County Kildare, 'Contae Chill Dara' was named after the town of Kildare, 'Cill Dara' and assumed its present borders in 1832. County Laois "Contae Laoise" was formerly known as Queen's County until the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. Both counties contain some fine Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age monuments, as well as some early Christian monasteries.