# Porsoon, Co. Clare: townland, land parcels and planning

Townland in the civil parish of Kilshanny, barony of Corcomroe, Co. Clare.

- Area (Tailte Éireann): 264,640 m² (26.46 ha, 65.39 acres)
- Land parcels (Tailte Éireann): 12 registered freehold parcels lie mostly in it, median 8,303 m² (0.83 ha, 2.05 acres)
- Zoning (national zoning, MyPlan): not in a zoned settlement
- Planning (National Planning Applications): 0 applications since 2010
- Civil parish: Kilshanny, https://everytownland.com/clare/parish/kilshanny.md
- Barony: Corcomroe
- Electoral division: Smithstown, the unit of the census
- Census 2022 (Central Statistics Office): 161 people lived in 60 households in the Smithstown electoral division. 84% of households owned their home. 33% of homes were built since 2001. 18% of dwellings stood vacant on census night, and 5% were holiday homes.
- County: Co. Clare, https://everytownland.com/clare.md
- Placenames Database of Ireland: https://www.logainm.ie/en/6870
- Townland number at Tailte Éireann: 31977
- Centre: latitude 52.978438, longitude -9.279611 (WGS 84)

## Land parcels (registered freehold land, Tailte Éireann)

12 registered freehold parcels lie mostly in Porsoon, from 570 m² to 87,297 m² (8.73 ha, 21.57 acres); 14 neighbouring parcels touch its boundary. Largest first:

- Parcel 5365983: 87,297 m² (8.73 ha, 21.57 acres), https://everytownland.com/parcel/5365983.md
- Parcel 1497463: 65,494 m² (6.55 ha, 16.18 acres), https://everytownland.com/parcel/1497463.md
- Parcel 1441836: 41,911 m² (4.19 ha, 10.36 acres), https://everytownland.com/parcel/1441836.md
- Parcel 1446423: 30,907 m² (3.09 ha, 7.64 acres), https://everytownland.com/parcel/1446423.md
- Parcel 4166418: 15,557 m² (1.56 ha, 3.84 acres), https://everytownland.com/parcel/4166418.md
- Parcel 5365967: 13,473 m² (1.35 ha, 3.33 acres), https://everytownland.com/parcel/5365967.md
- Parcel 4873948: 3,132 m² (0.31 ha, 0.77 acres), https://everytownland.com/parcel/4873948.md
- Parcel 4166415: 2,438 m² (0.24 ha, 0.6 acres), https://everytownland.com/parcel/4166415.md
- Parcel 5270097: 1,774 m², https://everytownland.com/parcel/5270097.md
- Parcel 4873952: 1,394 m², https://everytownland.com/parcel/4873952.md
- Parcel 1490728: 1,325 m², https://everytownland.com/parcel/1490728.md
- Parcel 1485928: 570 m², https://everytownland.com/parcel/1485928.md

## Zoning (national zoning of development plans, MyPlan)

No zone of a development plan covers Porsoon in the national zoning. Outside zoned towns and villages, the county development plan's rural policies apply to each application.

## Planning applications whose site touches the townland (National Planning Applications, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage)

No planning application touches the townland of Porsoon in the national file, which goes back to 2010.

## Designated sites (National Parks and Wildlife Service)

No designated site (Special Area of Conservation, Special Protection Area, Natural Heritage Area or proposed one) touches the townland of Porsoon.

