Castlebrack

17 registered freehold parcels lie mostly in Castlebrack, from 53 m² to 213,026 m² (21.3 ha, 52.64 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 Castlebrack 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.

No planning application touches the townland of Castlebrack 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

No designated site (Special Area of Conservation, Special Protection Area, Natural Heritage Area or proposed one) touches the townland of Castlebrack.

Recorded monuments

• LA001-004 Graveyard
  Description

  Square-shaped graveyard (int. dims. 68m N-S; 77m E-W) enclosed by a stone wall with ruins of church (LA001-004003-) in the centre of the graveyard with site of castle (LA001-004001-) 60m to SE. Architectural fragment consisting of a hood moulding terminal of a late medieval window decorated in relief with a vine leaf motif has been inserted into the graveyard wall. Middle spandrel of a tiwn light ogee headed late medieval window with hollowed spandrel and second spandrel decorated with incised stiff leaf pattern has been inserted into S wall of church (LA001-004003-). Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 17 December 2007

• LA001-004001 Castle - tower house
  Description

  Erected by the Dunne family in 1427 (Crossdaile 1959, 13). Situated c. 25m to SSE of Castlebrack church (LA001-004003-) and at a lower level. Consists of a pile of featureless rubble but probably measured 20m E-W. Remains of bawn wall at S with ditch outside it at E and S. Castle appears to have been situated in the centre of a large circular enclosure defined by an earth and stone bank and outer fosse with entrance gap at W. This enclosure or ringwork appears to be the earthen foundations of a bawn wall (LA001-004006-) that enclosed the castle. Situated c. 25m to SSE of Castlebrack church (LA001-004003-) and graveyard (LA001-004-) and at a lower level. Consists of a pile of featureless rubble but probably measured 20m E-W. Remains of bawn wall (LA001-004006-) at S with ditch outside it at E and S. In the O'Doyne Manuscript, it claims that Tadhg Mac Laighnigh Ui Duinn (Dunne) (O'Doyne) in 1475 was the builder of this castle (Nicholls 1983, 116-7.). In 1608 the castle is described as 'a castle , hall, parlour at end of hall, kitchen, brewhouse, Bakehouse and the rest of the houses within the bawn the haggart and bawns on S side of castle, the garden, the orchard, the parke, the stable and houses for cattle on the west side and also the houses and tenements for tenants and other uses on N and W parts of the said town of Castlebrack (Nicholls 1983, 40). Described by O'Hanlon as 'a castle once strong and stately, hade been erected by the Dunne family. Its last inhabitant was a Colonel Dunne (O'Hanlon & O'Leary 1907, 199). In 1653 the castle was taken by Colonel Hewson and dismantled, but not completely destroyed the next year. In 1680 the castle was repaired and strengthened by extensive outworks by Colonel Terence O'Dunne in preparation for the Williamite wars. Around 1691 the castle appears to have finally fallen into ruins. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Laois' (Dublin Stationery Office, 1995) compiled by P. David Sweetman, Olive Alcock and Bernie Moran. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 17 December 2007

• LA001-004002 Settlement deserted - medieval
  Description

  SW and down-slope from the ruined tower house (LA001-004001-), church (LA001-004003-) and graveyard (LA001-004-) appears to have been the site of a deserted medieval village. Slight remains of earthworks visible. Walls c. 1m thick discovered some years ago in this area. In the O'Doyne Manuscript, it claims that Tadhg Mac Laighnigh Ui Duinn (O'Doyne/Dunne) in 1475 was the builder of this castle (K.W. Nicholls (ed.) 1983, p. 116-7.). In 1608 the castle is described as 'a castle , hall, parlour at end of hall, kitchen, brewhouse, Bakehouse and the rest of the houses within the bawn the haggart and bawns on S side of castle, the garden, the orchard, the parke, the stable and houses for cattle on the west side and also the houses and tenements for tenants and other uses on N and W parts of the said town of Castlebrack (Nicholls (ed.) 1983, 40). Archaeological testing in the vicinity of the tower house and deserted settlement was carried out by John Purcell in 2004 under excavation licence no. 04E1048. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Laois' (Dublin Stationery Office, 1995) compiled by P. David Sweetman, Olive Alcock and Bernie Moran. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 17 December 2007

