Churchview, Ratoath

Area

307 m²

Buildings

No building touches it.

Zoning

M2 B1 - Commercial Town or Village Centre (Meath County Development Plan 2021-2027) The objective

Townland

Ratoath

Planning applications on this parcel

• 17 Jan 2023Conditional

  1. permission for demolition works within Unit 2 (former Bank of Ireland) 2. permission for change of use of Unit 2 from bank use (192 sqm) to retail with ancillary off licence use and the amalgamation of Unit 1 and Unit 2 to form a new single retail unit consisting of a retail area (301 sqm) off licence area (53 sqm) deli area (67 sqm) and seating area (42 sqm) 3. permission for associated window graphics and signage

  Permission · Meath County Council, 2328

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 this parcel.

Recorded monuments around it

This parcel is in the zone of notification of 18 recorded monuments.

• ME044-034 Historic town
  Description

  Ratoath is situated on a locally prominent hill with a W-E section of the Broad Meadow River just to the S. The name, signifying the ‘fort of Thó’ or what is more likely ‘O thuaidh (North)’, is the only indication of a pre-Anglo-Norman presence and a rath may be incorporated into the base of the motte. This area was retained by Hugh de Lacy in the Anglo-Norman settlement of Meath after 1171. He granted the churches of Dunshaughlin and Ratoath to St Thomas’ Augustinian abbey (DU018-020051-) before 1183, and the rectory of Ratoath was still amongst the possessions of St Thomas’ at its suppression in 1540 (White 1943, 35). On Hugh’s death in 1186 Meath was inherited by his son Walter who granted the baronies of Morgallion and Ratoath to his brother Hugh before 1198. The younger Hugh probably built the motte and bailey, and he may have granted a charter to Ratoath c. 1200. This Hugh became the first Earl of Ulster in 1205 after he had taken over the de Courcy lordship. (Orpen 1921, 69) The castle (i.e. motte) of Ratour or Ratouth is referred to frequently in the thirteenth century. The manor was forfeited by Hugh in 1210 but it was returned to Walter de Lacy in 1215. The lands and castles in Walter’s charge including Ratoath were seized by the King again in 1224 but they were returned to Hugh de Lacy in 1227, when the right to hold a fair lasting thirteen days at Ratoath was also granted. David FitzWilliam, the baron of Naas, had an interest in Ratoath in 1244 through his wife, Matilda, a daughter of Hugh de Lacy. In 1283 Sir Roger de Clifford, a Welsh baron, sold the manor of Raoath to Queen Eleanor, the wife of King Edward I. Ratoath had probably been granted to Roger by King Edward to help Roger raise some ransom money as he was held captive in Wales, and Eleanor almost immediately granted the manor to Richard de Burgh, Earl of Ulster, known as the Red Earl. The manor had passed to the Duke of York with the liberty of Trim before 1449 when it was granted the right to hold weekly markets on Monday, and two fairs, each of two days duration, during the year. (Bradley and King 1985, 123) An inquisition in 1333 found William de Burgh, a grandson of the Red Earl, possessed of the manor of Ratoath at his death, and he had held it in capite from the King. The manor had no buildings but its site is described as half an acre surrounded by a square ditch, and this suggests that not only the motte and bailey but even this moated site were abandoned as the manorial centre, although two carucates (townlands) and 100 acres were in the demesne. The burghers of Ratoath paid over £6 in yearly rent (Orpen1921, 76), indicating that the settlement may have had over a hundred heads of households. It also had a Hundred or manorial court and there was a mill. About 160 acres are described as Betaghsland, meaning the native Irish settlement, which could be Baytown in Kilbride parish. About thirty five free tenants are named, amongst whom the names Cruys, Tuyt, Cusack, de Bathe, and FitzLeon recur, but the most common name is Bereford. Many of the townlands in the barony can be identified by name. (Orpen 1921) According to the Civil Survey (1654) in 1641 Ratoath townland had 21 proprietors, but only four of these lived there. However, 82 lettings described as tenements or messuages are dependent on them, and the town had a portreeve or mayor and a sergeant (Simington 1940, 106-07). There was a corn mill in repair on the river called the Gore Water, according to the terrier or commentary on the Down Survey (1656-8) parish map. This was probably on the S side of the river where a mill is depicted on the 1835 edition of the OS 6-inch map. The terrier says that the market for provisions and linen was on Mondays. It describe the motte as at the S edge of the town, and the map shows the 62 acres of the town on the N side of the river. Ratoath had a population of 166 c. 1659 (Pender 1939, 487). However, it maintained its status as an incorporated town into the eighteenth century as it continued to send two members to the Irish Parliament up to its dissolution in 1800. The electors appear to have been the adult males of the manor or parish. By this time the Corballis family were the largest landowners and lived in the Manor House, a seven bay, two storey house which was built c. 1780 and is now a nursing home. It is located c. 170m ESE of the motte, and is possibly on the site of the old moated site that was the centre of the medieval manor. Apart from the motte and bailey, the site of the medieval church is known as well as the location of the market where the Market cross once stood. The burgage plots as depicted on the 1835 edition of the OS 6-inch map are on either side of the Dunshaughlin Road. There are also plots extending S from Main Street and the sinuous Fairyhouse Road to the W-E Broad Meadow River that is c. 70m S of the motte and bailey. The town had no defensive wall but this does not preclude an earthwork boundary consisting of an earthen bank and external ditch. Such a ditch (ME044-034012-) was found in archaeological testing of a sewage pipe on the Kentstown road as well as a medieval roadway, a cistern and cut drains that are probably property boundaries. Archaeological monitoring (02E1563) by B. Shanahan of a services trench (D 0.6-0.9m) outside the perimeter of the grounds of the Roman Catholic church NW-NE and west as far as the site of the market cross identified but did not excavate three pits and three ditches of likely medieval date beneath more modern features (excavations.ie 2002: 1516), and other boundaries between plots have been discovered in other excavations within the town. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 9 December 2021

