Headfort Demesne

Area

186,176 m² (18.62 ha, 46.01 acres)

Buildings

No building touches it.

Zoning

S5 G1 - Community Infrastructure (Meath County Development Plan 2021-2027 (As Varied)) The objective
C3 E1/E3 - Strategic Employment Zones (High Technology Uses)/ Warehousing & Distribution (Meath County Development Plan 2021-2027 (As Varied)) The objective
N2.3 TU - Transport and Utilities (Meath County Development Plan 2021-2027 (As Varied)) The objective
P5 RA - Rural Area (Meath County Development Plan 2021-2027 (As Varied)) The objective

Townland

Headfort Demesne

Planning applications on this parcel

• 24 Feb 2017Conditional

  to continue the use of the existing 30 metre high lattice communication structure, carrying communication dishes and antennae within an existing 2.4 metre high fenced compound previously granted temporary permission Ref. KA111157 (An Bord Pleanala Ref. PL17.240308) at ESB Telecoms Ltd Telecommunication compound ESB Kells 38kV Substation

  Permission · Meath County Council, KA170190

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 10 recorded monuments.

• DU017-118 Icehouse
  Description

  Annotated ‘Ice Ho.’ on the last edition of the Ordnance Survey six-inch map where it is shown standing in woodland, 40m east of the River Liffey.  Standing on the demesne lands of St. Edmondsbury House (NIAH Reg. No. 11202003 ) located 110m to the south-east. Depicted as a circular-shaped structure on the 1863 edition of the Ordnance Survey 25-inch map. Not depicted on the 1837 edition of the Ordnance Survey six-inch map. Mature woodland visible in the area of the icehouse on the 2013-18 MapGenie orthoimage.    Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien   Date of Compilation: 26 November 2025

• DU017-119 Kiln - lime
  Description

  Limekiln depicted immediately to the north-east of a quarry on the 1837 ed. OSi six-inch map. Standing on the demesne lands of Woodville House (DU017-006----) standing 220m to the north with avenue to the house 50m to the west.  Not indicated on the last edition of the OSi six-inch map. Annotated ‘L.K.’ on the 1863 edition of the Ordnance Survey 25-inch map where it is depicted as a square-shaped structure in a small woodland area.  Coniferous woodland plantation visible on the 2013-18 MapGenie orthoimage.   Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien   Date of Compilation: 26 November 2025

