Ballymore Lower

13 registered freehold parcels lie mostly in Ballymore Lower, from 137 m² to 988,577 m² (98.86 ha, 244.28 acres). The dashed line is the townland's boundary. 17 neighbouring parcels touch it.

Download the townland as DXF, in Irish Transverse Mercator metres, with its boundary, parcels and buildings, or as GeoJSON or KML.

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

Source: Tailte Éireann and the Department of Housing (MyPlan), national zoning, CC BY 4.0.

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

Source: National Planning Applications, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, CC BY 4.0. Applicants are not shown.

Designated sites

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

Recorded monuments

• GA100-014001 Castle - tower house
  Description

  In the flat open demesne land. The N and E sides of this rectangular 4/5storey tower house (E-W 10.75m; 9.25m N-S) are incorporated into Ballymore House, a late 18th-century county house, and its outbuildings; by the mid-1980s only the ground floor was still used as part of the household. It is constructed of fairly regularly coursed limestone with dressed quoinstones; the wall are rendered. A number of modern doorways connect both buildings but the original pointed arch doorway is set off-centre in the E wall. It gives access to a small lobby with an overhead blocked-up murder-hole. Further pointed doorways off the lobby access the spiral staircase in the SE corner and the modernised main ground-floor room to the W. An opening of similar dimensions to the murder-hole is visible above the doorway to the stairwell but its function is unknown. The main room is completely panelled with horizontally laid tongue and groove boards and its roof has a pointed apex c. 3.4m above the floor. It was probably originally barrel vaulted and its height suggests that the original first floor may have been removed. The room is lit by a slit window in the S wall, which was widened and paned with glass, and a fine 19th-century three-lighted wooden window with trefoil heads in the W wall, which is set into a wide embrasure that was cut into the wall. There is a fireplace in the S wall. To the N of the lobby a modern corridor occupies what was the guardroom and it continues through the punched-out E end of the N wall where it joins another corridor in the later house. A small blocked-up slit window is evident at the N end of the E wall and opposite it an alcove has been converted into a cupboard. The 1st floor comprises one almost square room (4.95m N-S; 4.65m E-W). Two modern openings, one in the N wall, the other in the E wall, connect it with the house. There are two wide embrasures in the S wall, a modern sash window has been inserted into the W one and the original but damaged single-light cusped ogee-headed light survives in the E one. There is also a small light in the latrine in the NW corner. The 2nd floor comprises a main room with a subsidiary chamber to its E. The main room, square in plan (4.85m N-S; 4.85m E-W), is wood panelled to head height and has a flat plastered ceiling. Bartizans at the SW and NW corners are now concealed behind the panelling. There are wide embrasures in the N and S walls, the one in the N is now blocked but the S one contains a three-light flat-headed window with an external hood-moulding. The mullions are missing and have been replaced by a 19th-century sash window. There is a fireplace in the W wall. The subsidiary chamber is accessed through a doorway in the E wall of the main room. It is roughly rectangular in plan (2.85m N-S; 2.15m E-W) and has a fine cusped ogee-headed single light. A small breach, possibly modern, in the N wall accesses another possible bartizan in the NE corner. The plan of the 3rd floor was originally similar to that of the 2nd but the dividing wall between the two rooms has been removed so that it now consists of one large room (6.6m N-S; 5.4m E-W). Five windows (now broken) light the room; they include a single light in a now blocked chamber/latrine in the SW corner and four flat-headed mullioned windows with external hood-mouldings: that in the S wall has four lights, that in the E wall has three and those in the W and N walls have two. A fireplace is centrally located in the N wall. Three stout wooden beams now plastered over carry the ceiling. Above this floor a small garret occupies the eaves of the roof, which is slated. The wall-walk is complete but the battlements are restored and heavily capped with concrete. A string course is visible all round. There are modern chimneys at both gable ends at E and W. A machicolation on the E wall protected the original doorway and there are angle bartizans at the SE and NW corners and two small turrets at the NW (this one is now topped with a chimney) and NE corners. An unusual feature is a winch, close to the E end of the parapet along the S wall. Numerous musket loops are visible at various points, including the spiral staircase between the ground and 1st floor, the bartizan at the SW corner of the 2nd floor and along the parapet. Compiled by: Olive Alcock Date of upload: 25 August 2021