• ME044-034001 Castle - motte and bailey
  Description

  Ratoath was retained as a seigniorial manor by Hugh de Lacy and it was inherited by his son Hugh, later the first Earl of Ulster. The grant, which was as extensive as the barony, was confirmed in AD 1198. The castle (i.e. motte) of Ratour is referenced throughout the thirteenth century. The manor was forfeit in 1210 but returned to Water de Lacy, brother of the Earl, in 1215. The lands and castles in Walter’s charge, including Ratoath, were returned to Hugh de Lacy in 1227, when the right to hold a fair lasting thirteen days at Ratoath was also granted. David FitzWilliam, the baron of Naas, had an interest in Ratoath in 1244 through his wife, Matilda, a daughter of Hugh de Lacy. In 1283 Sir Roger de Clifford, a Welsh baron, sold the manor to Queen Eleanor, the wife of Edward I. Ratoath had probably been granted to Roger by King Edward, and Eleanor almost immediately granted the manor to Richard de Burgh, Earl of Ulster, known as the Red Earl. An inquisition in 1333 found William de Burgh, a grandson of Richard, possessed of the manor of Ratoath at his death, and he had held it in capite from the King. The manor had no buildings, but its site is described as surrounded by a square ditch, and this suggests that the motte and bailey was abandoned at this time. The burgesses of Ratoath paid over £6 in yearly rent, indicating that the settlement had over a hundred heads of households. About 360 acres was held in demesne, as well as 160 acres at Betaghsland, meaning the native Irish settlement, which could be Baytown in Kilbride parish. About thirty five free tenants are named, amongst whom the names Cruys, Tuyt, Cusack, de Bathe, and FitzLeon recur, but the most common name is Bereford. Many of the townlands in the barony can be identified by name. (Orpen 1921) Situated on top of a broad hill and on the grounds of the Roman Catholic church at the centre of Ratoath village. The motte is a flat-topped, subcircular earthen mound (dims of top 21.5m NNE-SSW’ 17m WNW-ESE; diam. of base c. 52m; H 11m) planted with deciduous trees and defined by the remains of a fosse, best preserved N-E. There is a raised rectangular bailey (dims c. 30m E-W; c. 18m N-S), which is also planted in trees and defined by scarps (max. H 3m at S), just to the SE. The site of the medieval parish church (ME034003-) is c. 150m to the NNE. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Meath' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1987). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of revision: 21 July 2016.

