Rathbrennan
Townland in the civil parish of Straboe, barony of Maryborough East, Co. Laois; in Irish Ráth Bréanainn
- Area
- 51.7 ha
- 128 acres
- Land parcels
- 41
- registered freehold, median 3,415 m² (0.34 ha, 0.84 acres)
- Zoning
- —
- not in a zoned settlement
- Planning
- 4
- applications since 2010
Land parcels
Registered freehold land, Tailte Éireann
41 registered freehold parcels lie mostly in Rathbrennan, from 26 m² to 58,181 m² (5.82 ha, 14.38 acres). The dashed line is the townland's boundary; 33 neighbouring parcels touch it.
Download the townland: DXF, in Irish Transverse Mercator metres, with its boundary, parcels and buildings; GeoJSON or KML.
Zoning
Development plans, national zoning
No zone of a development plan covers Rathbrennan 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.
Planning applications
Sites that touch the townland, newest first
24 Mar 2025Conditional
for works associated with the proposed uprate of the existing 110 kV Overhead Line (OHL) between the existing Cushaling 110 kV substation in the townland of Ballykilleen, Co. Offaly and the existing Portlaoise 110 kV substation in the townlands of Clonminam and Kylekiproe, Co. Laois. The Cushaling – Portlaoise 110 kV OHL is approximately 41.6 km long and comprises 17 no. steel lattice tower structures and 193 no. wooden pole structures. The existing circuit is located across the functional areas of Offaly County Council (OCC), Kildare County Council (KCC) and Laois County Council (LCC). Approximately 10 km of the existing OHL circuit is located within the functional area of OCC, approximately 9 km is within the functional area of KCC and approximately 22.6 km is located within the functional area of LCC. Separate planning applications are being lodged with each respective County Council. The Proposed Development across the functional area of Co. Kildare is located in the townlands of Coolelan, Kiltaghan North, Kiltaghan South, Clonmoyle West, Ummeras More, Mountrice, Mullaghroe Upper, Mullaghroe Lower, Coolatogher, Coolsickin or Quinsborough and Coolnafearagh. The Proposed Development works across the functional area of Co. Kildare will comprise: 1. The replacement (“restringing”) of the existing overhead line circuit conductor with a new higher capacity conductor including installation of a new fibre communication connection; 2. The replacement of 2 no. steel towers and their foundations; 3. The replacement of steel members at 1 no. tower; 4. Full tower painting required at 1 no. location; 5. Shear block remedial works (raise and cap) at 1 no. tower location; 6. The replacement of wooden poles only at 8 no. locations; 7. The replacement of wooden poles and crossarm at 3 no. locations; 8. The replacement of crossarm only at 4 no. locations; 9. The replacement of existing danger notices at various locations, as required; 10. The replacement of hardware and fittings, such as insulators, insulator hardware, earthwire hardware and anti-climbing guards at various locations, as required; 11. The replacement of suspension clamps, vibration dampers and compression assemblies at all locations, as required; 12. All associated temporary site development works to gain access to the existing structures including clearance of vegetation, disassembly and reassembly of gate posts/piers and removal and reinstatement of existing fencing; and 13. Other temporary associated
Permission · Kildare County Council, 2560302
24 Mar 2025Conditional
for works associated with the proposed uprate of the existing 110 kV Overhead Line (OHL) between the existing Cushaling 110 kV substation in the townland of Ballykilleen, Co. Offaly & the existing Portlaoise 110 kV substation in the townlands of Clonminam & Kylekiproe, Co. Laois. The replacement (“restringing”) of the existing overhead line circuit conductor with a new higher capacity conductor incl. installation of a new fibre communication connection; Replacement of 8 no. steel towers & their foundations; Replacement of steel members at 1 no. tower; Full tower painting required at 3 no. locations; Shear block remedial works (raise & cap) at 6 no. tower locations; Replacement of wooden poles only at 15 no. locations; Replacement of wooden poles & crossarm at 5 no. locations; Replacement of crossarm only at 14 no. locations; Replacement of existing danger notices at various locations, as required; Replacement of hardware and fittings, such as insulators, insulator hardware, earthwire