## Recorded monuments (Sites and Monuments Record, National Monuments Service)

- CL015-027001: Religious house - Augustinian canons, https://heritagedata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=0c9eb9575b544081b0d296436d8f60f8&query=18a4b61b268-layer-9%2CSMRS%2CCL015-027001-. On a low but prominent rise in rolling pasture and marshy scrub, within a graveyard (CL015-027002-). Indicated and named ‘Kilshanny Church (in ruins)’ on the 1840 and 1916 OS 6-inch maps. A church is said to have been founded in Kilshanny by the 7th-century St Cuana, who Westropp (1900, 280) suggests can be identified with Mochonna of Feakle and Kilquane. While early scholars (Frost 1893, 109; Westropp 1900-1902, 136) asserted that it was a daughterhouse of the Cistercian abbey of Corcomroe, Mac Mahon (1990, 28) has established that the connection with the Cistercians is spurious and that the site is an Augustinian foundation. He traces its connection to the Augustinians with a grant of land in 1189 by King Donal Mór O’Brien to the Augustinian canons at Clareabbey (ibid.). Kilshanny was dedicated to Our Lady and St. Augustine (Mac Mahon 1993). In 1273 the abbot of Kilshanny, Florence O’Tighearnaigh, became Bishop of Kilfenora (Gwynne and Hadcock 1970, 184; Swinfen 1992, 82). The church is listed in the Ecclesiastical Taxation lists 1302-7 (Mac Mahon 2018), where it was valued at 26s 8d. At the dissolution of the monasteries Kilshanny was granted to Murrough O’Brien, first Earl of Thomond (Mac Mahon 1990, 29) and the site remained within various branches throughout the 17th and 18th centuries (ibid.). In 1621 Dermot O’Brien, 5th baron Inchiquin, made a grant to ‘Honora Ni Brien alias Wingfield’ of Smithstown of ‘the abbey and cloister of Kilshanny, with the old ruinous walls sometimes called the abbot’s house and the precincts and circuit of the abbey’ (Ainsworth 1961, 329-30), indicating the presence of additional buildings at the site up until at least the early 17th century. A rectangular church (int. dims. 23.05m ESE-WNW; 6.3m NNE-SSW) built of randomly coursed and mortared limestone rubble with stressed quoins. The walls (T 0.80m) survive to their original height (side-walls est. H 4.5m; gables est. H 7m). There are two doorways in the N wall and a third in the W wall. The W doorway in the N wall (Wth 1.14-1.2m; H 2.25m) has a W cut-stone jamb with a bar-hole slot. The remainder of the doorway is built from undressed limestone rubble and it is headed with a roughly built round arch. The E doorway in the N wall (H 1.72m; Wth 0.8m) has a cut-stone round-headed arch and is set within an internal cut-stone round-headed embrasure (H 2.25m; int. Wth 1.59m). Corbels in the door jambs suggest the former presence of tympanum and bar-slot is present in the W door jamb. The doorway in the W gable has a pointed cut-stone arch (ext. H 1.74m; ext. Wth 1.02m; int. H 1.94m; ext. Wth 1.2m) with chamfered jambs, bar-slots, and a hanging eye above the W jamb. It is set within a flat-arched embrasure. The E gable contains a nearly centrally placed three-light switch-line tracery window with an external hood moulding, repaired mullions and a broken sill. There are two windows in the S wall. Toward the E end of the S wall is a triple-light ogee-headed window with a square hood-moulding set within a round-headed window embrasure (Wth 1.5m; H 2.5m). The mullions are missing and only two spandrels remain in-situ. The embrasure is partly blocked by stone rubble on the interior. In the centre of the S wall a small single-light lancet window is set within a deep widely spaced embrasure (Wth 0.74m; H 1.85m) and is partly ivy covered. A fourth window found centrally placed at first-floor level in the W wall has a round-headed single-light with an ogee-headed exterior with decorated spandrels. In the N wall, E of the E door is a wide shallow arched recess (Wth 2.6m; max. H 1.65m) of undressed limestone blocks containing an early 18th-century Thynne family chest tomb (Wth 2.6m; H 0.75m) (Westropp 1897, 397). The remains of a stone altar are present beneath the E window. In the S corner of the E wall is a round-arched aumbry (Wth 0.8m; H 1.65m) with a chamfered cut-stone surround. A second rectangular aumbry (Wth 0.35m; H 0.4m) is found at ground level at the E end of the S wall. Indefinite traces of the cloister are visible to the exterior near the NE doorway and McMahon (2018, 29) reported that wall footings are frequently encountered in the area during grave digging. In 1900 Westropp reported ‘the graveyard is full of shafts, portions of window-heads, &c., apparently more numerous that would be needed to complete the windows of the church’ (281), suggesting architectural fragments from the cloister and other monastic buildings. The interior of the church is clear of excess growth and filled with ledger slabs and headstones. St Augustine’s Well (CL015-028----) is c. 170m to the NE. The following images have been uploaded: CL015-027001-_01.jpg Aerial photograph of church and graveyard CL015-027001-_02.jpg External view of E gable and N wall of church CL015-027001-_03.jpg NW doorway - exterior CL015-027001-_04.jpg NE doorway - exterior CL015-027001-_05.jpg W door - exterior CL015-027001-_06.jpg E gable - exterior CL015-027001-_07.jpg SE window - exterior CL015-027001-_08.jpg SW window - exterior CL015-027001-_09.jpg SW window - interior CL015-027001-_10.jpg W window - exterior CL015-027001-_11.jpg Tomb niche and NE doorway CL015-027001-_12.jpg E gable - interior CL015-027001-_13.jpg Aumbrys in E and S walls CL015-027001-_14.jpg W gable -interior Compiled by: Mary Tunney and Eve Campbell Date of upload: 28 June 2023 References: Westropp, T.J. 1897 Inscriptions earlier than 1800 in the churches of north-western Clare. Journal of the Association for the Preservation of the Memorials of the Dead 3 (3), 395-401. Westropp, T.J 1900 Excursion of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, summer meeting, 1900. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland (Fifth Series), 10 (3), 273-306. Ainsworth, J. 1961 The Inchiquin Manuscripts. Dublin. The Stationary Office. MacMahon, M. 1990 Along the Deeley River: Kilshanny and its neighbourhood. The Other Clare, 14, 27-30. MacMahon, M. 1993 The charter of Clare Abbey and the Augustinian 'province' in Co. Clare. The Other Clare 17, 21-28. MacMahon, M. 2018 Kilfenora (Feneborensis): a diocese apart. The Other Clare, 42, 5-16.
- CL015-027002: Graveyard, https://heritagedata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=0c9eb9575b544081b0d296436d8f60f8&query=18a4b61b268-layer-9%2CSMRS%2CCL015-027002-. On a low rise in rolling pasture and marshy scrub. Indicated on the 1840 and 1916 eds. OS 6-inch maps. A five-sided graveyard (29m N-S; 79m E-W) surrounding a medieval church (CL015-027001-), entered by a gate and stile at E. The enclosing stone wall is drystone-built (H 1.25-1.6m; T at base 1m) and partially covered in ivy. The graves within the enclosure are concentrated to the NE corner and S of the church and comprise plain unmarked uprights, family vaults, iron crosses and plain 20th century graveslabs. Several piles of rubble containing architectural fragments are present within the graveyard. The graveyard was expanded to the north in the 1990s and is still in use. St Augustine’s Well (CL015-028----) is c. 170m to the NE. Compiled by: Mary Tunney and Eve Campbell Date of upload: 28 June 2023
- CL015-031: Ringfort - cashel, https://heritagedata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=0c9eb9575b544081b0d296436d8f60f8&query=18a4b61b268-layer-9%2CSMRS%2CCL015-031----. On a low rise in undulating poorly drained pasture within a farmyard, with clear views to the N and W. The ground slopes steeply away at S and W. Hachured and labelled ‘Caherphreeghaun’ on the 1840 and 1916 OS 6-inch maps. The site was in poor condition c. 1910 and it was noted by Westropp (1910, 150) among a group of cahers in the area surviving only as ‘absolutely defaced remains, sometimes all trace gone’. A circular area (int. diam. 20.5m N-S; 19.75m E-W) defined by a drystone wall (int. H 0.7m; ext. H 2.2m) one stone thick (0.6m). There is a modern gap at ENE (Wth 8m). The interior is level and covered in agricultural plastic indicating former use as a silage pit. Reference: Westropp, T.J. 1910. Notes on the antiquities around Kilfenora and Lehinch, Co. Clare. Part III. North Munster Antiquarian Journal 1, 147-59. Compiled by: Mary Tunney and Eve Campbell Date of upload: 3 July 2023

