Grantstown

70 registered freehold parcels lie mostly in Grantstown, from 40 m² to 288,423 m² (28.84 ha, 71.27 acres). The dashed line is the townland's boundary; 32 neighbouring parcels touch it.

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

No zone of a development plan covers Grantstown 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.

• 15 Jul 2026N/a

  Construct a Two Story Dwelling House, Domestic Garage, Wastewater Treatment System, New Entrance and All Associated Site Works

  Permission, 1 home · Laois County Council, 2660479

• 13 Jul 2026N/a

  Construct a Two Story Dwelling House, Domestic Garage, Wastewater Treatment System, New Entrance and All Associated Site Works

  Permission · Laois County Council, 2660472

• 10 Jul 2026N/a

  construct a Two Story Dwelling House, Domestic Garage, Wastewater Treatment System, New Entrance and All Associated Site Works

  Permission · Laois County Council, 2660463

• 28 May 2026Conditional

  construct two storey dwelling house, domestic garage, septic tank & percolation area, a new entrance onto a shared access and all associated and necessary site works

  Permission, 1 home · Laois County Council, 2660322

• 1 Apr 2025Conditional

  construct single storey self contained dwelling unit attached and internally connected to the side of the existing two storey Dwelling and all associated site works.

  Permission, 1 home · Laois County Council, 2560170

• 27 Mar 2025N/a

  construct single storey self contained dwelling unit attached and internally connected to the side of the existing two storey Dwelling.

  Permission · Laois County Council, 2560164

• 2 May 2024Conditional

  construct a dormer style dwelling house, domestic garage, septic tank and percolation area, new entrance and all associated and necessary site works

  Permission, 2 homes · Laois County Council, 2460

• 24 Jul 2023Conditional

  refurbish, and a two storey extension to the side of, the existing two storey derelict dwelling, a garage, and associated site works

  Permission, 1 home · Laois County Council, 2360281

• 7 Mar 2023Conditional

  the erection of a single storey dwelling incorporating a garage, a septic tank and percolation area, a site entrance and associated site works

  Permission, 2 homes · Laois County Council, 2360079

• 13 Oct 2022Conditional

  retain single storey extension to dwelling house, retain site boundaries and entrance, also retain fuel and storage shed, decommission existing septic tank and apply for full planning permission for a new septic tank and percolation area within site boundaries

  Permission, 3 homes · Laois County Council, 22636

• 13 Oct 2022Conditional

  retain farm buildings consisting of a 3-bay fodder shed, a 4-bay wintering unknit, a 6-span loose cattle shed & effluent tank, concrete apron, collecting yard and feed silo and all associated and necessary site works in farmyard

  Retention · Laois County Council, 22637

• 10 Jul 2020Conditional

  construct a garage / storage shed and all associated site works

  Permission · Laois County Council, 20342

• 24 Nov 2017Conditional

  construct 309 metres length of a new 600 mm diameter land drain pipe, laid alongside the existing collapsed culvert

  Permission · Laois County Council, 17634

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

Designated sites

• Proposed Natural Heritage Area: Grantstown Wood And Lough 000417
• Proposed Natural Heritage Area: Coolacurragh Wood 000862