• GA100-014002 Country house
  Description

  The following description has been uploaded from the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/30410021/ballymore-castle-ballymore-lower-galway last accessed 25 August 2021): Detached three-bay two-storey country house, built c.1810, facing north, having bowed entrance bay, two-bay side elevations, slightly recessed single-bay single-storey addition to east end, and multiple-bay two- and three-storey additions to rear elevation, built onto front of four-storey tower house of c.1585. Hipped slate roof with bracketed sheeted timber eaves. Chimneystacks not visible. Roughcast rendered limestone walls. Square-headed six-over-six pane timber sliding sash windows to front and side elevations. Front elevation has tripartite windows to first floor of bow and to ground floor, latter set in camber-headed openings of front elevation, all with cut limestone sills. Square-headed window openings to front-facing additions, with timber sliding sash frames, six-over-six pane to single-storey addition. Segmental-headed door opening with timber panelled double-leaf door, elaborate cobweb fanlight, decorative geometric sidelights over timber panelled risers and cut limestone plinth blocks, and cut limestone threshold. Cut limestone steps and retaining plinth walls to front entrance. Towerhouse [GA100-014001-] has pitched slate roof and rubble limestone parapets and machicolations, rubble limestone walls with base batter, camber-headed window opening to ground floor of west elevation having tripartite one-over-one pane timber sliding sash window with multifoil heads to upper sashes having quatrefoil details to spandrels, and colonettes flanking lights. Set in demesne grounds, with single-arch estate bridge to entrance drive having dressed limestone parapet walls with crenellations. The juxtaposition of a small Georgian country house with a medieval earlier tower house demonstrates the change from robust defensible structures to more commodious comfortable houses as times became quieter. The large window openings, allowing views out and light in, contrast with the smaller openings of the tower house. The bowed entrance bay adds interest to the front elevation, as does the doorcase with its notable fanlight and sidelights. The retention of timber sash windows with narrow glazing bars, combined with the roughcast render, add textural interest and a patina of age. These structures form an important group with the estate bridge, the Seymour mausoleum, the entrance gates and gate lodge. Compiled by: Olive Alcock Date of upload: 25 August 2021

• GA100-016 Ritual site - holy well
  Description

  In a dried-up stream in pastureland, formerly part of Ballymore Demesne. Named 'Tobbermurry' on the 1838 and 1946 revision of the OS 6-inch maps. Apart from some loose stones scattered around a hawthorn tree, no visible surface trace of the well survives. Compiled by: Galway Archaeological Survey, UCG Date of upload: 19 December 2022

• GA100-017 Burial ground
  Description

  The Archaeological Survey of Ireland (ASI) is in the process of providing information on all monuments on The Historic Environment Viewer (HEV). Currently the information for this record has not been uploaded. To access available information for research purposes please make an appointment in advance with the Archive Unit (open Fridays 10.00 am – 5.00 pm), Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, The Custom House, Dublin 1 D01W6XO or email NMarchive@housing.gov.ie.

• GA100-017001 Mausoleum
  Description

  The Archaeological Survey of Ireland (ASI) is in the process of providing information on all monuments on The Historic Environment Viewer (HEV). Currently the information for this record has not been uploaded. To access available information for research purposes please make an appointment in advance with the Archive Unit (open Fridays 10.00 am – 5.00 pm), Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, The Custom House, Dublin 1 D01W6XO or email NMarchive@housing.gov.ie.