hardware and anti-climbing guards at various locations as required; Replacement of suspension clamps, vibrations dampers and compression assemblies at all locations as required; All associates temporary site development works to gain access to the existing structures including clearance of vegetation, disassembly & reassembly of gate posts/piers & removal & re instatement of existing fencing; other temporary associated & ancillary development works required for the purpose of the existing circuit, including temporary items, such as; guard poles, construction compounds (located in the townlands of Bracklone, Tullaghan, Morett, Clonaddodoran and Kyletalesha), clearance or management of vegetation, installation of silt traps, silt fences, stone tracks, ground protections mats & watercourse crossings. No additional structures are proposed along the existing circuit. Structure 203,which will be relocated approx. 101m back towards structure 202 due to its existing position on top of a gravel mound & there being potential for subsidence of the gravel in the long term. No alteration to the nature, extent, alignment, character, or voltage of the existing electricity infrastructure is proposed. In addition, works to support this uprate also include the Cushlaing-Portlaoise 110KV bay lead-in conductor uprate at the Portlaoise 110KV station. A Natura Impact Statement (NIS) has been submitted with this application. Full description of all works within Site Notice.
Permission · Laois County Council, 2560147
29 Sept 2022N/a
retain outdoor dining and drinking patio area, smoking hut, pergola and all associated site works
Retention · Laois County Council, 22598
29 Aug 2022N/a
retain outdoor dining and drinking patio area, smoking hut, pergola and all associated site works
Retention, 1 home · Laois County Council, 22533
Source: National Planning Applications, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, CC BY 4.0. Applicants are not shown.
Nature and heritage
Designated sites and recorded monuments
Designated sites
No designated site (Special Area of Conservation, Special Protection Area, Natural Heritage Area or proposed one) touches the townland of Rathbrennan.
Recorded monuments
- LA013-028 Ringfort - rath
Description
A circular raised area (diam. c. 33m) defined by an inner bank (ext. H c. 1.8m), an intervening fosse (Wth c. 2.5m) and an external bank (int. H. c. 1.8m, ext. H c. 1.5m) except at the N. 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
- LA013-107 Barrow - unclassified
Description
Low earthen mound (diam c. 15m, H 0.5m) located in flat wet land. Not marked on any edition of OS 6-inch map and discovered during work on Portlaoise by-pass in 1992. (See also LA013:108). Archaeological excavation revealed this monument which was carried out by Valerie Juliana Keeley in 1992 under excavation licence no. 92E0168. 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
- LA013-108 Barrow - unclassified
Description
Low earthen mound (diam. c. 15m; H. 0.5m) located in wet flat land. Not marked on any edition of OS 6-inch map and discovered by V. J. Keeley during work on Portlaoise by-pass in 1992. (See also LA013:107). 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 Rathbrennan.
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).
Ground and risks
Radon, landslides, flooding
- Radon
- About 1 in 5 homes in this area is likely to have high radon levels. Testing a home
- Landslides
- Susceptibility low, on the 1:50,000 map.
- Terrain model
- No LiDAR survey of the Office of Public Works covers the centre of the townland of Rathbrennan.
- 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.
Homes sold
Property Price Register
No address of the register names Rathbrennan with five sales or more. The sales of the area are on the page of Co. Laois.
The townland
- Name
- Rathbrennan · Ráth Bréanainn
- Area
- 517,254 m² (51.73 ha, 127.82 acres)
- Civil parish
- Straboe, and its townlands
- Barony
- Maryborough East
- Electoral division
- Portlaoighise Rural, the unit of the census
- Census 2022
- Portlaoighise Rural electoral division: 17,352 people in 5,443 households; 64% of households own their home; 52% of homes were built since 2001; 5% of dwellings stood vacant on census night, and 0% were holiday homes.
- Neighbouring townlands
- Ballycarroll, Ballyclider, Ballydavis, Ballymooney, Kilminchy
- Placenames
- Rathbrennan 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.