Broadleas Commons

Area

1,704 m²

Buildings

2 buildings touch it. Their footprint covers 294 m².

Zoning

C2.1 Enterprise and Employment (Kildare County Development Plan 2023 - 2029 (Variation 3) - Ballymore Eustace) The objective

Townland

Broadleas Commons

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

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 19 recorded monuments.

• KD029-011001 Historic town
  Description

  On a S-facing slope on the E bank of the River Liffey, near the border with County Wicklow. A significant pre-Norman ecclesiastical presence is indicated by the two high crosses (KD029-011006- and KD029-011007-) and a cross slab (KD029-011009-) in the graveyard (KD029-011004-) containing the ruins of St. John’s Church (KD029-011002-) at the E end of the town. According to Bradley et al. (1986, vol. 1, 71-74), the name ‘Ballymore’ [i.e. Baile mór/town] is found in late 12th-century documents, while the epithet Eustace first occurs in Irish in 1548 and in English sources from 1666, because the Eustace family held the office of constable of the castle (KD029-011005-) for most of the Middle Ages. A Norman motte (KD029-011003-) was erected, probably to the N of the present town. Ballymore was a manor belonging to the archbishops of Dublin: references occur to the archbishop’s castle of Ballymore in a grant of 1181-90 and to his manor of Ballymore in a grant of 1191. The grant of a weekly market is referred to between 1189 and 1199, and in 1234, Henry III granted the archbishop the right to hold a yearly fair. A document of c. 1256-66 indicates Ballymore had become a borough with burgesses paying 12d yearly and holding 12 acres in burgage. A 1326 extent of the manor of Ballymore states that there were 160 burgesses in the borough, as well as two water mills and a common kiln together with 16 cottages that paid no rent, four cottages lying in waste and a plot of land called ‘Taillourbourgage’. In 1540, the grant of a weekly market and annual fair was confirmed by the king to the archbishop. Ballymore was plundered during the Geraldine revolt of 1546, while in 1572, it was reported that all Ballymore, except for one le Strange’s house and castle, had been burned by the Irish. In 1608, James I revived the rights of fairs and markets in the town and in 1659, the population was given as 132. The precise location and extent of the medieval borough is uncertain. It may have stood near St. John’s Church (KD029-011002-) at the E end of the present town or may have been focused on Church Road, to the SW, which runs roughly N-S in a bend in the River Liffey, and off which, especially to the E, long narrow, burgage-like plots run. The layout of the ‘main’ part of the town, including Main Street and the Market Square to the NE of Church Road, probably dates from the 17th-century. In 1997 archaeological testing was carried out under licence no. 97E0370 on a proposed house site (693075/709960) listed as Site 2 at Bishopslane in 1997 uncovered medieval features, deposits and finds relating to the medieval settlement (KD029-011001-) of Ballymore Eustace (Hayden 1998, 90). The site was located on the S side of Bishopslane Road 155m W of the medieval church (KD029-011002-) and graveyard (KD029-011004-) and 265m SE of the Anglo-Norman motte castle (KD029-011003-). The archaeological deposits were concentrated at the N end of the development site in a 20m zone running N-S and facing onto the present road. Archaeological testing under licence No. 97E0425 was carried out on the adjoining development sites; Site 1 located immediately W of Site 2 and Sites 3-6 located immediately to the E. Medieval settlement features, deposits and finds were found in all 19 test trenches with possible medieval structure at the N and S ends of the trenches with cultivation furrows located in between the possible structures (Hayden 1998, 90, No. 262). The archaeological testing in these fields shows that the settlement associated with the medieval town or manor of Ballymore Eustace located between the medieval church and castle. In 1999 a Preservation Order (PO 1 of 1999) was placed on the proposed development site No. 1 (693046/709953), Site No. 3 (693099/709936) , Site No 5 (693146/709912) and Site No. 6 (693180/709896). In the same year archaeological monitoring was carried out on Site 4 prior to the construction of a single storey dwelling and no archaeological features or deposits were uncovered (Lynch 2000, 121, No. 360). The following year archaeological monitoring of ground-works on Site 3 under licence No. 97E0425etx. was carried out and medieval pottery dating from the 12th-15th century was recovered from the site. A bungalow was subsequently constructed on this site. Sites 1, 5, and 6 are currently undeveloped green-field sites as visible on Digital Globe aerial photographs. Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy Revised by: Caimin O'Brien Date of revised upload: 4 April 2017