• GA100-017002 Ecclesiastical enclosure
  Description

  The Archaeological Survey of Ireland (ASI) is in the process of providing information on all monuments on The Historic Environment Viewer (HEV). Currently the information for this record has not been uploaded. To access available information for research purposes please make an appointment in advance with the Archive Unit (open Fridays 10.00 am – 5.00 pm), Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, The Custom House, Dublin 1 D01W6XO or email NMarchive@housing.gov.ie.

• GA100-018 Enclosure
  Description

  On a hummock in level pastureland. While marked on the OS 6-inch maps as a small circular enclosure (diam. c. 11m), a rectangular enclosure (12m NE-SW; 11.2m NW-SE), in fair condition, is evident. It is defined by a collapsed bank of earth and stone (Wth 0.8m; base Wth 7.8m; int. H 0.85-1.1m; ext. H 0.55-1.4m) which is planted with a number of trees. Traces of internal and external stone-facing survive. A gap (Wth 2.5m) at SE may be original. Compiled by: Galway Archaeological Survey, UCG Date of upload: 14 February 2019

• GA100-019 Designed landscape - folly
  Description

  The Archaeological Survey of Ireland (ASI) is in the process of providing information on all monuments on The Historic Environment Viewer (HEV). Currently the information for this record has not been uploaded. To access available information for research purposes please make an appointment in advance with the Archive Unit (open Fridays 10.00 am – 5.00 pm), Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, The Custom House, Dublin 1 D01W6XO or email NMarchive@housing.gov.ie.

• GA100-020 Gate lodge
  Description

  The Archaeological Survey of Ireland (ASI) is in the process of providing information on all monuments on The Historic Environment Viewer (HEV). Currently the information for this record has not been uploaded. To access available information for research purposes please make an appointment in advance with the Archive Unit (open Fridays 10.00 am – 5.00 pm), Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, The Custom House, Dublin 1 D01W6XO or email NMarchive@housing.gov.ie.

Architectural heritage

• Belview, folly, 1780–1820 · Regional interest
  Description

  Freestanding limestone folly, built c.1800, comprising screen wall with recessed central bay and having flying buttresses to each end. Crenellations with cut-stone octagonal-profile pinnacles. Rubble stone walls with cut-stone string course and circular and loop recesses. Pointed arch door opening to centre, flanked by ogee-arched 'window' openings with cut-stone sills.

• Ballymore Castle, gate lodge, 1840–1860 · Regional interest
  Description

  Detached three-bay single-storey gate lodge, built c.1850, having gabled open front porch, and lean-to addition to rear. Now disused. Hipped slate roof with rendered chimneystack, pitched roof with carved timber brackets to porch, and timber sheeted eaves. Cut snecked limestone walls with cut-stone quoins and plinth, cut coursed stone sides to porch, and rendered to west elevation. Camber-headed window openings, paired to east elevation, with moulded stone surrounds and corbelled sills, and one-over-one pane timber sliding sash windows. Porch has camber-headed openings with fixed windows. Square-headed door opening with moulded stone surround and timber panelled door. Wrought-iron turnstile to west. Snecked limestone quadrant walls with cut-stone copings to either side of gate lodge, with terminating square-plan cut-stone piers with gabled caps. Situated to south side of public road, with entrance gates to Ballymore Castle to opposite side.

• Ballymore Castle, country house, 1790–1830 · Regional interest
  Description

  Detached three-bay two-storey country house, built c.1810, facing north, having bowed entrance bay, two-bay side elevations, slightly recessed single-bay single-storey addition to east end, and multiple-bay two- and three-storey additions to rear elevation, built onto front of four-storey tower house of c.1585. Hipped slate roof with bracketed sheeted timber eaves. Chimneystacks not visible. Roughcast rendered limestone walls. Square-headed six-over-six pane timber sliding sash windows to front and side elevations. Front elevation has tripartite windows to first floor of bow and to ground floor, latter set in camber-headed openings of front elevation, all with cut limestone sills. Square-headed window openings to front-facing additions, with timber sliding sash frames, six-over-six pane to single-storey addition. Segmental-headed door opening with timber panelled double-leaf door, elaborate cobweb fanlight, decorative geometric sidelights over timber panelled risers and cut limestone plinth blocks, and cut limestone threshold. Cut limestone steps and retaining plinth walls to front entrance. Towerhouse has pitched slate roof and rubble limestone parapets and machicolations, rubble limestone walls with base batter, camber-headed window opening to ground floor of west elevation having tripartite one-over-one pane timber sliding sash window with multifoil heads to upper sashes having quatrefoil details to spandrels, and colonettes flanking lights. Set in demesne grounds, with single-arch estate bridge to entrance drive having dressed limestone parapet walls with crenellations.

