Durrow (Irish: Darú,[2] formerly Darmhagh Ua nDuach) is a village located in south-east County Laois, Ireland.

The village takes its name from the Irish Darmhagh Ua nDuach (meaning 'the oak plain [in the territory] of Ui Duach').

Evidence from the Archaeological Survey carried out by the Office of Public Works in 1995 suggests that this area has been visited, if not inhabited, since as early as the Bronze Age.

The ring forts and other enclosures that dot the landscape point to a more permanent, if dispersed, settlement of the land by the Celts (500BC–500AD).

While the monastery founded by St. Fintan on the banks of the Erkina is perhaps the best renowned, documented evidence exists for other such establishments at Dunmore, Clonageera, Dereen, the Course wood, Tinweir, Ballinaslee, Tubberboe and Newtown.

The coming of the Normans in the 12th century sounded the death knell for many of these early Christian settlements and the lands were subsumed (despite heated objections from the Earls Marshall, who wanted it for themselves) into the Manor of Durrow, an Episcopal Manor for the Bishops of Ossory.

It was under the patronage of Flower and his descendants, the Lords Ashbrook, that the present town developed and prospered.

Also, a Met Éireann climate station (472) was installed in 2010 and the observations are sent to Dublin on a monthly basis.

[citation needed] Bus Éireann's Expressway and Aircoach service between Dublin and Cork ceased to serve Durrow in June 2012.