the two-seat constituency of Queen's County into two single-seat constituencies, one of which was to be called "Upper Ossory division"; this was changed to "Ossory division" at the committee stage by Richard Lalor, who said "there were both an Upper and a Lower Ossory at one time, but there was no distinction between the two now". The constituency comprised not just the former Upper Ossory but also Maryborough West, Graiguenamanagh, and part of Portnahinch.
The name of the town of Borris-in-Ossory recalls its location in Upper Ossory.
| Attainder 1691, died 1696. |
| Previously Baron Gowran |
| The 2nd Irish Earl was the first and only British Baron. |
| John Wilson assumed the surname of his father, the second Earl, upon legitimation. Castletown is a village in Upperwoods, Upper Ossory. |
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