Croghanhill

13 registered freehold parcels lie mostly in Croghanhill, from 353 m² to 255,054 m² (25.51 ha, 63.03 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 Croghanhill 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.

• 4 Dec 2024Conditional

  THE CONSTRUCTION OF A DWELLING AND A DOMESTIC GARAGE AND A WASTEWATER TREATMENT SYSTEM AND A VEHICULAR ENTRANCE AND ALL ASSOCIATED SITE WORKS

  Permission, 1 home · Offaly County Council, 24173

• 24 Mar 2022Conditional

  CONSTRUCTION OF (A) 1 NO. NEW STOREY AND HALF TYPE DWELLING, (B) 1 NO. NEW DOMESTIC GARAGE, (C) INSTALLATION OF A NEW WASTE WATER TREATMENT SYSTEM, (D) VEHICULAR ENTRANCE, (E) NEW LANDSCAPING AND ALL ASSOCIATED SITE DEVELOPMENT WORKS

  Permission, 1 home · Offaly County Council, 22142

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 the townland of Croghanhill.

Recorded monuments

• OF010-004001 Barrow - bowl-barrow
  Description

  This site is a hilltop prehistoric burial mound (H 3.75m; top diam. 4m; base diam. 21m) standing on the summit of Croghan Hill, with panoramic views of the surrounding landscape. This extinct volcano and prominent landscape feature in NE Offaly stands 4km SE of the boundary with County Westmeath. In the mythology of Ireland this hill was called Brí Éile named after Éile, daughter of Eochaidh Feidhleach, king of Ireland, who divided the country into five provinces and their respective provincial kings (O’Donovan 1856, 87-8, 148). The burial mound stands in the Gaelic territory of Uí Failghe (Offaly) ruled by the O’Connor clan in the province of Leinster close to the provincial border with Meath. According to O’Donovan this burial mound was the ‘monument of Congal’ mentioned in the ‘Laoidh na Leacht’ or ‘Poem of the Monuments’ (Herity 2008, 42). Congal Cáech was king of the Dál nAraidi in Ulster and ally of the Clann Cholmáin of Westmeath. He was killed at the battle of Mag Rath in the year 637 AD. Nearby monuments include Glenmore Holy Wells or St. Patricks Well (OF010-004006-/007-) which lies 460m to the NNE. A possible fifth century church site (OF010-004002-), known locally as ‘Bishop Mac Caille’s Church’, lies 150m to the E on the shoulder of Croghan Hill. The deserted medieval village (OF010-010001-) of Croghan, Croghan Church (OF010-010006-) and castle (OF010-010003-), the residence of the O’Connor clan and a medieval road known as ‘The Togher of Croghan’ stands clustered together 920m to the WSW of the hilltop. In 1997 a small burial ground was partially excavated by Dominic Delany in a field 510m SSW of Croghan Hill and N of Cannakill School. This burial ground was located between two holy wells (OF010-011-/012---). The burial mound is annotated as a ‘Carn’ on the 1838 edition of the Ordnance Survey [OS] 6-inch map, however there is no stone material visible on the grass-covered mound and no evidence of any stone kerbing around the base of the monument. A trig point was constructed by the OS on the summit of the mound which marks the height 769 feet [234m] above sea level. The burial mound on top of Croghan Hill is a prominent landmark in the landscape of the region which is exaggerated by the low-lying nature of the surrounding countryside. In 1838 John O’Donovan described the hilltop setting and the extensive views from the mound when he wrote; ‘you can survey at a glance the Clár or level plain of Ofalia and its natural boundaries. It stretches, nearly as level as a lake southwards to the foot of the Slieve Bloom mountain [27km SW], and to the Sugar Loaf hills at Killowen [Killone 32km], in the Queen’s County [Laois], and eastwards to the hill of Allen [30km SE] in the county of Kildare. I never enjoyed a finer prospect than that commanded by this hill, which may be called O’Connor Faly’s Carn’ (Herity 2008, 43). The plain at the foot of Croghan Hill was described in the Irish annals as ‘Magh- Dairbhreach’ or the ‘Plain of the Oaks’ (O’Donovan 1856, 36). The prehistoric mound which presumably covered a grave or graves although not necessarily so consists of a small gently sloping flat-topped earthen mound with the remains of a shallow fosse encircling the base. Around the base of the mound there are traces of