Errew

85 registered freehold parcels lie mostly in Errew, from 136 m² to 136,697 m² (13.67 ha, 33.78 acres). The dashed line is the townland's boundary; 1 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 Errew 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.

• 14 Mar 2025Conditional

  (1) Attic conversion to habitable space, (2) To upgrade existing septic tank to proprietary effluent treatment system with all associated site works at, Errew, Castlehill, Ballina, Co.Mayo.

  Permission · Mayo County Council, 2560146

• 4 Nov 2024Conditional

  The application will consist of planning permission for (1) Partial Demolition to the rear of the existing dwelling house to faciltate alterations and constrcution of new extension to dwelling house, (2) upgrade existing wastewater treatment system, and (3) Carry out all ancillary works on site.

  Permission · Mayo County Council, 2460674

• 17 Dec 2021Conditional

  CONSTRUCTION OF ACCESS ROAD, CONCRETE SLIP WAY, JETTY AND BOAT HOUSE, INCLUDING ALL OTHER ANCILLARY SITE WORK AND SERVICES

  Permission · Mayo County Council, 211322

• 24 May 2019Conditional

  EXTEND AND RECONSTRUCT DWELLING HOUSE AND CONSTRUCT PROPRIETARY EFFLUENT TREATMENT UNIT INCLUDING ALL ANCILLARY SITE WORKS

  Permission, 1 home · Mayo County Council, 19391

• 12 Sept 2017Conditional

  CONSTRUCT DWELLING HOUSE, PROPRIETARY EFFLUENT TREATMENT SYSTEM, PERCOLATION AREA AND DETACHED DOMESTIC GARAGE

  Permission, 1 home · Mayo County Council, 17735

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

Designated sites

• Special Area of Conservation: River Moy SAC 002298
• Special Protection Area: Lough Conn and Lough Cullin SPA 004228
• Proposed Natural Heritage Area: Lough Conn And Lough Cullin 000519

Recorded monuments

• MA038-127 Pump
  Description

  In pasture, located on a gentle NE-facing slope, overlooking Lough Conn which is 250m to NE. Not shown on the 1838 OS 6-inch map; shown on the 25-inch plan and on the 1922 OS 6-inch edition as a hachured circle, with a small oblong feature at its centre. On the 25-inch plan it is annotated ‘Pump’. It consists of a flat-topped earthen platform (diam. 10.6m) defined by a scarp. The scarp is low (H 0.3m at SW) on the SW half; it is stone-faced and more substantial (H 1.5m at NE) on the NE half where it is cut into the natural slope. A deep, stone-faced shaft is sunk into the centre of the platform, above which is mounted an iron pump wheel and gears. This is a post-1700 water-pump. It was associated with a building, located 140m to SW, which is indicated as ‘Errew House (hotel) on the 25-inch plan, and as ‘Convent’ on the later 1922 OS 6-inch edition. Compiled by: Jane O'Shaughnessy Date of upload: 14 August 2019

