Letter
Townland in the civil parish of Letterluna, barony of Ballybritt, Co. Offaly; in Irish Leitir
Parcel 314007
- Area
- 420,317 m² (42.03 ha, 103.86 acres)
- Buildings
- 3 buildings touch it, 896 m² on the ground
- 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
- Letter
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
- Special Protection Area: Slieve Bloom Mountains SPA 004160
Recorded monuments around it
This parcel is in the zone of notification of 7 recorded monuments.
- OF037-002001 Church
Description
Situated on a slight rise in upland area with holy well (OF037-002003-) to NW. The W end of the N wall are the only standing remains of this poorly preserved church located in the S sector of a possible graveyard (OF037-002002-) which is enclosed by an earth and stone bank. The surviving wall has a simple flat headed window and displays evidence internally of supporting an E-W barrel vault presumably belonging to a priests residence which appears to have been added on to the W end of the church. No other architectural features visible. The church was built with randomly coursed limestone and sandstone blocks. The wall footings the church measured 26.6m E-W by 4.9m N-S. The width of the church at the W end was 9.2m due to the addition of the priests chamber, with wall thickness measuring 1.5m in order to carry the weight of the vault. Elsewhere the wall thickness measures 0.8m. According to O' Flanagan (1933, vol. 2, 80) the W end of the church was two storeys high with a stairs connecting both floors in the NW corner with main entrance in the W gable. Two pieces of sculptured stone were taken from this church and used in the building of Cadamstown church in the 19th-century, both are Romanesque in date. One of them is a carved head (OF037-013001-) which acted as a corbel while the second piece is a Hiberno-Romanesque hood moulding terminal (OF037-013003-) similar to the ones found in Clonmacnoise. An Early Christian cross-slab (OF037-013002-) also from Letter was found incorporated into the W gable of Cadamstown church during recent restoration. Another Romanesque stone fragment possibly from Letter was recently discovered on top of a gate pillar at Cadamstown House. 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
- OF037-002002 Graveyard
Description
Situated on a slight rise in upland area with holy well (OF037-002003-) to NW. The W end of the N wall are the only standing remains of this poorly preserved church (OF037-002001-) located in the S sector of a possible graveyard which is enclosed by an earth and stone bank. No gravemarkers visible. 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
- OF037-002003 Ritual site - holy well
Description
Poorly preserved holy well with dry stone wall facing on one side only, no other features visible. Church (OF037-002001-) located immediately to the SE. Associated with St. Lugna (O' Flanagan 1933 vol. 2, 80). 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
- OF037-002004 Cross-slab
Description
Discovered incorporated into the W gable of Cadamstown Church in the 19th-century when recent replastering of the W gable revealed an Early Christian cross-slab (OF037-013002-) that originally came from Letter graveyard (OF037-002002-). Cross referenced with OF037-013002. 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
- OF037-009001 Hilltop enclosure
Description
Situated on top of high ground in mountainous region with good views in all directions. Site consists of an earthen bank running E-W across the N face of a low hill which may originally have enclosed the hilltop. Possible ring-barrow (OF037-009002-) located inside the earthen bank on top of the hilltop. 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
- OF037-009002 Burial mound
Description
Situated on top of high ground with good views in all directions. Possible ring-barrow or burial mound situated inside possible hillfort (OF037-009001-). Site consists of a cicrular flat-topped mound (Top diam. 7m; base diam. 15m) with circular depression (Wth 2m; D 0.7m) on top of mound with evidence of stone kerbing around edge of depression. Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien. Date of upload: 23 May 2011
- OF037-019 House - 17th century
Description
Two storey high gable ended house with high pitched roof and rendered walls with two large protruding chimney stacks at rear of house. According to local information facade of house was rebuilt in the 19th-century. Probable late 17th century house with 19th-century facade. Letter was in the possession of the Adair family in the 17th centuryand later passed into the ownership of the Manifold family the latter may have been responsible for building Letter House (Feehan 1979, 143) 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
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
- About 1 in 10 homes in this area is likely to have high radon levels. Testing a home
- Landslides
- Susceptibility moderately low, low, on the 1:50,000 map.
- Terrain model
- No LiDAR survey of the Office of Public Works covers the centre of this parcel.
- 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.
Download this parcel: DXF, in Irish Transverse Mercator metres, with its neighbours and buildings, for a drawing program; GeoJSON, in WGS 84, for a map; KML, for 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.
- Area
- 91.4 ha
- 226 acres
- Land parcels
- 3
- registered freehold, median 420,317 m² (42.03 ha, 103.86 acres)
- Zoning
- —
- not in a zoned settlement
- Planning
- 1
- applications since 2010
Land parcels
Registered freehold land, Tailte Éireann
3 registered freehold parcels lie mostly in Letter, from 52,954 m² (5.3 ha, 13.09 acres) to 441,712 m² (44.17 ha, 109.15 acres). The dashed line is the townland's boundary; 17 neighbouring parcels touch it.
Download the townland: DXF, in Irish Transverse Mercator metres, with its boundary, parcels and buildings; GeoJSON or KML.