• DU018-020280 Barracks
  Description

  Islandbridge Barracks / Royal Artillery Barracks / Clancy Barracks A large rectangular-shaped area enclosed by an unfinished wall standing on the footprint of the Royal Artillery Barracks (Island Bridge Barracks/Clancy Barracks) that is shown on a painting by Thomas Bates dated c. 1695 was suggested to be the site of an unfinished barracks of late 17th century date.  This identification of a barracks was refuted by Igoe and Dwyer (1998, 79) who suggested that this was the site of a brewery rather than that of a barracks. Thomas Bates' oil painting of A View of Dublin from the Phoenix Park c. 1695 was mistakenly attributed by Strickland to the Swedish artist Michael Dahl (1656-1743).  This painting is in the possession of the Evelyn family of Wooton House, Surrey, England. It shows the eight-arched 16th-century bridge with a large unfinished building in the background which stands in the area where the Island Bridge Barracks/Clancy Barracks stands today.  Strickland (1926, 94) suggested that this building was the site of a barracks that was never finished. The unfinished structure in the painting consisted of a large area enclosed by a stone wall which ran alongside the northern bank of the River Liffey.  A tall central archway is shown in the centre of the western wall of the structure facing towards Island Bridge.  In 1698 an Act was passed in the Irish Parliament for the building and finishing of Barracks in Ireland and Strickland suggested that this unfinished structure was  one of those unfinished barracks referred to in the 1698 Act.  He suggested that a Pamphlet in the Halliday Collection in the R.I.A. stated that before 1704 a number of Barracks had been actually built or building, but that some had been "cast" on the score of expense, and that the Island Bridge site may have been one of this barracks that was never completed (ibid.).  There is no supporting documentary evidence for the presence of a barracks at this site in the late 17th-century.  However the oil painting clearly shows the presence of a large walled structure of 17th-century date on the footprint of the Royal Artillery Barracks which was later renamed Island Bridge Barracks/Clancy Barracks. According to Maher (1932, 10) a painting by Francis Place dated 1698 of a similar view to Bate's painting shows that the unfinished building was completed by 1698 and he suggested that it ‘is highly probably that they were military barracks and near their site were erected in 1820 the present Island Bridge barracks'. Research by Igoe and O'Dwyer (1988, 79) attributed this painting to Thomas Bate which they dated to c. 1695 and described the scene as; 'Bate's 'View of Dublin' is most striking and richly coloured and while the foreground appears somewhat amateurish the buildings are well executed. Their accuracy can be verified by comparison with Francis Place's view taken from the same spot in 1698. However, Bate's is clearly the earlier view since he shows a building at Islandbridge under construction, while Place shows it completed and roofed. This was Davies' brewery, which Strickland mistook for an unfinished barracks. The present Islandbridge Barracks on the same site was not begun. until after 1797. The date of the painting can be further narrowed down by examining the wall of the Master's garden which is shown joined to the flanker of the bawn wall. We know that this was not done until 1695, suggesting that the Bate painting was executed around that time. To the right of the brewery are a pair of oast houses, and immediately behind them a curious tiered house known as 'Mitchell's Folly', built by Alderman Michael Mitchell on ground leased from Robinson. Robinson's own house, a substantial hip-roofed building with dormer windows, lay in front of it, facing the Islandbridge road. Its date has not been established but it is probably contemporary with the Hospital. He added a servants' wing in 1691.  Adjoining the house to the north was a timber yard owned by Robinson who allegedly profited handsomely from the supply of material used in the construction of the hospital’. Islandbridge Barracks recorded in 2025 in the ‘Our Shared Built Military Heritage: The online mapping, inventorying and recording of the Army Barracks of Ireland, 1690-1921' a project that was funded by the North South Research Programme 2022-2024 and co-led by University College Dublin and The Open University' (Forbes and McGrath 2025).  The barracks was described in the inventory of the ‘Army Barracks of Ireland - Our Shared Military Heritage, 1690-1921’ as follows; ‘recorded in 2025 in the ‘Our Shared Built Military Heritage: The online mapping, inventorying and recording of the Army Barracks of Ireland, 1690-1921' a project that was funded by the North South Research Programme 2022-2024 and co-led by University College Dublin and The Open University' (Forbes and McGrath 2025).  Collins Barracks was described in the inventory of the ‘Army Barracks of Ireland - Our Shared Military Heritage, 1690-1921’ as follows; ‘The barracks at Islandbridge, which was sometimes referred to as the Royal Artillery Barracks, was constructed in or around 1798. Originally designed for artillery, it was supplemented by the addition of Islandbridge Cavalry or ‘Lower’ Barracks in the 1850s nearer to the River Liffey. The capacity of the barracks in 1867 was 25 cavalry officers, 625 cavalrymen and 435 horses. The establishment of ordnance repair workshops on the centrally-located Cambridge Square in the 1860s was part of the shift in use towards becoming an Ordnance Depot as well as the location for the Transport Corps and a repository for captured or surrendered rebel weapons. The British Army remained in situ until December 1922 when the barracks was taken over by the National Army during the Irish Civil War. It remained in use as an Ordnance barracks thereafter and was renamed Clancy Barracks in 1942 after Peadar Clancy. It remained an Irish Defence Forces installation until 1998. The site was sold to a developer in the early 2000s, with a plan for a number of residential dwellings. Due to the global financial crisis, the project was only completed in 2022. A small number of historical buildings remain extant, most importantly the renovated Victorian Cavalry Officers Mess (formerly Ordnance Corps HQ House), which has been incorporated into the Clancy Quays development of residential apartments on the site'. Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien based on description taken from inventory of the ‘Army Barracks of Ireland - Our Shared Military Heritage, 1690-1921   Date of Compilation: 11 November 2025

• DU018-542 Barracks
  Description

  Montpelier Hill Barracks   A 19th-century barracks on Infirmary Road was recorded in 2025 in the ‘Our Shared Built Military Heritage: The online mapping, inventorying and recording of the Army Barracks of Ireland, 1690-1921' a project that was funded by the North South Research Programme 2022-2024 and co-led by University College Dublin and The Open University' (Forbes and McGrath 2025).  The barracks was described in the inventory of the ‘Army Barracks of Ireland - Our Shared Military Heritage, 1690-1921’ as follows; ‘Both the Royal Military Infirmary and Montpelier Hill Barracks were part of a wider military district that stretched from the Royal Barracks northwards to Marlborough Barracks.  The Royal Military Infirmary was built in the 1780s. Although primarily a hospital, it appears on lists of permanent barracks in the mid-nineteenth century. After it ceased to function as a hospital it served as the headquarters of the Commander of the British forces in Ireland from 1913 to 1922. As to its original purpose, it had by that time been superseded by the new George V Hospital, built between 1902 and 1913 at the site several hundred meters to the east which had previously been the location of the Arbour Hill Military Hospital. The latter in turn was renamed St Bricins Military Hospital after 1922. Meanwhile Montpelier Hill barracks, which dates from in or around 1890, housed the Royal Army Medical Corps, who worked in both the Royal Military Infirmary, and was on the west side of Infirmary Road and the isolation hospital situated on the east side beside the barracks. The  barracks remained in operation until the British Army withdrawal in 1922. The Royal Military Infirmary remains largely extant and is now the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. Significant portions of the military district along Infirmary Road have been handed over to various government departments, notably the Department of Justice. The original Montpelier Hill Barracks entrance building is still extant but is currently derelict'.   Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien based on description taken from inventory of the ‘Army Barracks of Ireland - Our Shared Military Heritage, 1690-1921   Date of Compilation: 11 November 2025