• LA001-004003 Church
  Description

  Featureless and undifferentiated church in poor condition recently cleaned up and repointed situated in elevated position on high ground overlooking valley to S, in centre of graveyard (LA001-004-) to NNW of castle (LA001-004001-). Built of roughly coursed rubble (dims. 24.7m E-W, 8m N-S; wall T 0.8m) of which only the S wall stands to its full height only the foundations remain. Possible remains of doorway at W end of S wall. Fragment of window tracery lies under nearby table-tomb. It is hammer-dressed limestones as are the quoisn surviving in the NE angle of the church. Middle spandrel of a tiwn light ogee headed late medieval window with hollowed spandrel and second spandrel decorated with incised stiff leaf pattern has been inserted into S wall of church. According to O'Donovan this church was only a chapel of ease for the castle from which the townland received its name (O'Hanlon and O'Leary 1907, vol. 1, 199) O'Donovan described the church as measuring 80 ft. long by 30 ft. broad and seems to have been destroyed about 1691 (O'Flanagan 1933, Vol. 1, 212-16). Church may have been built around 1425-27 when the nearby castle was built. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Laois' (Dublin Stationery Office, 1995) compiled by P. David Sweetman, Olive Alcock and Bernie Moran. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 17 December 2007

• LA001-004006 Bawn
  Description

  Situated c. 25m to SSE of Castlebrack church (LA001-004003-) and graveyard (LA001-004-) and at a lower level. Castle or tower house (LA001-004001-) consists of a pile of featureless rubble but probably measured 20m E-W. Remains of grass covered wall footings of a bawn wall to S of towerhouse with ditch outside it at E and S which forms a circular earthwork like a ringwork around the stone castle. In the O'Doyne Manuscript, Tadhg Mac Laighnigh Ui Duinn (O'Doyne) in 1475 states that he was the builder of this castle (K.W. Nicholls (ed.) 1983, p. 116-7.). In 1608 the castle is described as 'a castle , hall, parlour at end of hall, kitchen, brewhouse, Bakehouse and the rest of the houses within the bawn the haggart and bawns on S side of castle, the garden, the orchard, the parke, the stable and houses for cattle on the west side and also the houses and tenements for tenants and other uses on N and W parts of the said town of Castlebrack (K.W. Nicholls (ed.) 1983, p. 40). In 1680 the castle was repaired and strengthened by extensive outworks by Colonel Terence O'Dunne in preparation for the Williamite wars. Souterrain described by O'Hanlon when he says that in 'There is a remarkable moat at Castlebrack. In the beginning of the last century, the occupying tenant of the farm on which it was situated, L. McEvoy, found under it some subteranneous passages.' (O'Hanlon and O'Leary 1907, vol. 1, p. 199). The moat that enclosed the bawn may have been associated with the defences constructed in 1680 for the Williamite wars. Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 17 December 2007

• LA001-004007 Well
  Description

  Remains of a well located 73m to the SE of the castle (LA001-004001-) at Castlebrack which may be medieval in date. Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 17 December 2007

Architectural heritage

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

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 Castlebrack, 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 moderately low, low, partly inferred.

Terrain model

No LiDAR survey of the Office of Public Works covers the centre of the townland of Castlebrack.

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 Castlebrack with five sales or more. The sales of the area are on the page of Co. Laois.

Name

Castlebrack · An Caisleán Breac

Area

662,870 m² (66.29 ha, 163.8 acres)

Civil parish

Castlebrack, and its townlands

Barony

Tinnahinch

Electoral division

Cappalough, the unit of the census

Census 2022

361 people lived in 116 households in the Cappalough electoral division. 94% of households owned their home. 34% of homes were built since 2001. 10% of dwellings stood vacant on census night, and 1% were holiday homes.

Neighbouring townlands

Cappalough, Cappanlug, Grange, Lackamore, Moneyquid, Roskeen

Placenames

Castlebrack 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.