Ballykilcavan

3 registered freehold parcels lie mostly in Ballykilcavan, from 4,234 m² (0.42 ha, 1.05 acres) to 1,212,412 m² (121.24 ha, 299.59 acres). The dashed line is the townland's boundary. 12 neighbouring parcels touch it.

Download the townland as DXF, in Irish Transverse Mercator metres, with its boundary, parcels and buildings, or as GeoJSON or KML.

No zone of a development plan covers Ballykilcavan 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.

• 19 May 2026Refused

  construct an agricultural entrance (cow crossing), necessary signage and associated site work at Ballykilcavan, Stradbally, Co. Laois.

  Permission · Laois County Council, 2660287

• 9 Dec 2025Conditional

  construct a Soiled water / Slurry lagoon and associated site works (This application is within the curtilage of a protected structure Ref RPS600 Ballykilcavan House).

  Permission · Laois County Council, 2560831

• 2 Mar 2023Conditional

  retain changes to dwelling house from that granted under planning ref. number 96/579 consisting of a) retention of the sun room as constructed to the east of the house and the storage shed beneath the sunroom and b) retention of velux window in the main roof and all associated site works

  Retention, 2 homes · Laois County Council, 2369

• 5 Feb 2020Conditional

  EXTEND MICRO BREWERY WHICH WAS GRANTED PLANNING PERMISSION WITH 16/658 & 18/334 FOR A CHANGE OF USE OF EXISTING AGRICULTURAL BUILDINGS TO VISITOR CENTRE TO PROVIDE GIFT SHOP/TAP ROOM/COFFEE DOCK & A TOILET BLOCK AND STORAGE AREA, TO INCLUDE ALL RENOVATION WORK AND A NEW GLAZED RECEPTION AREA AND CONNECTING CORRIDOR EXTENSION, ALSO TO ENLARGE THE SITE TO ACCOMMODATE COACH PARKING, ALL USING THE EXISTING SERVICES AND ENTRANCE PLUS ALL ASSOCIATED AND NECESSARY SITE WORKS WHICH ARE WITHIN THE CURTILAGE OF A PROTECTED STRUCTURE, BALLYKILCAVAN HOUSE,RPS NUMBER 600, NIAH NO. 12801410 A 7 BAY DETACHED TWO STOREY OUSE WITH DORMER ATTIC AT THE ESTABLISHED BALLYKILCAVAN BREWERY

  Permission · Laois County Council, 2060

• 31 May 2018Conditional

  extend micro brewery which was granted planning permission with 16/658 by a change of use of the agricultural portion of the existing building to tank storage for the micro brewery in order to accommodate four storage tanks instead of locating tanks on first floor level, including building new block walls and vertical slate cladding to front facade and all associated and necessary site works which are within the curtilage of a Protected Structure, Ballykilcavan House RPS Number 600, NIAH No. 1801410, a 7 bay detached two storey house with dormer attic

  Permission · Laois County Council, 18334

• 30 May 2018N/a

  extend Micro Brewery which was granted planning permission with 16/658 by a change of use of the agricultural portion of the existing building to tank storage for the micro brewery in order to accommodate four storage tanks instead of locating tanks on first floor level, including building new block walls and vertical slate cladding to front facade, and all associated and necessary site works which are within the curtilage of a protected structure, Ballykilcavan House RPS Number 600, NIAH No. 2801410, a 7 bay detached two storey house with dormer attic

  Permission · Laois County Council, 18331

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 Barrow and River Nore SAC 002162
• Proposed Natural Heritage Area: Stradbally Hill 001800

Recorded monuments

• LA014-099001 Architectural fragment
  Description

  The head of a Tudor arch single light unglazed punch-dressed limestone window (Wth. 0.29m) located in the back garden of Ballykilcavan House (LA014-099002-) is all that survives of the levelled medieval castle (LA014-099----). A single iron bar socket is visible on the soffit of the window arch. In each spandrel on either side of window opening there is a human figure carved in relief pulling what appears to be a rope or chord which is intertwined in a knot directly over the apex of the window opening. This scene may be an attempt to illustrate the marriage or union between two families. Directly above there are two Classical style figures carved in relief possibly of a male and female standing in full frontal pose with legs apart and arms outstretched holding drapery standing either side of a Tudor rose and crown with the royal monogram E.R. (Elizabeth Regina). The letters E. R. can be seen incised into the top corner of the stone on either side. The head of the figure on the left hand side is carved in profile while that on the right side has been damaged but was facing straight on. The armorial stone (Wth 0.55m; H 0.52m; T 0.17m) was probably commissioned by Robert Hartpole in recognition of his land grant from Queen Elizabeth in 1576 and inserted into the fabric of an earlier medieval castle which stood on the grounds of Ballykilcavan House. Compiled by: Caimin O’Brien Date of upload: 11 November 2015