• MA038-129001 Religious house - Augustinian canons
  Description

  In pasture, located on a peninsula, which stretches into the centre of Lough Conn from its western shores. The abbey stands in a remote and picturesque setting at the furthermost reaches of the peninsula, on a narrow spit of land (c. 550m N-S; c. 180m E–W) which branches N from the E end of the main peninsula. Errew Abbey is a National Monument in State ownership (no. 307). It is a small, unassuming monastery meriting scant attention in the early documentary sources and its origins remains obscure. It is said to be built on the site of church founded by St Tigernan in the 6th century, and a relic of the saint, known as Mias Tighernain or St Tigernan’s Paten, was preserved in the locality until the early 20th century (Crawford 1923, 173; 175-6). A nearby holy well (MA038-129003-) was also associated with the saint. One of the earliest references to the abbey is found in the Annals of the Four Masters: Giolla Aedha Ua Muidhin, Bishop of Cork, who died in 1172, is described as being ‘of the family of Errew Lough Conn’. References are more numerous in the 15th century: In the year 1404 Thomas Barrett, Bishop of Elphin was buried at Errew (Annals of Connacht); in 1413 Robert MacWattin, having forcibly removed Henry Barrett from the sanctuary of the abbey, was plagued by visions of St. Tigernan, which caused him to repent, release his prisoner and donate ‘a quarter of land’ to the abbey in atonement (Annals of Connacht). The Barretts had a long standing association with Errew. They may have re-founded the abbey as an Augustinian house in the late 12th or 13th century; it is believed that they established the Augustinian Canons here in 1413, probably as a priory cell of the Augustinian abbey (MA029-038----) at Crossmolina (Gwynne and Hadcock, 175). In 1463 an annual grant of 5 shillings out of the lands of Ballymoy was made to the ‘friars of the house of Erewe’ (Archdall 1786, 502). Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries, an inquisition in 1584 valued the possessions of the abbey at 13 shillings and 4 pence annually (Gwynne and Hadcock, 175). The remains comprise an undifferentiated nave and chancel church, to N of which are three ranges of domestic buildings enclosing a cloister. Despite suggestions of an early origin, the extant church and the E range appear to date to no earlier than the 13th-century; the N and W ranges were added later. The architectural style of the piscina recess and the trefoil-headed windows indicates that the church was refurbished in the 15th century (OPW Topographical files 1936-7; Leask 1960, 96). The two large buttresses against the S wall of the church are also later additions. The plain rectangular church (c. 25m E−W; c. 6.5mN−S, int.), built of roughly coursed limestone blocks, must originally have been divided into nave and chancel by a timber rood screen, but no structural division is now evident; a drop in ground level at the E or chancel end of the church is unlikely to be an original feature. The main entrance is a doorway in the centre of the W gable, and there is another, narrower doorway at the W end of the S wall; neither retains its cut stone surround. The large E window dominates the chancel. It was still intact in 1838 when described in the OS Letters as ‘a complicatedly ornamental window of cut stone’ (O’Flanagan 1927, 182 (356)); only the jambs survive now and remnants of mullions, which show that it had three lights. The rectangular, stone-built high altar stands beneath the window, reconstructed by the Office of Public Works (OPW) on its original foundations. Five small consecration crosses are carved on the table, which has edge moulding with broad chamfers, and the base has chamfered angles with pyramidal stops. Flanking the altar in the S wall of the church is the piscina recess, with an elegant, trefoil-headed moulded arch; the piscina or basin is gone. Adjacent to this, there are two large recesses with pointed arches; the E one most likely housed the sedilia and the other serves as a tomb niche, with a grave slab set in its floor. The four small windows in the S wall of the church are 15th-century in style, as is the trefoil-headed single-light at first floor level in the N wall. However, a small, plain round-headed window at the E end of the N wall appears to be Romanesque and may be a remnant of an earlier church. There is one other interesting hint at an earlier church, a fragment of a 12th-century carved capital was reused and built into the 15th-century trefoil-head window above the piscina recess; a chance discovery during OPW repair works in the 1930’s, this stone is not visible to the present-day visitor (OPW Topographical files 1936-7). Two doorways in the N wall of the church allow access to the domestic areas of the monastery. A doorway with a dressed sandstone surround at the W end of the church gives direct access from the nave to the cloister. A square recess immediately to W of this doorway probably held a stoup for holy water. The second doorway opens from the chancel into a short mural passage (3m E–W; 0.80m N–S) giving access straight-ahead through a round-headed doorway to the ground floor of the E range, and further W along the passage to a narrow flight of stairs leading to the upper floor of the E range; the W end of the passage opens onto the cloister. The E ambulatory (walkway) of the cloister is intact, featuring an integrated cloister arcade, with the upper floor of the E range extending over it. It is lit by four trefoil-headed single-lights. The S ambulatory, along the church wall, was possibly covered by a lean-to roof and some walling associated with it survives at foundation level. There is no evidence for ambulatories on the W and N sides of the cloister. A pointed-arched doorway roughly midway along the E ambulatory opens into the ground floor of the E range, a narrow vaulted chamber, poorly lit by two small windows in the E wall. The S end, accessible from the chancel, must have housed the sacristy. The upper storey of this range served as the main dormitory, accessed from the stairs mentioned above. The dormitory roof and walls are gone, except for the S wall, which it shares with the church and which has a trefoil-headed window to allow sick or elderly monks to see into the chancel. At the N end of the E range is a broad vaulted passage (7.55m E–W; 2.40m N–S), with a pointed doorway at its E end opening to the outside world. Along its S wall it connects directly with the E ambulatory and at its W end it opens onto the N range. The N range (11m E–W; 6.20m N–S), which probably contained the refectory and kitchen, is greatly ruined; the W, N and E walls survive only to a height of c. 1.50m and the S wall is reduced to foundation level. In plan, it is out of alignment with the other buildings and was clearly added during a later phase in the monastery’s development. The W range (8.60m N–S; 4.90m E–W), a relatively small, compact building, was accessed at ground floor level from the cloister through doorways at the S and N end of its E wall. The N wall and part of the W wall survive to second storey level but the upper floor has collapsed. An E−W passage (5.65m E–W; 1.55m N–S), with doorways at either end, intervenes between the W range and the church, leading from the cloister to the exterior of the monastery. Attached images: MA038-129001-_01.JPG Errew Abbey viewed from SW MA038-129001-_02.JPG Church viewed from SE MA038-129001-_03.JPG Church interior: chancel, showing E window and high altar MA038-129001-_04.JPG Piscina recess MA038-129001-_05.JPG Recesses for sedilia and tomb MA038-129001-_06.JPG N wall of chancel, showing doorway into the E range, with trefoil-headed window above at dormitory level; rounded headed window (at R) may be from earlier church. MA038-129001-_07.JPG Cloister, viewed from N MA038-129001-_08.JPG E range with integrated cloister arcade/ambulatory, lit by four window; passage ways at N and S ends; viewed from SW. MA038-129001-_0