• Ballymore Castle, mausoleum, 1860–1880 · Regional interest
  Description

  Freestanding cut and carved limestone mausoleum, erected c.1870, having gabled open-sided upper chamber with stepped buttresses to corners, set on crypt with vaulted roof in form of truncated pyramid. Upper chamber comprising pitched cut-stone vaulted roof with cut-stone copings having carved treoil details to ends, and cross finial. Cut-stone walls with carved medallions to gables, Tudor arch openings with moulded surrounds to gables, that to west partly blocked, and moulded surrounds to shouldered square-headed openings to other elevations, all with cut-stone surrounds. Crypt roof has carved copings, square-headed door opening set in square-headed recess with corbels, and having cast-iron door. Cut-stone steps set in cut-stone apron to east end, descending to door. Mausoleum stands within feature known as 'The Lisheen', next to graveyard, latter having rubble limestone boundary walls with wrought-iron gate set to round-plan piers with domed caps, and having stile to one side.

• Ballymore Castle, demesne walls/gates/railings, 1840–1860 · Regional interest
  Description

  Entrance gateway to Ballymore Castle, erected c.1850, comprising cast-iron double-leaf vehicular gate flanked by square-plan cut limestone piers with plinths, panelled faces and pyramidal caps, in turn flanked by matching cast-iron railings on cut-stone plinths, flanked by similar stone piers, with coursed tooled quadrant walls with terminating similar piers. Gate lodge stands on opposite side of road.

Designated sites: National Parks and Wildlife Service. Recorded monuments: Sites and Monuments Record, National Monuments Service. Buildings: National Inventory of Architectural Heritage. Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, CC BY 4.0. 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).

Radon

At the centre of the townland of Ballymore Lower, about 1 in 10 homes in this area is likely to have high radon levels. Testing a home

Landslides

The 1:50,000 map rates the landslide susceptibility here as low, partly inferred.

Terrain model

No LiDAR survey of the Office of Public Works covers the centre of the townland of Ballymore Lower.

Flooding

The Office of Public Works publishes its flood maps on floodinfo.ie.

Radon Risk Map of Ireland, Environmental Protection Agency, and Landslide Susceptibility Classification, Geological Survey Ireland, both under CC BY 4.0. 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.

No address of the register names Ballymore Lower with five sales or more. The sales of the area are on the page of Co. Galway.

Name

Ballymore Lower · An Baile Mór Íochtarach

Area

1,572,126 m² (157.21 ha, 388.48 acres)

Civil parish

Clonfert, and its townlands

Barony

Longford

Electoral division

Laurencetown, the unit of the census

Census 2022

397 people lived in 141 households in the Laurencetown electoral division. 79% of households owned their home. 24% of homes were built since 2001. 19% of dwellings stood vacant on census night, and 1% were holiday homes.

Neighbouring townlands

Ballymore Upper, Belview or Lissareaghaun, Cloonykeevan, Dooros, Laurencetown

Placenames

Ballymore Lower on logainm.ie, the Placenames Database of Ireland

Townlands, civil parishes, baronies and electoral divisions, National Statutory Boundaries, Tailte Éireann, CC BY 4.0. Census 2022, Small Area Population Statistics by electoral division, Central Statistics Office, CC BY 4.0. 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.