Middlemount

22 registered freehold parcels lie mostly in Middlemount, from 110 m² to 197,680 m² (19.77 ha, 48.85 acres). The dashed line is the townland's boundary; 21 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 Middlemount 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.

• 9 Mar 2026Conditional

  construct a two-storey dwelling, a garage, a septic tank and percolation area and associated site works

  Permission, 1 home · Laois County Council, 2660127

• 11 Nov 2024Conditional

  construct New dwelling house, garage, septic tank and percolation area, new site entrance, ancillary site services and all associated site works

  Permission, 2 homes · Laois County Council, 2460679

• 7 Nov 2024N/a

  construct new dwelling house, garage, septic tank and percolation area, new site entrance, ancillary site services and all associated site works

  Permission · Laois County Council, 2460675

• 28 Jul 2023Conditional

  erect a single storey dwelling, a garage, septic tank and percolation area, a site entrance and associated works

  Permission, 2 homes · Laois County Council, 2360294

• 17 Jan 2020Conditional

  construct a single-storey dwelling house, entrance, septic tank with percolation area and garage and all associated site works

  Permission, 2 homes · Laois County Council, 2021

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 Middlemount.

Recorded monuments

• LA028-050001 Castle - motte and bailey
  Description

  Known as the Mote of Monacoghlan or The Rath of Laragh, this Anglo-Norman earth and timber castle may have been built by Adam de Hereford(Cunningham 1987, 161-2). Situated on a natural hill in otherwise flat land, with excellent views of the surrounding countryside. Kilbreedy Castle (LA028-046---) visible to the NW. A flat-topped motte (summit diam. c. 11.5m; H c. 8-9m) encircled by a berm with the remains of a wide stone wall on its outer edge, except at SE. Slight evidence of a fosse around base of the berm. Ridge to the E may have been utilised as a bailey and possible remains of an outer bailey. (Orpen 1909, 335-7). Described by Carrigan as, 'the 'Moat of Middlemount', properly called the 'Moat of Laragh', a truncated cone 16 yards (16m) in diameter at the top, 25 to 30 ft. (8.7m-9.1m) high, and seated on an elevated ridge; around the base are remains of a fosse and rampart, while the ridge to the west is intersected by several artificial trenches (LA028-05002-)' (Carrigan 1905, vol. 2, 61). An 18th century illustration of the motte and bailey depicts a very different monument to the one that survives today (Cunningham 1987, 162). Edward Ledwich in his 'Antiquities of Ireland', depicts the monument as consisting of a flat-topped mound or motte located at the N end of a ridge with an upper bailey the base of which is enclosed by a fosse except at SE where there is a lower second bailey the interior of which contains a well. This second outer bailey was entered via an entrance located on the E side of the bailey. A wall is depicted running off the SE side of the motte toears the outer bailey. The motte was located at the N end of a ridge and the SW side of this ridge was defended by three earthen banks or ramparts with corresponding fosses. The innermost bank appears to have enclosed the outer bailey (Ledwich 1804, 278-9). In 1905 Canon Carrigan recorded that on 'the north side of the Moat, about 20 yards from its base, is a plot, a quarter of an acre in extent, called "the Friar's garden"; its fences are still well marked. In the small space between it and the Moat, are some slight traces of a house, evidently the residence of the friar from whom the garden is named' (Carrigan 1905, vol. 2, 61). These earthworks may be the remains of a deserted medieval settlement (LA028-050002-)associated with the motte and bailey. Ledwich, E. (1804) Antiquities of Ireland. Printed by John Jones, Dublin. 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 Caimin O'Brien Date of upload/revision: 12 December 2011

• LA028-050002 Settlement deserted - medieval
  Description

  No visible surface remains of earthworks to W of motte, a silage pit and a quarry are now located in the vicinity of these earthworks. The earthworks were described by Carrigan as 'the 'Moat of Middlemount' (LA028-050001-), properly called the "Moat of Laragh" (LA028-050001-), while the ridge to the W is intersected by several artificial trenches' (Carrigan 1905, vol. 2, 61). These earthworks form part of the outer defences of the motte (LA028-050001-), however there are earthworks to the N of the motte which were recorded by Canon Carrigan in 1905 and which show up on 2009 aerial photographs (Google Earth 2009). In 1905 Canon Carrigan recorded that on 'the north side of the Moat, about 20 yards from its base, is a plot, a quarter of an acre in extent, called "the Friar's garden"; its fences are still well marked. In the small space between it and the Moat, are some slight traces of a house, evidently the residence of the friar from whom the garden is named' (Carrigan 1905, vol. 2, 61). These earthworks may be the remains of a deserted medieval settlement associated with the motte and bailey (LA028-050001-). Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload/revision: 04 July 2012

Architectural heritage

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

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 10 homes in this area is likely to have high radon levels. Testing a home

Landslides

Susceptibility moderately low, low, low (inferred), on the 1:50,000 map.

Terrain model

LiDAR of the Office of Public Works, flown in 2011, at 2 m: tile OPW_1945 (ZIP).

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 Middlemount with five sales or more. The sales of the area are on the page of Co. Laois.

Name

Middlemount · An Láithreach

Area

749,112 m² (74.91 ha, 185.11 acres)

Civil parish

Aghaboe, 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

Ballycoolid, Baunoge, Coolkerry, Kilbreedy, Middlemount or Ballyvoghlaun, Oldglass

Placenames

Middlemount 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.