• MA038-129002 Religious house - unclassified
  Description

  In pasture, located at the furthest reaches of a long peninsula, which stretches from the western shore of Lough Conn into the centre of the lake. The location is associated with St Tigernan, who is said to have established a monastery here in the 6th-century. A relic of the saint, known as Mias Tighernain or St Tigernan’s Paten, was preserved in the locality until the early 20th century (Crawford 1923, 173; 175-6). A nearby holy well (MA038-129003-) was also associated with the saint. This small, enigmatic church or oratory, a National Monument in State ownership (no. 308), is named ‘Templenagalliaghdoo’ on the 1838 and 1922 OS 6-inch map. The name translates as Church of the Black Women or Nuns, hinting at the presence of a convent here, but no documentary sources confirm this or throw light on the history of the building. It appears to pre-dates Errew Abbey (MA038-129001-) located 100m to S, which was probably an Augustinian house and whose buildings range in date from the 13th- to 15th-century. It is possible that Templenagalliaghdoo is the only extant structure to survive from an earlier phase of monastic activity at Errew. It is a rectangular stone-built structure (5.35m E–W; 2.90m N–S, int.) with a small rectangular annex (c. 3m E–W; 1.80m N–S, ext.) appended to the exterior of the N wall. The walls (T c. 0.7m) are faced externally with large, edge-set stone blocks and slabs, a style of cyclopean stonework which may date to the late 10th- or 11th-century. However, the walls survive to no more than two or three courses in height (H 0.50-1m) and there are no other architectural clues to the date of the building. A gap towards the W end of the S wall may mark the location of a doorway. In the N wall a narrow gap opens into the annex. Set in the floor of the annex is a rectangular sunken, stone-lined structure (1.50m E–W; 0.70m N–S) which has a slightly different alignment to the annex walls. It is unroofed and holds water. Interpretation of these features is uncertain: the annex may have served as a sacristy or a hermit’s cell, and the rectangular cavity has been variously interpreted as a tomb, perhaps even a founder’s grave or a well (OPW Topographical files 1936-7; Harbison 1970). A rectangular enclosure (c. 20m N–S; c. 15m E–W) is shown surrounding the oratory on the 1838 and 1922 OS 6-inch maps. This was described in the 1930’s as ‘a roughly formed bank, approximately circular in plan’ (OPW Topographical files 1936-7). The current drystone enclosure is a reconstruction. Attached images: MA038-129002-_01.JPG Church viewed from SE MA038-129002-_02.JPG Church viewed from S MA038-129002-_03.JPG Church viewed from NW MA038-129002-_04.JPG Church viewed from NE MA038-129002-_05.JPG Annex viewed from N MA038-129002-_06.JPG Annex viewed from W MA038-129002-_07.JPG Sunken rectangular feature in annex, viewed from W Compiled by: Jane O'Shaughnessy Date of upload: 26 April 2021