• LA014-099002 House - 17th century
  Description

  Ballykilcavan House possibly built on site of or in close proximity to the medieval castle (LA014-099----) of Ballykilcavan which was granted to Robert Hartpole in 1576. The house stands on a low rise of ground S of the Stradbally River. An architectural fragment (LA014-099001-) from the castle lies on the ground in the back garden of the house. Around 1639 the lands and castle of Ballykilcavan were acquired by Oliver Walsh who commenced the building of a house (LA014-099002-) on the site of the medieval castle (pers. comm. David Walsh-Kemmis). The first house built by OliverWalsh may have been a fortified house as this was the type of building being constructed in Laois during the first half of the seventeenth century. Today there is no evidence of any fortifications in the upstanding remains of Ballykilcavan House. There are at least three clear building phases visible in the present Ballykilcavan House. The dating of the first phase is uncertain as the building is covered in render and has been altered over the centuries. It is possible that the early 17th century house built by Oliver Walsh c. 1639 is represented by the two projecting flanking towers (Ferguson 2015, 138). However there is no clear evidence of any fortifications in these wings. Alternatively this part of the house may date from the late 17th or early 18th century rather than the first half of the 17th century. The plan layout with projecting flanking towers can also be compared to early 18th century houses such as Linsfort Castle, Co. Donegal which was built in 1720 (Craig 1976, 66). The 1641 deposition of Oliver Walsh records that he recently built a house on his lands in Co. Laois shortly before the outbreak of the rebellion in 1641. In his deposition he states that, ‘he hath bene at the Chardge of above one hundred pounds (as he conceiveth) upon parte of his said Lands in the Queenes County, where he dwelled by buildinge, ditchinge, & other improvements, and nowe receaveth noe benefitte thereby by occasion of this Rebellion’ (TCD, 1641 Depositions Project, online transcript January 1970 [http://1641.tcd.ie/deposition.php?depID<?php echo 815149r234?>] accessed Wednesday 11 November 2015 12:30 PM ) Maurice Craig (1976, 122) compared Ballykilcavan House to Landestown House, Co. Kildare which dates from the first half of the 18th century. According to Bence-Jones (1988, 23) Ballykilcavan House was ‘a 2 storey early or mid-C18 house; entrance front of 7 bays with an open-bed pediment and advanced end bays, rather similar to the min block of Landenstown, Co. Kildare’. The present house was described by the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage as following; ‘Detached seven-bay two-storey house with dormer attic, built c.1740, with gable to centre and projecting end bays. Extended, c.1975, with two-storey projecting bay added to left, two-storey range added to right and two-storey return to rear. Double-pitched and hipped slate and replacement fibre-cement tile roof with skylight to rear on a circular plan with lead-sheeted plinth; rolled lead ridge tiles; nap rendered chimneystacks; cast-iron rainwater goods on brackets. Rendered painted walls. Square-headed window openings with limestone sills and six-over-six timber sash windows. Limestone pedimented doorcase to door opening with glazed timber panelled door. Entrance/Stair Hall with Portland stone-flagged floor; carved timber staircase with scrolled handrail; decorative plaster ceiling, c.1790; Dining Room with alcove having flanking pilasters; Drawing Room with white marble fireplace; Rococo plaster frieze; decorative plaster ceiling to landing to first floor. House is set back from road in own grounds; landscaped grounds to site; tarmacadam drive and forecourt to approach. Group of detached outbuildings to site, one with three-bay pedimented advanced bay having round-headed openings to first floor’. www.buildingsofireland.ie The Irish Historic Houses Association recently described Ballykilcavan House as following; ‘Ballykilcavan is a charming house of about 1680, in wooded parkland just east of Stradbally. The estate was acquired by Oliver Walsh in 1639 and the house was probably built by his son, another Oliver, who died in 1697. The house has full-height wings like flanking towers at the corners of the entrance front while similar towers on the rear of the house are now hidden by later extensions. These towers were a feature of fortified houses of the seventeenth century and lingered on into the early eighteenth century as decorative features. The house is comprised of a ground floor (unusually at ground level), an upper floor and an attic storey, where the dormer windows have been replaced by skylights. It has been altered and extended many times over the centuries but many rooms retrain their late-seventeenth century dimensions though the decoration is later. In the 18th century Ballykilcavan was given a more Georgian aspect with a ‘floating’ pediment-gable, a fine cut-stone doorcase and sash windows with thin glazing bars. There is good 1730s plasterwork on the hall ceiling, and even finer work above the staircase and landing. The landing is actually the house’s finest room and originally extended from front to back as a gallery before the main staircase was installed. The first prominent member of the family was Hunt Walsh, who commanded the 28th of Foot at the siege of Quebec and became a general. He was awarded a valuable estate in Prince Edward Island in a lottery of lands after the Seven Years’ War before succeeding his uncle at Ballykilcavan and becoming MP for Maryborough. General Walsh is likely to have commissioned the magnificent 18th century U-shaped stable block. The next owner was the general’s brother Raphael, Dean of Dromore, who began an ambitious remodelling of the house. He planned a new front at the rear with a classical cornice and parapet, and a suite of south-facing rooms. Unfortunately, work was disrupted by the 1798 Rebellion and Dean Walsh only completed half the building vertically, leaving the remainder blank’. Compiled by: Caimin O’Brien Date of upload: 11 November 2015

Architectural heritage

• Bridge, 1710–1715 · Regional interest
  Description

  Five-arch road bridge over river, dated 1713, with triangular cut-waters having U-shaped recesses over to one side.

• Ballykilcavan House, house, 1720–1750 · Regional interest
  Description

  Detached seven-bay two-storey house with dormer attic, c. 1740, with gable to centre and projecting end bays. Extended, c. 1975, with two-storey projecting bay added to left, two-storey range added to right and two-storey return to rear.

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

At the centre of the townland of Ballykilcavan, about 1 in 5 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 moderately high, moderately low, low, partly inferred.

Terrain model

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

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.

No address of the register names Ballykilcavan with five sales or more. The sales of the area are on the page of Co. Laois.

Name

Ballykilcavan · Baile Mhic Giolla Chaomháin

Area

1,230,131 m² (123.01 ha, 303.97 acres)

Civil parish

Curraclone, and its townlands

Barony

Stradbally

Electoral division

Curraclone, the unit of the census

Census 2022

269 people lived in 85 households in the Curraclone electoral division. 93% of households owned their home. 31% of homes were built since 2001. 9% of dwellings stood vacant on census night, and 1% were holiday homes.

Neighbouring townlands

Binbawn, Blackford, Garrans, Knockphilip, Kylebeg, Mill Land, Park

Placenames

Ballykilcavan 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.