• DU018-547 Barracks
  Description

  McKee Barracks / Marlborough Barracks (Cavalry)   A 19th-century barracks on on Blackhorse Avenue was recorded in 2025 in the ‘Our Shared Built Military Heritage: The online mapping, inventorying and recording of the Army Barracks of Ireland, 1690-1921' a project that was funded by the North South Research Programme 2022-2024 and co-led by University College Dublin and The Open University' (Forbes and McGrath 2025).  The barracks was described in the inventory of the ‘Army Barracks of Ireland - Our Shared Military Heritage, 1690-1921’ as follows; ‘A barracks was built on Blackhorse Avenue, near the Phoenix Park, between 1888 and 1892 in order to accommodate a war-strength regiment of cavalry comprising 862 men of all ranks and their horses. It was the last permanent barracks to be constructed in Dublin and completed the project for encirclement of the city first envisaged and commenced at the time of the Napoleonic Wars at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Its strategic location also allowed easy access to the Phoenix Park for training purposes as well as close proximity to sea and rail transport links. It was initially known as Grangegorman Barracks but was thereafter renamed Marlborough Barracks, possibly after the former lord lieutenant of Ireland from 1876-80, John Winston Spencer Churchill, 7th duke of Marlborough, though more likely after his more famous ancestor, John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough. It remained in continual service as an active military barracks during the final decades of the British Army’s presence in Dublin and was handed over to the National Army during the Irish Civil War. Renamed McKee Barracks in 1926 in honour of Richard ‘Dick’ McKee, an Irish Republican Army officer from the Dublin Brigade who was killed while in custody after the events of Bloody Sunday in November 1920, the barracks remains in use by the Irish Defence Forces'.   Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien based on description taken from inventory of the ‘Army Barracks of Ireland - Our Shared Military Heritage, 1690-1921   Date of Compilation: 11 November 2025

• ME017-065001 Ring-ditch
  Description

  A group of six ring-ditches situated in a slight hollow on a fairly level landscape are placed c. 100m apart on land that was once part of the demesne of Headfort House. They are only visible on Apple Maps, which utilises a survey conducted by Bluesky International during June 2018. This is a circular feature (diam. c. 5m) defined by a single fosse that could have an entrance at W. The complex was first reported by Anthony Murphy. See the attached enhanced aerial view from Apple Maps Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 27 January 2020

• ME017-065002 Ring-ditch
  Description

  A group of six ring-ditches situated in a slight hollow on a fairly level landscape are placed c. 100m on land that was once part of the demesne of Headfort House. They are only visible on Apple Maps, which utilises a survey conducted by Bluesky International during June 2018. This is a circular feature (diam. c. 15m) defined by a single continuous fosse. The complex was first reported by Anthony Murphy. See the attached enhanced aerial view from Apple Maps Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 27 January 2020

• ME017-065003 Enclosure
  Description

  A group of six ring-ditches situated in a slight hollow on a fairly level landscape are placed c. 100m apart on land that was once part of the demesne of Headfort House. They are only visible on Apple Maps, which utilises a survey conducted by Bluesky International during June 2018. This perfectly circular feature (diam. c. 25m) is defined by a continuous fosse, and it could have a pit at its centre. The perimeter is cut at the E edge by the cropmark of a NE-SW drain that is represented as the SE boundary of a wood on the 1836 and 1908 editions of the OS 6-inch map. The complex was first reported by Anthony Murphy. See the attached enhanced aerial view from Apple Maps Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 27 January 2020

• ME017-065004 Ring-ditch
  Description

  A group of six ring-ditches situated in a slight hollow on a fairly level landscape are placed c. 100m apart on land that was once part of the demesne of Headfort House. They are only visible on Apple Maps, which utilises a survey conducted by Bluesky International during June 2018. This is a circular feature (diam. c. 12m) defined by a single fosse feature that could have an entrance (Wth c. 3m) at W. The complex was first reported by Anthony Murphy. See the attached enhanced aerial view (L) from Apple Maps Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 27 January 2020

• ME017-065005 Ring-ditch
  Description

  A group of six ring-ditches situated in a slight hollow on a fairly level landscape are placed c. 100m apart on land that was once part of the demesne of Headfort House. They are only visible on Apple Maps, which utilises a survey conducted by Bluesky International during June 2018. This cropmark of a perfectly circular enclosure (diam. c. 15m) is defined by a continuous fosse. The complex was first reported by Anthony Murphy. See the attached enhanced view (R) from Apple Maps Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 27 January 2020

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 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 low. Parts of the land are made ground.

Terrain model

No LiDAR survey of the Office of Public Works covers the centre of this parcel.

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.