Balfeaghan

31 registered freehold parcels lie mostly in Balfeaghan, from 18 m² to 1,793,706 m² (179.37 ha, 443.23 acres). The dashed line is the townland's boundary; 33 neighbouring parcels touch it.

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

• P5RA - Rural Area (Mixed/general primary sector uses, including 'rural')
  Meath County Development Plan 2021-2027, Meath · 43 parcels The zoning objective in the plan
• G1F1 - Open Space (Open space, park)
  Meath County Development Plan 2021-2027, Meath · 10 parcels The zoning objective in the plan
• R4A2 - New Residential (Strategic Residential Reserve)
  Meath County Development Plan 2021-2027, Meath · 1 parcels The zoning objective in the plan
• C2.1E2 - General Enterprise and Employment (Industrial, enterprise, employment)
  Meath County Development Plan 2021-2027, Meath · 1 parcels The zoning objective in the plan

Source: Tailte Éireann and the Department of Housing (MyPlan), national zoning, CC BY 4.0.

• 13 Jan 2024Conditional

  the development will consist of a repositioned and redesigned two-storey dwelling and attached garage from that approved under application 23/242. The existing dwelling approved for replacement under application 23/242 has already been demolished under commencement notice CN0106847MH. All other aspects of the development to remain as previously approved

  Permission, 1 home · Meath County Council, 2460023

• 8 Mar 2023Conditional

  demolition of the existing dwelling and attached garage and the construction of a new two-storey dwelling and attached garage, the relocation of the vehicular entrance to the site to improve sightlines and road safety, the relocation of the private water well and the provision of a new wastewater treatment system and sand polishing filter together with all associated site development works

  Permission, 1 home · Meath County Council, 23242

• 27 Sept 2021Conditional

  (1) the construction of a one-storey side and rear extension to have a mixture of flat and pitched roof (2) the new extension to comprise of new hallway, two bedrooms, storage, kitchen/diner/family space (3) the addition of roof lights (4) new proprietary waste water treatment unit with polishing filter (5) internal modifications and all associated site development and landscaping works

  Permission, 1 home · Meath County Council, 211880

Source: National Planning Applications, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, CC BY 4.0. Applicants are not shown.

Designated sites

• Proposed Natural Heritage Area: Royal Canal 002103

Recorded monuments

• ME049-017 Church
  Description

  The parish church of Balfeaghan is located at the W edge of a fold in a gentle S-facing slope and is within a subrectangular graveyard (dims c. 53m NW-SE; c. 20m NW-SE at NE to c. 35m NW-SE at SW), with the NW-SE Summerhill to Kilcock road (R158) outside on the SW side. The headstones date mostly from c. AD 1850 to 2000, but there is one dated 1724. The parish was created out of Galtrim parish after 1250 (O’Neill 2002, Fig. 5), but it is not listed separately in the ecclesiastical taxation (1302-06) of Pope Nicholas IV (Cal. doc. Ire., 5, 255-6). The chapel is amongst the possessions of St Peter’s abbey at Newtown Trim (ME036-049003-) at its suppression in 1540 (White 1940, 294). Ussher (1622) describes the church and chancel as ruinous (Erlington 1847-64, 1, lxxviii). According to the Dopping visitation (1682-5) the church was dedicated to St. Feighin, and both the church and chancel were destroyed. At that time the graveyard was not enclosed (Ellison 1972, 5). The saint is probably St. Féichín of Fore, Co. Westmeath. The scant remains of the church have been conserved, probably in the 1830s when a burial enclosure (int. dims 5.1m N-S; 3.7m E-W) with memorials from that period was built against the W side of the E gable wall. No original features are evident, but sections of the N (L c. 2m; H c. 1.3m; T 0.68m) and S (L c. 2m; H c. 1.3m; T 0.74m) walls are conserved further W, and a scarp (H c. 0.3m) may indicate the W wall. The church would appear to have been an undivided structure (int. dims 18.3m E-W; 5.1m N-S), although Cogan (1862-70, 2, 359-60) provides measurements of ’44 feet by 16 feet (c. 13.4m x c. 4.9m)’. Two fragments of a cusped ogee-headed window and a fragment of a sandstone font are secured in the burial enclosure. The font fragment (max. dim 0.54m; H 0.17m) is displayed upside down, showing the circular rim of its underside (ext. diam. 0.37m), a sunken area (diam. 0.27m) for the attachment of a shaft, and its drain-hole (diam. 0.12m). Three of an original four lug-like protrusions rise from the outside of the basin. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Meath' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1987). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of revision: 10 April, 2015

• ME049-017001 Graveyard
  Description

  Located at the W edge of a fold in a gentle S-facing slope. The parish church of Balfeaghan (ME049-017----) is within a subrectangular graveyard (dims c. 53m NE-SW; c. 20m NW-SE at NE to c. 35m NW-SE at SW) with the NW-SE Summerhill to Kilcock road (R158) outside on the SW side. It is defined by masonry walls and contains headstones dating mostly from c. AD 1850 to 2000, but there is one dated 1724. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of revised upload: 10 April, 2015

• ME049-017002 Font
  Description

  A fragment of a sandstone font are secured in the burial enclosure at the E end of the parish church of Balfeaghan (ME049-017----). The fragment (max. dim 0.54m; H 0.17m) is displayed upside down, showing the circular rim of its underside (ext. diam. 0.37m), a sunken area (diam. 0.27m) for the attachment of a shaft, and its drain-hole (diam. 0.12m). Three of an original four lug-like protrusions rise from the outside of the basin. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 10 April, 2015

