Clonfert North

Area

349,588 m² (34.96 ha, 86.39 acres)

Buildings

7 buildings touch it. Their footprint covers 4,357 m².

Zoning

No zone of a development plan covers it in the national zoning. Outside zoned towns and villages, the county development plan's rural policies apply.

Townland

Clonfert North

Planning applications on this parcel

No planning application touches this parcel in the national file, which goes back to 2010.

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 3 recorded monuments.

• KD010-001001 Linear earthwork
  Description

  The area which would later be called 'The English Pale', from the Latin 'palus', a stake, and also possibly from the name of an earthen fortification at Calais in France (Lydon 1972, 261), originated in the 14th century when Norman settlers began fortifying their lands in counties Dublin, Kildare, Louth and Meath against attack by the native Irish. By 1435, ongoing attacks, probably primarily aimed at cattle theft (O'Riordáin 1971, 15), prompted the concept of an additional, linear defensive feature, the boundaries of which were defined in a 1488 Act of Parliament as extending, 'from Merrion inclusive to the waters of the Dodder, by the new ditch to Saggard, Rathcoole, Kilheel (Kilteel), Rathmore and Ballymore (Eustace), thence to the county of Kildare into Ballycutlan (Coghlanstown), Harristown and Naas, and so thence to Clane, Kilboyne, and Kilcock' (Mc Neill 1950, 250). In 1494, Parliament directed that, 'every inhabitant, earth tiller and occupier in said marches (borderlands), do build and make a double ditch six feet high above ground at one side or part which meareth next unto Irishmen between this and next Lammas (August 1st.), the said ditches to be kept up and repaired as long as they shall occupy said land.' However, Ellis (Ellis S. G. 'The emergence of the English Pale in Ireland' in Irish Historical Studies) points to a statute in Poyning's parliament in 1495 for 'ditches to be made aboute the Inglishe pale' as the first application of the term to Ireland. The Pale contracted eastwards in subsequent years and it is not certain if its original extent was ever completely ditched. By the seventeenth century, The Pale had ceased to have any real political or defensive significance. Only a few short sections have been positively identified in Co Kildare; in Kilteel Upper/Cupidstown near Rathmore (KD020-008-----), in Bishopsland just SW of Ballymore Eustace (KD029-039----), at Castlebrown or Clongowes (KD010-021----/KD014-008----) and finally, the best preserved, semi-continuous portion which runs for c. 3365m through the townlands of Ballybrack, Ballyloughan, Clonduff, Clonfert South and Graiguepottle, c. 5km N of Clongowes (KD010-001----). There it is traceable from its E end in Clonfert South as a narrow (Wth 3.5m) metalled laneway between two probably recut fosses, running W (L c. 420m), and then veering NW (L c. 365m). [Archaeological test-trenching at one location along this section revealed possible medieval habitation evidence: KD010-001008-.] It then changes direction slightly to head NNW (L c. 660m) as a disused laneway (Wth 4.8m), slightly raised above surrounding field level, and running between two wide, deep fosses (Wth 3.8m; D 2.9m), forming the townland boundary between Clonfert South and Graiguepottle. It then turns sharply to head W (L c. 1085m) mainly as a functioning laneway (Wth 3.5m) between two deep fosses through Clonduff to a point where it appears to divide: one short section (L c. 155m) apparently continues W into Ballyloughan as a metalled laneway (Wth 3.5m) flanked by drains on either side, while the main section turns sharply S (L c. 680m) and continues as a fosse (Wth 2.5m; D 1m), the corresponding bank of which (noted in 1976, SMR file) has been levelled. Along this latter section it forms the townland boundary between Ballyloughan and Graiguepottle. Visible on several aerial photographs (CUCAP AVM 27-8, AHK 4, BDU 41). The monument is included on the Register of Historic Monuments. (Bradley 2011, 51-67) Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy Date of upload: 13 December 2011

• KD010-001008 Settlement deserted - medieval
  Description

  In 2003, in advance of a development which was bordered along the N by the presumed line of the Pale boundary, five test-trenches were mechanically excavated (Excavation licence No. 03E0373). A number of shallow gulleys/ditches filled with silt containing medieval (13th-14th-century) pottery were uncovered. (www.excavations.ie) Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy Date of upload: 10 June 2011

• KD010-002 Ringfort - rath
  Description

  In open, level, mixed pasture and tillage. A very poorly preserved oval area (diams. 47m N-S; 40m E-W) is defined by a low scarp (H0.3-0.9m). A modern field bank and drain (D 1.6m) runs E-W across the S-third of the interior, separating the ploughed N portion of the site from the S section in pasture. (CUCAP BDU 41; AVM 28; AVM 27; AHK 4. GSI N 470-1). Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy Date of upload: 10 June 2011

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).

Ground and risks

Radon

At the centre of this parcel, about 1 in 20 homes in this area is likely to have high radon levels. Testing a home

Landslides

The 1:50,000 map rates the landslide susceptibility here as low.

Terrain model

LiDAR of the Office of Public Works, flown in 2011, at 2 m: tile OPW_2754 (ZIP).

Flooding

The Office of Public Works publishes its flood maps on floodinfo.ie.

Radon Risk Map of Ireland, Environmental Protection Agency, and Landslide Susceptibility Classification, Geological Survey Ireland, both under 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.

Download this parcel as DXF, in Irish Transverse Mercator metres, with its neighbours and buildings, for a drawing program. GeoJSON, in WGS 84, suits a map, and KML opens in Google Earth.

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.