• MA038-129003 Ritual site - holy well
  Description

  Located SE of Errew Abbey (MA038-129001-). This holy well, traditionally dedicated to St Tigernan, is not marked on the OS 6-inch maps, ad its exact location is uncertain. It appears to have already fallen out of use by 1838 when the OS Letters noted that ‘The place of the original situation of St. Tighernan's Well lies five or six perches [c. 30m] to the south east of the Abbey', and recorded that the landowners had ‘formerly prohibited the performing of Stations at the Well’; this resulted in the Station moving to Tobertiernaun (MA038-094----), another holy well dedicated to the same saint, which is located 3.5km W of Errew (O’Flanagan 1927, 183 (359)). Compiled by: Jane O'Shaughnessy Date of upload: 26 April 2021

• MA038-129004 Earthwork
  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.

• MA038-129005 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.

• MA038-129006 Promontory fort - inland
  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.

• MA038-129007 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.

• MA038-143 Enclosure
  Description

  In pasture, on the NW edge of the Errew peninsula, which juts into the W side of Lough Conn. Located on the SE side of the crest of a rise. Ground slopes gently for 16m to E, then there is an abrupt natural scarp dropping to the flat stony lakeshore. Nephin Mountain looms on the horizon to SW. This monument is not shown on the 1838 OS 6-inch map; it is shown on the 1922 OS 6-inch edition as a small hachured circle. It consists of a circular area (diam. 8-8.5m) defined by a grass-covered, broadly slumped stone bank/wall (Wth 2.5m; int. H 0.7-0.95m; ext. H 0.7m at NW, 1.4m at S). The stone bank is composed of earth and large stones; it is tumbled and eroded, especially at E and SE, and field clearance stones and boulders are heaped against it in parts. Immediately outside it on the N arc is a narrow skirt or berm (Wth 1.5m) of earth and stone, possibly just tumble from the stone bank. The interior is level, and strewn with stones. Hawthorn and hazel trees ring the perimeter. The function and date of this small enclosure is unclear. Compiled by: Jane O'Shaughnessy Date of upload: 16 August 2019

• MA038-164 Earthwork
  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

• Errew House, country house, 1870–1880 · Regional interest
  Description

  Detached six-bay two-storey country house with dormer attic, built 1872-7, on an L-shaped plan off-centred on single-bay single-storey flat-roofed projecting porch with single-bay two-storey gabled projecting end bay abutting single-bay three-stage tower (south) on a square plan; six-bay (north) or three-bay (south) two-storey side elevations. Vacated, 1881. Adapted to alternative use, 1893. Occupied, 1901. Sold, 1905. Vacant, 1911. In alternative use, 1912-6. Adapted to alternative use, 1917. Burnt, 1949. Vacant, 1976. Part "restored", 1978. "Restored", 1998-2000, to accommodate proposed alternative use. Now disused. Set in relandscaped grounds.

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

The EPA radon map gives no estimate at the centre of the townland of Errew.

Landslides

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

Terrain model

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

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.

• Errew, Castlehill9 sales

Name

Errew · Oireadh

Area

2,045,321 m² (204.53 ha, 505.41 acres)

Civil parish

Crossmolina, and its townlands

Barony

Tirawley

Electoral division

Crossmolina South, the unit of the census

Census 2022

Crossmolina South electoral division: 870 people in 349 households; 82% of households own their home; 34% of homes were built since 2001; 16% of dwellings stood vacant on census night, and 9% were holiday homes.

Neighbouring townlands

Cabragh

Placenames

Errew 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.