a berm or step which appears to be artificial and could have been caused by grazing livestock. The summit of the monument was damaged by sappers when they were building the trig point in the 19th century (Herity 2008, 43). The earthen mound with enclosing fosse suggests that this monument may be the remains of a bowl-barrow possibly dating from the Bronze Age. Alternatively the mound may cover the remains of a megalithic tomb or a large cist like structure such as a Linkardstown type cist. It is also possible that the mound may be a multi-period monument covering multiple cists inserted over several centuries. In 1974 it was suggested the grass-covered hilltop mound could have covered the remains of a passage tomb even though it was not a type of tomb found in this region (Herity 1974, 261). However this site was not listed as a possible passage tomb in the Survey of Megalithic Tombs of Ireland carried out in 1972. In 2005 it was suggested that the mound represented the remains of a Neolithic cairn possibly covering a passage tomb dating from the period 3500 BC – 2500 BC (Rohan 2005, 24). Further archaeological research on the mound will be required in order to ascertain whether there is any validity to these suggestions. The lack of any kerb stones around the edge of the mound along with the presence of a berm with enclosing fosse would argue against the cairn classification for this monument. Based solely on surface inspection the visible features or morphology of the earthwork would argue for a bowl-barrow classification, although it is possible that it may be the remains of a sod-covered cairn. The evidence for the existence of such a hillfort is uncertain and requires more fieldwork and survey in order to confirm the existence of such a monument on Croghan Hill. It is possible that the burial mound stood inside a small hilltop-enclosure the partial outline of which is visible on various aerial photographs (CUCAP APH070/071; Digital Globe). Oblique aerial photographs taken in July 1966 suggest the possibility that the natural slope of the hill was used to define the hilltop edge from E to S with a possible double bank and intervening fosse defining the remaining area best visible to the N of the burial mound. A linear feature running E-W consisting of a possible double bank with intervening fosse can be clearly seen 17m N of the mound on Google Earth aerial photography (2003). This earthwork combined with the natural slope of the hill which may have been artificially enhanced in places may be the remains of a hilltop enclosure (approx. int. dims. 65m N-S x 58m E-W). Post-medieval cultivation ridges roughly running E-W across the hillslope are visible on aerial photographs. A meandering low earthen bank visible on aerial photographs 126m N and 315m E of the burial mound could be the remains of a larger enclosure, possibly indicating the existence of a rampart belonging to a hillfort. This earthwork follows the contour line marking 600 ft. OD on the OS 6-inch map. However the meandering nature of the bank and the lack of an enclosing element on the S and W sides of the hill may suggest that it is the remains of a prehistoric field system rather than the rampart of a hillfort. The curving section of this earthwork to the E of Bishop Mac Caille’s Church and graveyard marks the boundary between the parishes of Croghan and Ballyburly. The burial mound on Cruacháin Brí Éile was reputedly used as the inauguration site for the rulers of this region, the Ó Conchobhair (O’Connor) of Uí Failge (Faly/Offaly) (Fitzpatrick 2004, 32). This ritual function may be an example of a prehistoric burial mound being re-used in the medieval period by the local Gaelic clan. Through the inauguration process the O’Connor family could legitimately rule over this territory by establishing an ancestral link with the prehistoric people buried beneath the mound of Cruacháin Brí Éile. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Offaly' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1997). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Compiled and revised by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload/revision: 18 September 2018