• KD029-011002 Church
  Description

  In a graveyard (KD029-011004-) at the E edge of Ballymore Eustace, a historic town (KD029-011001-). According to Bradley et al. (1986, vol. 1, 77-8), the first reference to a church occurs in 1192, although the presence two high crosses (KD029-011006- and KD029-011007-) and a cross slab (KD029-011009-) in the graveyard indicates the existence of a significant pre-Norman church site. The church was a prebend of St. Patrick’s cathedral in Dublin from before 1227 when it was valued at 20 marks. It is referred to as the ‘church of Blessed Mary of Ballymore’ in a document of 1529-34. The church was described as in good repair in the Royal Visitation of 1615, but had deteriorated by the time of Archbishops Bulkley’s Visitation in 1630. Few physical remains survive: fragments of two walls are visible to the E (L 1.8m; H 3m; T 1.05m) containing a splayed ope, and S (L 2m; H c. 1m; T 1.05m) of the present, 19th-century church. A font (KD029-011010-) in the porch of the 19th-century church presumably came from the medieval church, while a second font (KD029-011013-) in the graveyard is said to have come from Coghlanstown church (KD029-005001-). Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy Date of upload: 30 August 2013

• KD029-011003 Castle - motte
  Description

  Possibly at the N edge of Ballymore Eustace, a historic town (KD029-011001-), where ‘Close Hill’ is named on the OS 25-inch map and shown as a steep-sided subcircular earthwork (base diams. c. 25m NE-SW; upper surface diams. c. 12m NE-SW; c. 10m NW-SE). According to Counihan (1991, 58-9), ‘The section drawing [done by the architect Basil Stallybrass sometime between 1901 and 1906] shows the deliberate scarping of Close Hill and confirms the location of the motte site. Basil's notes mention Close Hill, a circular mound - no bailey, height 35 ft (c. 10.7m) - a terrace on the top larger one side than the other'. According to Bradley et al. (1986, vol. 1, 76), Close Hill is a conical mound (H 20m; summit diam. 9m), the upper 3-4m of which appear to be the result of artificial heightening. The N side has been quarried for gravel. The summit is uneven, and there is a lower (D 1.5m) sloping platform on the W (Wth 6-7m). Large stones and blocks, with traces of mortar, in the enclosing field wall suggest the presence of a significant masonry structure, possibly an Anglo-Norman masonry castle (KD029-011005-), on the motte. Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy Date of upload: 30 August 2013

• KD029-011004 Graveyard
  Description

  On a S-facing slope on the E edge of Ballymore Eustace, a historic town (KD029-011001-). A roughly square area (max. c. 82m E-W; c. 80m N-S) is enclosed by a well-built stone wall with a gate and stile in the NW corner and a gate in the SE corner. Mature beech and yew trees grow throughout. It’s likely to have been a significant pre-Norman ecclesiastical site because the graveyard also contains two high crosses (KD029-011006- and KD029-011007-), two cross-inscribed slabs (KD029-011008-, KD029-011009-) and seven graveslabs (KD029-011014- to KD029-011020-). There is also a medieval font (KD029-011013-), a holed stone (KD029-011012-) and the fragmentary remains of a medieval church (KD029-011002-) to the rear of an upstanding 19th-century church, which itself contains a second medieval font (KD029-011013-) and a 16th-century knightly effigy (KD029-011011-). Burials from the 18th-century to recent times are marked by chest tombs, table tombs and headstones, many of which are leaning and some of which are broken. Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy Date of upload: 30 August 2013

• KD029-011006 Cross - High cross
  Description

  The cross stands in a graveyard (KD029-011004-) to the N of a 19th-century church. Of granite, this tall, slightly tapering, ringed cross (H 3.4m; Wth across arms 1.4m; shaft H 2.15; Wth 0.42-0.49m; T 0.33-0.35m) stands on deeply buried rectangular base. The upper shaft and the E side of the S arm are damaged. The W face has a large central boss surrounded by a low rounded moulding and the ring on both faces is banded by a double half-roll moulding. It is probably pre-1200 in date. A secondary inscription in Roman capitals on the W face reads (anticlockwise); AMEN/ NO(r) THE 9 ERECTED IN 16/89/BY/ AM WALL/ IHS (King, H. 1999 Excavations at the North Cross, Ballymore Eustace, Co. Kildare. Unpublished report, National Monuments Service, Dublin), and commemorates its re-erection in 1689. The cross was leaning badly, and in 1999 it was taken down and re-erected securely, the work being informed and facilitated by a small scale archaeological excavation around the base (Licence No. 99E0143; King, op. cit.). The deeply buried base consists of a large granite boulder, worked to create a stepped pyramidal shape on its upper surface. It is crudely cut, and the steps are of uneven height. The lower part of the stone is unworked, and the eastern side is steeply concave. The base was sitting on the undisturbed natural and was propped on the east by a number of stones overlain in places by mortar. The cross shaft was found to have no tenon and sat loosely in the base’s mortice to a depth of c. 0.3m. The mortice was, however, over double that depth but bellied inwards at c. 0.3-0.35m below the upper surface, resulting in a narrowing which did not permit the shaft to be seated securely in position. The gap between the shaft and the mortice had allowed an old iron key, probably for the church door, to slip down into the bottom of the mortice, which was filled up with soil, dead leaves and water. Excavation was confined to the area immediately around the base so that no stratified burials would be disturbed, although a number of cuts for burials were recorded. The lack of significant stratigraphy or any great depth of burial suggested that this area of the graveyard had not been extensively used. The finding of two sherds of medieval pottery, slag, a bronze binding strip and a small quantity of animal bone suggested some medieval occupation activity in the area before its use as a burial-ground. (Manning 1998, 112; King 2004) Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy Date of upload: 30 August 2013