• ME049-036 Habitation site
  Description

  Situated on a rise of a gentle S-facing slope and on the W side of the NW-SE R158 road, across from the parish church of Balfeaghan (ME049-017----). Archaeological testing (06E1231) by A. Collins in advance of a realignment of the road identified archaeological features (Collins 2008, 19-20) that were subsequently excavated (07E0295) as Site 14 by the same archaeologist (excavations.ie 2007:1256). The glebe, represented only on the 1836 edition of the OS 6-inch map, is not specifically recorded in documentary sources until the mid to late seventeenth century when Bishop Henry Jones (1661-82) records ‘a house and garden with one acre glebe’ at Balfeaghan, and Bishop Dopping records ‘no glebe, a house and garden’ in 1682-5 (Ellison 1972, 5-8). The glebe is not specifically mentioned thereafter, which may mean that it was no longer economically significant or that the Church no longer owned the land, although as a feature of the landscape it persists into the nineteenth century (Collins 2009, 11-13). The earliest excavated feature is a NW-SE drain (Wth 1.45m; max. D 1m; L 27m plus) on the line of the NE boundary of the small glebe (dims c. 75m NW-SE; c. 35m NE-SW) depicted on the 1836 edition of the OS 6-inch map. The ditch contained three fills but no artefacts were recovered. A sample of carbonised grain from a secondary fill yielded a C14 determination of 660-780 cal. AD, which could suggest that the church and its glebe may have an early medieval origin, but it is more likely that the grain is residual. A re-cut of the ditch (Wth 1.15m; D 0.24m) on the same line produced 21 sherds of high medieval wares (ibid. 18). A contemporary ditch (Wth 1.05m; D 0.48m) ran E from it with the same range of ceramic material. The SW end of a small rectangular enclosure (max int. dims c. 7m NW-SE; 5m plus NE-SW) defined by ditches (max. Wth 1.6m; max. D 0.6m) abuts the long glebe boundary on its NE side. The two lower fills of the ditches contained medieval pottery but post-medieval wares, including pearlware, red-glazed and black-glazed earthenware and a clay pipe stem appear in the upper fill. A ditch (Wth 1.2m; D 0.27m) extended NW from its W corner, parallel with and c. 1-2m from the earliest glebe ditch. Its fills produced sherds of the usual high medieval wares. The rectangular enclosure may represent a small plot, perhaps adjoining a cottage at the roadside and is the major phase present, although no evidence of such a cottage was present on site. (ibid. 19-22) Two parallel NE-SW ditches, c. 1m apart, cut the later of the NW-SE ditches at the N extent of the excavated area. The fills contain high medieval wares with some metal slag. A ditch on a similar alignment c. 22m further S probably originated with the SW ditch of the small enclosure, but the conjunction was obscured by a curving ditch (Wth 1.45m; D 0.4m), C-shaped in plan, that extends SE and curves NE, cutting all earlier features and is almost the last event on site. Its one fill had a mix of medieval and post-medieval wares, including single sherds of Merida ware and creamware. Coeval with this, and parallel with its NE-SW course, is a shallow gully (Wth 0.9m; D 0.28-0.52m) that produced a C14 determination of 1460-1640 cal. AD from a sample of carbonised grain. (ibid. 23-7) Post-medieval features include an L-shaped trench (Wth 0.5m; D 0.2m) consisting of an E-W arm curving into a N-S arm at its E end. A short drain runs S into the interior from the E-W arm. Some flagstones (dims 3.2m x 1.8m) over the trench at the corner could be an entrance to the structure. The ceramics from the trench are largely medieval but later wares and a fragment of a clay pipe are also present. These features cut the defining ditch of the small enclosure. At the SW edge of the excavated area a new ditch (max. Wth 1.2m; max. D 0.9m) on the same NW-SE alignment of the earlier major drains but c. 7m to the SW has two fills and yielded 187 sherds of exclusively post-medieval pottery as well as a clay pipe stem and 16 glass fragments. Two smaller E-W gullies undoubtedly fed into it. (ibid. 27-35) In the later Middle Ages the plot was replaced by ditches yielding Dublin fine and coarse wares that are probably further iterations of the glebe boundary that came to be represented on the map. A carbonised grain from a gully produced a radiocarbon determination of 1450-1640 cal. AD. A final phase is represented by a ditch on the line of the NE boundary of the mapped glebe. Related features included slot-trenches and a possible brick hearth and paved surface which is probably the structure depicted on Larkin’s map of 1812 and the 1836 OS 6-inch map. See the attached plan from Collins (2009, fig. 2) Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 29 June 2021

Architectural heritage

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

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 10 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_2713 (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.

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

Name

Balfeaghan · Baile Fhiacháin

Area

2,689,241 m² (268.92 ha, 664.53 acres)

Civil parish

Balfeaghan, and its townlands

Barony

Deece Upper

Electoral division

Rodanstown, the unit of the census

Census 2022

Rodanstown electoral division: 1,865 people in 606 households; 90% of households own their home; 50% of homes were built since 2001; 8% of dwellings stood vacant on census night, and 0% were holiday homes.

Neighbouring townlands

Boycetown (Co. Kildare), Calgath, Dolanstown, Kilcock (Co. Kildare), Kilglin, Padinstown

Placenames

Balfeaghan 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.