• OF010-004002 Church
  Description

  The possible site of a fifth century church founded by Bishop Mac Caille once stood inside a walled graveyard on the E shoulder of Croghan Hill, 150m E of the prehistoric burial mound (OF010-004001-). Bishop Mac Caille was reputedly the nephew of St. Patrick as he was the son of Darerca, sister of Patrick (O’Donovan 1856, 152). The Calendar of Cashel recorded that his feast day was held on the 25th of April at ‘Cruach-an-Bri-Eile’ [Croghan Hill]. According to the seventh century historian Tíreachán, it was Mac Caille who presented Brighid of Kildare with her veil (Ó Riain 2011, 412). This monastic story created a link between this church site and the monastery of Brighid in Kildare although later Patrician historians created a link between Mac Caille and Patrick and called him ‘Patrick’s bishop’ (ibid.). The church stands today on the border of the parish of Croghan in the diocese of Kildare. A meandering curving earthwork visible on aerial photographs 40m E of the graveyard marks the parish boundary with Ballyburly. Rohan (2005) suggested that the curving section of bank located to the E of the graveyard may represent the partial remains of the vallum of an early Christian monastic enclosure. Well preserved broad cultivation ridges of uncertain date can be seen in the fields surrounding the graveyard. A church is marked on the 1838 edition of the OS 6-inch map as Bishop Mac Caille's Church where it is located in the NW corner of the graveyard. In 1838 no part of the church was visible however local people remembered ‘twelve feet [4m] of the walls standing’ (Herity 2008, 42). In 1916 it was recorded that a small platform in NW quadrant of the graveyard probably represented the site of this church (Fitzgerald 1917, 384-5). Today there are no surface remains visible of any church inside the square-shaped graveyard which was enclosed by a stone wall in the 1860s. According to the 1934 National Schools Survey of Holy Wells, during the digging of the foundations for this graveyard wall the mason employed came across the foundations of a building which he believed to be the remains of Bishop Mac Caille's Church (National Folklore Dept. UCD, NFC 468, 135). The graveyard contains numerous stone memorials dating from the 19th century. Local folklore recorded the following tradition in 1938; ‘when the people were burying a person they used to go round the Graveyard with the coffin three times before they would go in to bury it’ (The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0803, Page 329). The church uncovered in these sources may have been the remains of a medieval chapel of ease or a monastic stone church of pre-Norman date. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Offaly' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1997). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Compiled and revised by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload/revision: 18 September 2018

• OF010-004003 Graveyard
  Description

  Roughly rectangular-shaped graveyard situated on the east side of Croghan Hill just below the summit. Burial mound (OF010-004001-) on summit of Croghan Hill located 175m to the W. Interior of graveyard slopes downward on the E side. It is no longer used for burials and there is no surface evidence of the church (OF010-004002-) marked on the 1838 ed. OS 6-inch map as Bishop 'Mac Caille's Church'. On this map the church building is shown located on the inside of the NW corner of the graveyard wall. According to the 1934 National Schools Survey of Holy Wells this graveyard wall was built in the 1860s (National Folklore Dept. UCD, NFC-468, 135). During the digging of the foundations for this graveyard wall the mason employed came across the foundations of a building which he believed to be the remains of Bishop Mac Caille's Church (NFC 468, 135). Many of the headstones in the garveyard are illegible due to weathering as the graveyard is in a very exposed location. The gravestones are positioned in a haphazard manner and the graveyard itself is badly overgrown. However locals informed us that when they were digging graves in the centre of the graveyard they came across the foundations of a building which may have been the church. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Offaly' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1997). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload/revision: 18 December 2013

• OF010-004004 Graveslab
  Description

  Reference to a graveslab dated to 1721 in the graveyard (OF010-004003-) on top of Croghan Hill. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Offaly' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1997). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 23 May 2011

• OF010-004006 Ritual site - holy well
  Description

  At the base of NE facing slope of Croghanhill, 420m N of Bishop Mac Caille's Church site (OF010-004002-). Spring well located 25m SE of St. Patrick's Well (OF010-004007-) which is marked as the second Glenmore well on the 1838 ed. OS 6-inch map. It is unenclosed. No surface trace visible of well which was known locally as Mac Caille's Well. In 1942 the ITA Survey, described the well as being overgrown and almost forgotten (SMR File). (O' Flanagan 1933, vol. 1, 38-40; Comerford 1883, 320-1) The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Offaly' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1997). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 6 January 2012

Architectural heritage

No building of the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage stands in the townland of Croghanhill.

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 Croghanhill, about 1 in 10 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 high, 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 Croghanhill.

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 Croghanhill with five sales or more. The sales of the area are on the page of Co. Offaly.

Name

Croghanhill · Cnoc Chruacháin

Area

632,597 m² (63.26 ha, 156.32 acres)

Civil parish

Croghan, and its townlands

Barony

Philipstown Lower

Electoral division

Croghan, the unit of the census

Census 2022

570 people lived in 182 households in the Croghan electoral division. 94% of households owned their home. 29% of homes were built since 2001. 7% of dwellings stood vacant on census night, and 0% were holiday homes.

Neighbouring townlands

Ballybeg, Barrysbrook, Cannakill, Croghan Demesne

Placenames

Croghanhill 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.