• KD029-011007 Cross - High cross
  Description

  Bradley (et. al. 1986, vol. 1, 79) described the South Cross standing in Ballymore Eustace graveyard (KD029-011004-), to the SE of St. John's C. of I. church as consisting of an unpierced ringed cross carved from a single block of granite (total H 1.97m; base: H 0.82m; L 0.46-0.56m; Wth 0.38-0.4m; shaft; H 1.15m; Wth 0.35m T 0.24-0.27m). The base is a tall rectangular piece of stone, not much wider than the shaft, with low moulding around its edges. The gently tapering shaft has rounded edges and is undecorated except for half-diamond shapes on the lower end of each face. Only the lower sections of recessed spandrels forming the ring survive. It is probably pre-1200 in date. Recent photogrammetric survey of this cross carried out by Seán Sourke clearly shows the V shaped terminal at the base on all four faces of the cross. The survey also revealed faint traces of a possible ringed cross visible on the W face of the base and fainter traces of possible decoration on the other three faces of the cross-base. See attached photogrammetric images courtesy of Seán Sourke. Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy Revised by: Caimin O'Brien Date of revised upload: 16 October 2020

• KD029-011008 Cross
  Description

  According to Bradley et al. (1986, vol. 1, 79) it stands in a graveyard (KD029-011004-), to N of a 19th-century church. A roughly shaped granite Latin cross (dims. H 1.67m; Wth across arms 0.4m; T 0.15m) of uncertain date. Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy Date of upload: 30 August 2013

• KD029-011009 Cross-slab
  Description

  According to Bradley et al. (1986, vol. 1, 79) it stands in a graveyard (KD029-011004-), to W of a 19th-century church. A tapering granite slab (H 1.03m; Wth 0.47-0.67m; T 0.19m) bears an incised cross with expanded arms, and is probably pre-1200 in date. (Corlett 2003, 87, 88, 106, Slab 1) Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy Date of upload: 30 August 2013

• KD029-011010 Font
  Description

  According to Bradley et al. (1986, vol. 1, 79-80), the font stands in the porch of a 19th-century church, in a graveyard (KD029-011004-). A cylindrical granite stone (diam. 0.77m; H 0.47m) contains a bowl (diam 0.54m; D 0.25-0.26m) which is almost straight-sided and has a flat base with a central circular drain-hole (diam. 0.09m). The rim of the bowl is flat but has broken away at one point and was subsequently replaced with concrete. It is possibly 12th-century in date. Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy Date of upload: 30 August 2013

• KD029-011011 Tomb - effigial (present location)
  Description

  According to Bradley et al. (1986, vol. 1, 80), a 16th-century limestone knightly effigy was moved from Old Kilcullen (KD028-049012-) to a 19th-century church in a graveyard (KD029-011004-) in Ballymore Eustace. The slab, carved in high relief with the figure of a knight, is believed to represent Sir Oliver FitzEustace. The head is on a cushion and the feet rest on an animal. The right arm lies on his breast and the left is extended, lying across a sword. The knight is represented as armed, in a long hauberk (coat) of mail with short sleeves and with a mail collar attached. The bascinet (helmet) has a visor and there is a crest, possibly a stag couchant, on the forehead (Hunt 1974, 77, 153, Fig. 142). Hunt (op. cit. 153) considers that the effigy, ‘represents indifferent journeyman’s work, but is said to have been “restored” in the nineteenth century.’ Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy Date of upload: 30 August 2013

And 9 more.

Architectural heritage

• Ballymore Eustace National School, school, 1830–1840 · Regional interest
  Description

  Detached three-bay two-storey former National School, dated 1835, on an L-shaped plan retaining early fenestration with single-bay single-storey canted bay window to left ground floor, single-bay two-storey side elevation to north-west and three-bay two-storey return to rear to south-west. Extended, c.1970, comprising single-bay single-storey lean-to return to south. Renovated, c.1990, with window opening remodelled to right ground floor having timber shopfront inserted. Now in residential use with ground floor in part commercial use. Hipped and gable-ended roof on an L-shaped plan with slate. Clay ridge tiles. Rendered chimney stacks. Rendered coping to gable. Cast-iron rainwater goods. Lean-to to additional return. Artificial slate. Roughcast walls. Painted. Cut-stone date stone/plaque. Square-headed window openings (including canted bay window to left ground floor). Stone sills. 2/2 timber sash windows to ground floor (1/1 timber sash windows to canted bay window with bipartite arrangement to centre opening). 8/8 timber sash windows to first floor. Window opening remodelled, c.1990, to right ground floor with timber panelled shopfront inserted having fixed-pane windows. Round-headed door opening. Moulded rendered archivolt. Timber panelled pilaster doorcase. Timber panelled door. Decorative fanlight. Set back from road in own landscaped grounds. Gravel forecourt to front.

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, partly inferred.

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.