Hillcastle

30 registered freehold parcels lie mostly in Hillcastle, from 234 m² to 404,029 m² (40.4 ha, 99.84 acres). The dashed line is the townland's boundary; 21 neighbouring parcels touch it.

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

No zone of a development plan covers Hillcastle 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.

• 18 Oct 2024Granted (conditional)

  Permission for retention of the installation of a Bio-Crete waste water treatmen

  Retention · Wexford County Council, 20241292

• 13 Feb 2024Granted (conditional)

  Permission for the upgrading of a domestic wastewater treatment system

  Permission · Wexford County Council, 20240134

• 25 Nov 2022Granted (conditional)

  Permission for retentionof a garden room, extention to domestic garage and

  Retention, 2 homes · Wexford County Council, 20221567

• 12 Oct 2022N/a

  Permission for retention of a garden room, extension to domestic garage and

  Retention, 2 homes · Wexford County Council, 20221350

• 4 Oct 2022Granted (conditional)

  Permission for retention of the erection of a glass house and retention of the e

  Retention · Wexford County Council, 20221307

• 12 May 2022Granted (conditional)

  Permission for retention of an extention to dwelling (sunroom 8.36sq Metres) and

  Retention, 1 home · Wexford County Council, 20220631

• 30 Aug 2021Granted (conditional)

  Permission for retention for retention of alterations to dwelling house, includ

  Retention, 1 home · Wexford County Council, 20211390

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 Hillcastle.

Recorded monuments

• WX048-010 Ringfort - rath
  Description

  Situated in a gently rolling landscape. A circular cropmark (int. diam. c. 30m) defined by a bank feature, and an outer fosse feature E-S-NW is visible on aerial photograph (CUCAP, BOD 84). It is visible as a slightly raised indeterminate area on the ground in pasture. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Wexford' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1996). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Compiled by: Michaeel Moore Date of upload/revision: 7 January 2014

• WX048-023001 Castle - tower house
  Description

  Situated on a broad, low hill. The small manor of Ballyell, occupying perhaps half of Kiscoran parish, was held by the Codd family for a quarter a knight’s fee from the Valence property into the 15th century (Brooks 1950, 122). By the 1640s Nicholas Codd holds only 36 acres at Coddsballyell (Simington 1953, 304) and the Codds are not connected with the castle at Hill. References to the Hay family date from 1345 when Adrian Fitz-Jones Hay of Kilscoran is recorded (Jeffrey 1979, 20). The castle is marked on the Down Survey (1656-8) barony map. Mathew Hay held 98 acres at Hill in 1640 (Simington 1953, 304). For the Down Survey barony map see this web-page accessed on 12 Dec. 2013 (http://downsurvey.tcd.ie/down-survey-maps.php#bm=Forth&c=Wexford) The property later passed to the Nunn family (Jeffrey 1979, 20) and the castle became incorporated into the NW corner of a later house. It was described as a tower ‘about 50 feet (c. 15m) high with six modern windows inserted into the N side’ (OSFM 1940). It was probably a tower house (Hore 1925, 17-18), which was pulled down c. 1960. It is within the circular moated site (WX048-023002-). The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Wexford' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1996). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload/revision: 7 January 2014

• WX048-023002 Moated site
  Description

  Situated on a broad, low hill. This is a D-shaped area (dims c. 100m N-S; c. 100m E-W) defined by a water filled moat (Wth 6-20m) enclosing a semicircular area SW-N-E, with the moated site (WX048-023003-) abutting the inside of the moat at SE. The castle site (WX048-023001-) is in the N interior and the centre is occupied by farm buildings. The abpve description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Wexford' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1996). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload/revision: 7 January 2014

• WX048-023003 Moated site
  Description

  Situated on a broad, low hill and abutting the inner edge of the moat of the circular moated site (WX048-023002-) at E. This is a raised rectangular area (dims. 42m N-S; 25-30m E-W) in mixed woodland defined by a moat at W (Wth 8m; D 0.8m) and S (Wth 6m; D 2.5m). There is an overgrown mound (diam. 11m; H 1.6m), perhaps spoil, at the NE corner. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Wexford' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1996). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload/revision: 7 January 2014

• WX048-023004 Mound
  Description

  Situated on a broad, low hill. There is an overgrown mound (diam. 11m; H 1.6m), perhaps spoil, at the NE corner of the rectangular moated site (WX048-023002-) that is within the circular moated site (WX048-023001-). Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 7 January, 2014