Recorded monuments

• LA028-051 Castle - tower house
  Description

  Granstown Castle originally owned by the Lords of Upper Ossory, it belonged to Gilbert Rawson in 1653, Edmond Morris in 1691 and was granted to Richard and Edward Fitzpatrick in 1696 by William of Orange (Carrigan 1905 vol. 2, 63). Circular tower house situated on gentle NE facing slope of ridge running E-W overlooking Grantstown Lake 270m to NE. The walled garden of Granstown House (later Ballygran) lies 130m to SW. All field fences within the vicinity of the tower house have been removed. About one third of the wall has collapsed between NE and SSE the material forming a large cairn which almost obscures the ground floor. Circular tower house (ext. diam. 11.7m; wall T 2.9m) built from well coursed limestone rubble and much of the external render still survives. It has five storeys and an attic with a vault over the third floor. The whole tower has a batter which becomes more pronounced at the base. All dressed stone is punch dressed limestone. The entrance was at ENE and is now almost obscured by collapsed rubble but the doorway was pointed and it has an external rebate and a yett hole. Inside the doorway you turn right through a pointed doorway with a small lobby (dims. 1.32m x 1.42m) which had a wooden roof carried on wall offsets. Most of this lobby is covered by collapsed rubble but a pointed doorway leads off this lobby into the main ground floor. The ground floor chamber (int. diam. 5.7m) is lit by a round headed window in wall at SSW. This window embrasure has a single gun-loop visible. Offset in wall at N and W was to accommodate a wooden floor overhead. From the lobby area a pointed doorway in the N wall leads into a short passage from which a mural stairs in the N wall is accessed. Off this stairs one can access a mural passage directly over the lobby of the main entrance. Gun loop visible off mural stairs in N wall at first floor level. Corbels supported a wooden ceiling over the first floor. From the first floor level up the mural stairs in the N wall changes into a spiral stairs from which all upper floors were accessed. Evidence of twin light window with flanking gun-loops in W wall of second floor chamber which is a five sided chamber with a large rectangular fireplace with limestone surrounds in S wall. Brick piers have been inserted in order to narrow the fireplace in a later period. In the E wall there is a doorway leading into a chamber now destroyed but may originally have been a garderobe. Some corbels survive which were support for a wooden ceiling. Third floor was accessed off spiral stairs in N wall through a pointed doorway with a hanging eye and a catch for a latch on the E. This level is really a loft since it is under the barrel vault which runs NNE-SSW and has wicker centring. There is no evidence of natural light entering this floor. A destroyed doorway in the S wall leads to a mural passage which terminates in the middle of the W wall. Fourth floor accessed off spiral stairs in N wall and rests on top of barrel vault and is rectangular (int. dims. 6.6m N-S) in shape. In the W wall there is a shaft for a murder hole and at the S end of the W wall there is a twin light window. There is a cut stone fireplace (Wth 1.96m ; H 1.32m; D 0.8m) with chamfered sandstone surrounds in the centre of the S wall at this level. The lintel of the fireplace consists of three pieces with a cut and dressed keystone. The ceiling was supported by at least three corbels visible in the N and S walls. Attic was accessed off spiral stairs via a lintelled doorway and leads on up to give access to a wall walk. The parapet does not survive above the string course but there is a machicolation at NE over the entrance doorway and at W. There was presumably a look-out tower over the stairs housing. A rectangular chimney rises over the wall-walk at S. Circular tower house described by Carrigan as following; 'Grantstown castle, one of the few round castle in our Diocese, is in good preservation, though roofless for a considerable time. It is 19 ft. in diameter, at the base on the inside, the wall being fully 11 ft. thick all round. There are five storeys, viz. three under and two over, the stone arch. Each storey communicates with the beautiful spiral stairway by a cut stone door, in some instances round-headed, in others gothic. In the first storey directly opposite the entrance door, there is an aperture of cut-stone, shaped like a Latin cross, through and through the wall. A cross exactly similar, and occupying the same position may be also seen in Ballogh [LA033-002001-] castle, near Errill. Fire-places and chimney-flues form part of the original work in the four upper stories, there is no fire-place in the first storey' (Carrigan 1905 vol. 2, 63). Pre-development testing was undertaken by Dominic Delaney under licence no. 95E258 in advance of a proposed farmyard development on site of Bayylgran House in November 1995. The remains of a late medieval circular tower house (LA028-051----) stand approx. 170m west of the site. No archaeological deposits or features were identified. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Laois' (Dublin Stationery Office, 1995) compiled by P. David Sweetman, Olive Alcock and Bernie Moran. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Compiled by: Michael Moore and Caimin O'Brien Revised by: Caimin O'Brien Date of revised upload: 7 May 2020

• LA028-090 Crannog
  Description

  Not marked on the 1841 or 1908 editions of the OS 6-inch maps. Revealed in 1860 when lowering the water-level of Grantstown Lough. It is defined by pointed stakes. Further stakes, grooved and nailed together, were laid horizontally across the center. Finds included an iron clasp, two nails with large heads, an arrow or spear of charred wood, a polished piece of bone, a large amount of animal bones and charred timer, a lump of gypsum and a rude box containing two small bones (Wood-Martin 1886, 208). The remains of this crannog (approx. dims. 13m N-S ; 12m E-W) can be seen clearly on aerial photographs which show this island located on Granstown Lake, 44m northeast of the shoreline (OSI aerial photos 2005-). A small notch on the west side of the island may be a small jetty or place to land a boat. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Laois' (Dublin Stationery Office, 1995) compiled by P. David Sweetman, Olive Alcock and Bernie Moran. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 17 December 2007

Architectural heritage

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

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

About 1 in 5 homes in this area is likely to have high radon levels. Testing a home

Landslides

Susceptibility moderately high, moderately low, low, low (inferred), on the 1:50,000 map; parts are water.

Terrain model

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

Flooding

The flood maps of the Office of Public Works: floodinfo.ie.

Radon Risk Map of Ireland, Environmental Protection Agency; Landslide Susceptibility Classification, Geological Survey Ireland; both 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 Grantstown with five sales or more. The sales of the area are on the page of Co. Laois.

Name

Grantstown · Baile an Ghróntaigh

Area

2,044,604 m² (204.46 ha, 505.23 acres)

Civil parish

Bordwell, and its townlands

Barony

Clarmallagh

Electoral division

Grantstown, the unit of the census

Census 2022

Grantstown electoral division: 388 people in 137 households; 87% of households own their home; 29% of homes were built since 2001; 7% of dwellings stood vacant on census night, and 0% were holiday homes.

Neighbouring townlands

Bordwell Big, Bordwell Little, Coolacurragh, Court, Kilbreedy, Oldglass, Shanvaghey

Placenames

Grantstown 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.