• ME044-034002 Font
  Description

  An octagonal font (ext. diam. 0.44m; int. diam. 0.32m; D 0.1m; H 0.2m) with a central drain-hole (diam. 0.08m) was outside the Roman Catholic church in 1985 (SMR file). It was accompanied by a biconical, faceted stem (diam. of top 0.3m; H 0.28m) that has a raised moulding at the waist, but these were not present in 2015 (SMR file). (Bradley and King 1985, 126) The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Meath' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1987). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 10 July 2007 Amended: 9 December 2021

• ME044-034003 Church
  Description

  Located on top of a broad, low hill, with the motte and bailey (ME044-034001-) c. 150m to the SSW. At the time of the Anglo-Norman settlement Ratoath became a seigniorial manor, and Hugh de Lacy may have built the motte in the 1170s (Graham 1974, 42). A parish church would follow soon afterwards, and the church at Ratoath became the head of a deanery. A church is listed at Rathouth in the ecclesiastical taxation (1302-06) of Pope Nicholas IV (Cal. doc. Ire., 5, 254). There was a chantry attached and the names of some of the clergy from the 15th and 16th centuries are known (Cogan 1862-70, 1, 259-60). The church of Ratoath was amongst the possessions of St Thomas’ Augustinian abbey in Dublin (DU018-020051-) at its suppression in 1540 (White 1943, 35). Ussher (1622) describes the church and chancel as indifferently repaired (Erlington 1847-64, 1, lxix). According to the Dopping (1682-5) and Royal (1693) visitations the church of the Holy Trinity was in good repair but only the walls of the chancel were standing. At that time the roof was slated and the windows glazed, but the floor was clay. The church had a bell and a font, but the graveyard was not enclosed (Ellison 1971, 35-6). A Church of Ireland church was built in 1818 (Lewis 1837, 2, 509), but this is now reduced to a cairn and the base of the walls (H 1-2m), although the church tower at its W end survives complete. No trace of the medieval church structure is extant within a rectangular graveyard (dims c. 70m NNE-SSW; c. 65m WNW-ESE) defined by masonry walls, apart from some dressed pieces from windows, which suggest a 16th century date. The W wall of the old graveyard has been removed and the graveyard now extends off to the NW (dims c. 130m NW-SE; c. 80m NE-SW). Headstones in the old graveyard date mostly from c. 1750 to 1990. A graveslab of a knight (dims 1.68m x 0.37-0.62m) has been set into the church tower on the S side. The mailed figure has no helmet and his head rests on a pillow. A sword is fastened at the belt, but the legs do not survive below the knee. A worn inscription in Lombardic letters around the edge is now largely obscured, but the slab can be dated to the late 13th or early 14th century (Hunt 1974, 213). A fragment of an ornate cross (H 0.8m; Wth 0.26-0.33m) decorated with six apostles carved in high relief that is now at St Patrick’s church in Trim (ME036-048067-) is thought to have come from Ratoath (Roe 1966, Pl. 23). It may be a surviving fragment of the cross described as ‘the Market Cross’ (ME044-034008-) on the 1836 and 1909 editions of the OS 6-inch map and which was located c. 300m to the SW. However, this cross was reduced to the base according to John O’Donvan writing in the 1836 (Herity 2001, 112), and even this remnant was destroyed in 1922 (Bradley and King 1985, 126). A late medieval latin cross (H 1.49m; span 0.44m) on a rectangular base (dims 0.65m x 0.62m; H 0.2m) is inside the old graveyard wall at SW. It has a rectangular cross-section (dims 0.22m x 0.19m) at the base, but is octagonal above pyramid stops. The arms are also octagonal in cross-section (H 0.25m; Wth 0.2m) and there is a mortice at the top, but there is no inscription on the cross. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Meath' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1987). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of revision: 7 April, 2015

• ME044-034004 Architectural fragment
  Description

  No trace of the medieval church of Ratoath (ME044-034003-) is extant within a rectangular graveyard (ME044-034017-), apart from some dressed pieces from windows, which suggest a 16th century date. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 7 April, 2015