• WX048-023005 Signal tower
  Description

  The approximate site of this signal station was located close (c. 350m SSE of) to the summit of a low broad hill, and c. 1.12kms to the SW of the small village of Tagoat (OD c. 34m). It was located somewhere within the demesne grounds of Hill Castle (WX048-023001-), now demolished. The surrounding area consists of arable and pastureland, defined by generally linear field boundaries, with a number of limited wooded areas located adjacent to the S, a legacy of the former demesne at this site. The adjacent stations in the signal station chain were found at Crossfarnoge\Crossfaranogue (WX051-011----), located c. 14.65kms to the SW\WSW at Crossfarnoge Point, now demolished, and at Fort Point (WX038-007009-), which was located c. 10.9kms to the N on a tip of a sand spit at Rosslare Point, at the entrance to Wexford Harbour, where the signal crew was accommodated at a Martello tower (WX038-007002-), the site of which has now been lost to coastal erosion. The signal station was located adjacent to the tower house (WX048-023001-) that later formed part of a country house, now demolished, and a number of associated features including an impressive wide moat (WX048-023002-) that surrounds the site of the castle in a wide semi-circular arc. The probable site of the signal station is located c. 1.8kms to the WSW of a medieval church (WX048-04001-) and associated graveyard (WX048-04002-) located just to the E outskirts of Tagoat, and c. 2.6kms to the W of a tower house (WX048-033001-) located at Ballyconnor Big. The signal station\tower Hill Castle Signal Tower has been demolished and its exact position or original form is not known. Kerrigan established that a signal station\tower had been completed at the site by 1804, and that the signal mast had been erected by 1805 (Kerrigan 1995, 276). The signal station\tower was apparently located in Hillcastle, a small townland that occupies a low hill several miles inland from the coast (nearest point of coastline c. 5kms to the ESE), an unusual location for a signal station, which tended to be established adjacent to the coastline, usually close to the tip of a peninsula. The establishment of a signal station here bypassed the need to construct a station at Carnsore Point c. 7.5kms to the SSE. The entire townland at Hillcastle seems to have been managed as a single estate, centred on a tower house, Hill Castle (WX048-023001-), which had been extended into the form of a courtyard-form country house by the time of the Ordnance Survey first ed. six-inch map of 1839-40. The entire complex was demolished in 1960. The signal station\tower is not shown on the Ordnance Survey first ed. six-inch map, surveyed 1839-40, indicating it was removed at an early date. It is possible that the signal crew were accommodated at existing building(s) to site at the time with the signal mast established at a high point close by. The signal tower was part of a system of over 80 signal stations constructed by the British Board of Ordnance in the first decade of the nineteenth century to warn of the approach of a French invasion fleet. Signalling between sites was accomplished using a naval signal post. The system formed a continuous chain from Malin Head in Donegal to Dublin Bay. It was abandoned by the mid-1810s when the treat of a French invasion diminished (Kerrigan 1995, 157-66). Compiled by: Stuart Rathbone Uploaded on: 05/10/22

Architectural heritage

• Hill Castle, gate lodge, 1842–1881 · Regional interest
  Description

  Detached three-bay single-storey gate lodge, extant 1903, on a rectangular plan with two-bay single-storey rear (west) elevation. Renovated, ----. Replacement hipped artificial slate roof with ridge tiles centred on cement rendered chimney stack to apex having concrete capping supporting terracotta pot, and cast-iron rainwater goods on box eaves. Limewashed fine roughcast walls. Pointed-arch central door opening with rendered "bas-relief" surround framing timber door. Pointed-arch flanking window openings with cut-granite sills, and rendered "bas-relief" surrounds framing two-over-two timber sash windows having Y-tracery glazing bars. Square-headed window openings to rear (west) elevation with cut-granite sills, and concealed dressings framing timber fittings. Set back from line of road at entrance to grounds of Hill Castle.

• Hill Castle, gates/railings/walls, 1842–1881 · Regional interest
  Description

  Gateway, extant 1903, on a symmetrical plan comprising pair of granite ashlar piers on chamfered plinths having "Cavetto"-detailed shallow pyramidal capping supporting arrow head-detailed wrought iron double gates with granite ashlar outer piers on chamfered plinths having "Cavetto-"detailed shallow pyramidal capping supporting arrow head-detailed wrought iron railings. Road fronted at entrance to grounds of Hill Castle.

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

About 1 in 20 homes in this area is likely to have high radon levels. Testing a home

Landslides

Susceptibility low, low (inferred), on the 1:50,000 map.

Terrain model

LiDAR of the Office of Public Works, flown in 2011, at 2 m: tile OPW_3136 (ZIP).

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.

• Hillcastle, Tagoat5 sales

Name

Hillcastle · Caisleán an Chnoic

Area

576,385 m² (57.64 ha, 142.43 acres)

Civil parish

Kilscoran, and its townlands

Barony

Forth

Electoral division

Kilscoran, the unit of the census

Census 2022

Kilscoran electoral division: 1,073 people in 388 households; 84% of households own their home; 45% of homes were built since 2001; 6% of dwellings stood vacant on census night, and 7% were holiday homes.

Neighbouring townlands

Ballycowan, Ballykelsh, Ballymacushin, Lough, Shilmaine

Placenames

Hillcastle 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.