Works at or in relation to a recorded monument need two months' written notice to the National Monuments Service (National Monuments (Amendment) Act 1994, section 12).

## Architectural heritage (National Inventory of Architectural Heritage)

No building of the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage stands in the townland of Porsoon.

## Ground and risks (Radon Risk Map of Ireland, EPA; Landslide Susceptibility Classification and LiDAR, Geological Survey Ireland)

- Radon: at the centre of the townland of Porsoon, about 1 in 10 homes in this area is likely to have high radon levels. Testing a home: https://www.epa.ie/environment-and-you/radon/radon-testing/#d.en.82887
- Landslides: The 1:50,000 map rates the landslide susceptibility here as moderately low, low, partly inferred.
- Terrain model: no LiDAR survey of the Office of Public Works covers the centre of the townland of Porsoon.
- Flooding: the flood maps of the Office of Public Works, https://www.floodinfo.ie/map/floodmaps/, linked only: their licence does not allow re-use.

LiDAR: contains Irish Public Sector Data (Geological Survey Ireland & the Office of Public Works) licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.

## Downloads

- DXF, in Irish Transverse Mercator metres, with its boundary, parcels and buildings, for a drawing program: https://everytownland.com/clare/porsoon.dxf
- GeoJSON, in WGS 84, for a map: https://everytownland.com/clare/porsoon.geojson
- KML, for Google Earth: https://everytownland.com/clare/porsoon.kml

## Homes sold (Residential Property Price Register)

No address of the register names Porsoon with five sales or more. The sales of the area are on the page of Co. Clare: https://everytownland.com/clare.md

## Neighbouring townlands (National Statutory Boundaries, Tailte Éireann)

- Ballytarsna: https://everytownland.com/clare/ballytarsna.md
- Carrowduff: https://everytownland.com/clare/carrowduff-30573.md
- Carrowkeel: https://everytownland.com/clare/carrowkeel-30582.md
- Gortnaboul: https://everytownland.com/clare/gortnaboul.md

A townland is the smallest land division of Ireland, and the unit of a rural address; old registers such as the 1901 and 1911 censuses file it under its civil parish and barony.

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Everytownland reads the registered freehold land and the statutory boundaries of Tailte Éireann, the national zoning, planning file and heritage records of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, and the Residential Property Price Register. A parcel is the land of a title, not an address. The owner's name is in the Land Registry of Tailte Éireann: a copy of the folio can be ordered on landdirect.ie, for a fee; this site names no owner. A price is the price recorded for a past sale, not a valuation.

Sources: Cadastral Parcels Freehold, Townlands, Civil Parishes, Baronies, Electoral Divisions and Buildings, Tailte Éireann, CC BY 4.0; national zoning of development plans (GZT, MyPlan) and National Planning Applications, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, CC BY 4.0, applicants not shown; designated sites, National Parks and Wildlife Service, CC BY 4.0; Sites and Monuments Record, National Monuments Service, CC BY 4.0; National Inventory of Architectural Heritage, CC BY 4.0; Residential Property Price Register, Property Services Regulatory Authority, re-used with the source acknowledged.

- Page: https://everytownland.com/clare/porsoon
- In JSON: https://everytownland.com/api/townland/clare/porsoon