Zoning
Development plans, national zoning
No zone of a development plan covers Letter 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.
Planning applications
Sites that touch the townland, newest first
3 Jul 2017Conditional
A FOREST ACCESS ROAD AND WIDER ENTRANCE TO EXISTING LAND ACCESS AND ALL ASSOCIATED SITE WORKS
Permission · Offaly County Council, 17236
Source: National Planning Applications, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, CC BY 4.0. Applicants are not shown.
Nature and heritage
Designated sites and recorded monuments
Designated sites
- Special Protection Area: Slieve Bloom Mountains SPA 004160
Recorded monuments
- OF037-002001 Church
Description
Situated on a slight rise in upland area with holy well (OF037-002003-) to NW. The W end of the N wall are the only standing remains of this poorly preserved church located in the S sector of a possible graveyard (OF037-002002-) which is enclosed by an earth and stone bank. The surviving wall has a simple flat headed window and displays evidence internally of supporting an E-W barrel vault presumably belonging to a priests residence which appears to have been added on to the W end of the church. No other architectural features visible. The church was built with randomly coursed limestone and sandstone blocks. The wall footings the church measured 26.6m E-W by 4.9m N-S. The width of the church at the W end was 9.2m due to the addition of the priests chamber, with wall thickness measuring 1.5m in order to carry the weight of the vault. Elsewhere the wall thickness measures 0.8m. According to O' Flanagan (1933, vol. 2, 80) the W end of the church was two storeys high with a stairs connecting both floors in the NW corner with main entrance in the W gable. Two pieces of sculptured stone were taken from this church and used in the building of Cadamstown church in the 19th-century, both are Romanesque in date. One of them is a carved head (OF037-013001-) which acted as a corbel while the second piece is a Hiberno-Romanesque hood moulding terminal (OF037-013003-) similar to the ones found in Clonmacnoise. An Early Christian cross-slab (OF037-013002-) also from Letter was found incorporated into the W gable of Cadamstown church during recent restoration. Another Romanesque stone fragment possibly from Letter was recently discovered on top of a gate pillar at Cadamstown House. 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
- OF037-002002 Graveyard
Description
Situated on a slight rise in upland area with holy well (OF037-002003-) to NW. The W end of the N wall are the only standing remains of this poorly preserved church (OF037-002001-) located in the S sector of a possible graveyard which is enclosed by an earth and stone bank. No gravemarkers visible. 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
- OF037-002003 Ritual site - holy well
Description
Poorly preserved holy well with dry stone wall facing on one side only, no other features visible. Church (OF037-002001-) located immediately to the SE. Associated with St. Lugna (O' Flanagan 1933 vol. 2, 80). 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
- OF037-002004 Cross-slab
Description
Discovered incorporated into the W gable of Cadamstown Church in the 19th-century when recent replastering of the W gable revealed an Early Christian cross-slab (OF037-013002-) that originally came from Letter graveyard (OF037-002002-). Cross referenced with OF037-013002. 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
- OF037-009001 Hilltop enclosure
Description
Situated on top of high ground in mountainous region with good views in all directions. Site consists of an earthen bank running E-W across the N face of a low hill which may originally have enclosed the hilltop. Possible ring-barrow (OF037-009002-) located inside the earthen bank on top of the hilltop. 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
- OF037-009002 Burial mound
Description
Situated on top of high ground with good views in all directions. Possible ring-barrow or burial mound situated inside possible hillfort (OF037-009001-). Site consists of a cicrular flat-topped mound (Top diam. 7m; base diam. 15m) with circular depression (Wth 2m; D 0.7m) on top of mound with evidence of stone kerbing around edge of depression. Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien. Date of upload: 23 May 2011
- OF037-019 House - 17th century
Description
Two storey high gable ended house with high pitched roof and rendered walls with two large protruding chimney stacks at rear of house. According to local information facade of house was rebuilt in the 19th-century. Probable late 17th century house with 19th-century facade. Letter was in the possession of the Adair family in the 17th centuryand later passed into the ownership of the Manifold family the latter may have been responsible for building Letter House (Feehan 1979, 143) 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
Architectural heritage
No building of the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage stands in the townland of Letter.
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, landslides, flooding
- Radon
- About 1 in 10 homes in this area is likely to have high radon levels. Testing a home
- 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 Letter.
- 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.
Homes sold
Property Price Register
No address of the register names Letter with five sales or more. The sales of the area are on the page of Co. Offaly.
The townland
- Name
- Letter · Leitir
- Area
- 914,379 m² (91.44 ha, 225.95 acres)
- Civil parish
- Letterluna, and its townlands
- Barony
- Ballybritt
- Electoral division
- Letter, the unit of the census
- Census 2022
- Letter electoral division: 161 people in 55 households; 89% of households own their home; 29% of homes were built since 2001; 5% of dwellings stood vacant on census night, and 2% were holiday homes.
- Neighbouring townlands
- Ballykelly, Clogh, Coolcreen, Deerpark, Lackaroe, Magherabane
- Placenames
- Letter 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.