• ME044-034005 Tomb - effigial
  Description

  Recorded by Hunt (1974, i, 213) as follows: 'Just to the south of the church-tower in the old graveyard in Ratoath is the effigy of a knight with his head upon a tasseled cushion, with remains of foliate decoration in relief upon the edge of the slab at this position. He is armed in mail over which can be seen a surcoat to the knee, belted at the waist and having a round neck. The coif was apparently thrown back from the head which has a basin-cut chevelure. The cushion is represented as if it had folds radiating from the head. The hands lie one upon the sword-grip and the other on the sword below. The sword has a large pommel and a short cross. Some object, perhaps part of the strap of the sword-mounting appears below the belt and descends down beside the sword. The legs are missing from below the knee. On the south side of the tapered slab is a badly worked inscription in Lombardic characters of which the following letters can be read [some of which are doubtful]: 'ORATE / PANIUM (?) . . . ALME(?) FILI FABRI . . . ' As far as can be seen despite the worn condition of the stone, the date must be late thirteenth or early fourteenth century.' See attached image. Date of upload: 20 December 2011

• ME044-034006 Cross - Churchyard cross
  Description

  This cross is situated inside the S wall of the old graveyard attached to the site of the medieval church of Ratoath (ME044-034003-). It was reconstructed under the direction of Fr. Peter Mulvany, who was a curate at Ratoath (1970-83), from pieces in the graveyard (Ratoath Heritage 2008, 56). The reconstruction is accurate, although a piece might be missing from beneath the crux. It is a late medieval latin cross (H 1.49m; span 0.44m) with octagonal cross-sections on the shaft (dims 0.22m x 0.2m) and the arms (H 0.25m; Wth 0.2m). There is a mortice on top of the stem and pyramidal stops at its base which is set into a rectangular block (dims 0.65m x 0.62m; H 0.2m) with a hammer-dressed finish. The cross has no inscription but it is possible that it is the Market Cross (ME044-034008-) which has been missing for almost 200 years. See attached image. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 7 April, 2015 Amended: 9 December 2021

• ME044-034007 Architectural fragment
  Description

  Two fragments of sandstone window mouldings (H 0.33m; 0.17m) were outside the Roman Catholic church in 1988 (Bradley and King 1985, 126), but were not present in 2015. (SMR file) Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 9 December 2021

• ME044-034008 Cross - Market cross
  Description

  Situated at the W end of the E-W ridge of Ratoath, and at the junction of the Dunshaughlin Road and the Fairyhouse Road, which was the main Dublin road. This is c. 150m W of the motte and would have been at the centre of the medieval settlement. This was known as the Market Cross and is noted in gothic lettering on both the 1836 and 1908 editions of the OS 6-inch map, but only the base, described as measuring 2 feet by 2 feet (c. 0.6m x c. 0.6m) and with a circular perforation of 7 or 8 inches (c. 0.2m), survived in the 1830s when funerals circled around it (Herity 2001, 112). This was damaged in 1922 by Black and Tans, and it was replaced in 1932 with a cross commemorating the Eucharistic Congress of that year. The Eucharistic cross was removed c. 1972. It is possible that the reconstructed cross (ME044-034006-) in the graveyard is the market cross. (Bradley and King 1985, 126) The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Meath' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1987). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 10 July 2007 Amended: 17 December 2021

• ME044-034009 Excavation - miscellaneous
  Description

  Situated on the hill of Ratoath. Archaeological testing (01E0248) (max. D c. 0.9m) by C. McLoughlin encountered a series of features which were thought to be medieval (excavations.ie 2001: 1046) but most of the features contained post-medieval pottery and glass, although medieval deposits may survive at a deeper level. (McLoughlin 2001) Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 9 December 2021

And 8 more.

Architectural heritage

No building of the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage stands on this parcel.

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).

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Registered freehold land, Tailte Éireann, CC BY 4.0. A parcel is the land of a title, not an address. The owner's name is in the Land Registry of Tailte Éireann: a copy of the folio can be ordered on landdirect.ie, for a fee.