Balleen Little

5 registered freehold parcels lie mostly in Balleen Little, from 129 m² to 32,965 m² (3.3 ha, 8.15 acres). The dashed line is the townland's boundary. 5 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 Balleen Little 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 Balleen Little 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 Balleen Little.

Recorded monuments

• KK009-037001 Castle - unclassified
  Description

  On a terrace of a hill slope, looking across valleys with good views to the N, E and W. A small stream runs roughly E-W, outside the S side of the castle. The medieval church (KK009-038001-) of Balleen is located c. 100m to the S. According to Carrigan (1905, vol. 2, 332-3), this multi-period complex consisted of, 'a large ancient keep, to the south of which was a lofty square building, both being connected by a long hall or house. The keep dated probably from the 15th century, and stood in ruins, till one Twelfth Night, about 1875, when it collapsed. Only its basement storey now remains. The lofty square building to the south is still a substantial ruin, but roofless, and floorless, and tottering to its fall. Judging from its walls, which are not more the 2 ft. [0.6m] thick, and from the windows, which are large and furnished with mullions and transoms, it can have no pretensions to high antiquity. It was probably built in 1647, by Richard, third Viscount Mountgarret, who made some addition to Balleen castle, in this year, as may be inferred from the inscription at Ballyconra House (KK004-024001-), which notes that the reconstructed doorway was originally set up at 'Ballien' by R.L.V. Mountgarret in 1647. In 1596, "Ballyn" is mentioned among the principal residences of the Co. Kilkenny. Richard, third Viscount Mountgarret, appears to have made Balleen his residence, in preference to Ballyragget, where his father and grandfather had lived before him'. Mountgarret is also associated with Balleen in 1610 and again in 1624 (ibid.). There is a local tradition that the building works on the house were never completed (ibid.). On the Down Survey parish map (1655-6) the complex is depicted as 'a decayed stone house'. The Dublin Journal (1862, vol. 1) has an illustration of the N tower standing to almost full height. The internal view of the N wall shows the crease-line of the roof, with two doorways above the roofline giving access to a mural chamber on the parapet. The N end of the E and W wall also survive to almost full height but the S wall appears to have collapsed. It is described as having been, ‘erected in the course of the fourteenth century, and was the keep of the fortress as it then stood. It contained four floors, one of which was arched; a fine stone staircase in one of the angles that is now nearly destroyed, together with fireplaces and the other usual appendages to a building of the kind – all now in a most dilapidated condition’ (anon. 1862, vol. 1). The 1st (1839) ed. OS 6-inch map indicates a circular bawn (KK009-037003-) with two buildings in the SE quadrant which relate to a gatehouse, a building projecting from the bawn in the SSW and a building abutting the bawn internally in the NW quadrant. When visited in 1987 little survived of the gatehouse (entrance Wth 2m) which is described as having a very ornate double-gate. When re-visited in 2018 there was no visible trace of the gatehouse at ground level. The 1st ed. OS map also shows a fork in the public road to facilitate entrance to the castle via the gatehouse. The Dublin Journal’s illustration of Balleen Little castle shows the gatehouse as a single-storey building with pitched-roof and chimney at the apex of the roof. The gable is above the arched entrance which appears to have been blocked up, with a small window in the blocking. A small shed, shown as a single-storey building with a cat-slide roof and doorway in the E wall, is depicted W of the gatehouse. The building depicted in the NW quadrant, the N tower, appears to be the N end of a building (L 23m; int. Wth c. 6.5m) running roughly N-S. The N wall (T c. 0.85m) and N end of the E wall (L c. 6m; T 0.9m) are thinner than the remainder of the E wall (upstanding L c. 6m; T c. 1.2m) and the upstanding W wall (T c. 1.3m) which does not survive at the N end. The N end (dims. c. 6m N-S; c. 9m E-W) is filled with collapsed masonry which is spills out over any remaining portion of the W wall. In the thicker section of W wall, S of the collapsed rubble, there are the remains of a wall oven in the thickness of the wall (Wth 1.5m; D 1.3m; H min. 0.7m) and c. 2m S of this there are the remains of a broken out window embrasure, though only the voussoirs of the inner and outer embrasure survive in the partially broken out inner face of the wall. Any other features on the W wall are obscured by collapsed masonry, though the splay of a blocked loop is evident externally towards the S end. The later bawn abuts this building at the W end of the N and S wall. In 1987 this curving later bawn is depicted on a sketch plan running between this long building and the projecting tower to the SW. This section of bawn has since collapsed and any remains are obscured by a mound of rubble. The projecting SW tower which dates from the 17th century, was built onto the exterior of an earlier circular tower (wall T at first-floor level c. 1.95m), at least four-storeys high, only a short section (chord 3.2m) of this survives. This circular tower has a slight external base-batter (H 3m; Wth c. 0.15m). The internal face of this tower has a number of straight faces at different angles, with two walls projecting northward internally and the remains of a window embrasure and corbel at the E end. The latter features are probably original to the circular tower, while the narrow projecting internal wall appears to be later. According to a description of Balleen Little Castle in the Dublin Journal (1862, vol. 1), there was a datestone A. D. 1455 over one of the windows of the SE tower, however, if this date is correct, it dates the earlier phase of the castle. The circular tower may have been a mural tower on an earlier bawn associated with the NW tower. Of the six-storey SW rectangular tower (dims. c. 12m E-W; c. 8m N-S; wall T 0.9m), built of limestone rubble roughly coursed, only the W wall and the W end of the N and S wall survive. Cut block-and-start quoins survive on the SW angle. When visited in 1987 the E wall or its foundations were possibly still visible as it was recorded as being c. 12m long, however, when visited in 2018 nothing survived of the E wall and only 6.5m of the S wall survived. The ground floor, possibly a semi-basement level, is filled with collapsed rubble which is c. 1.4m above external ground level on the E side and 0.9m on the W side. There is no evidence of any windows on the W wall or W end of the S wall at this level, though there is a wide relieving arch at the S end of the W wall which may have been built to provide additional support to this portion of the wall which is weakened by having a vertical line of windows above it at each floor level up to and including fourth-floor level. These windows are all broken out, with only some sill stones surviving. At fifth-floor level the S splay of a window embrasure in the centre of the wall survives. At the N end of the W wall there is another large vertical breach from third-floor level up. A large chunk of masonry has collapsed from the top floor and is resting rather precariously in the top of the breach. There is another vertical line of windows up to and including fourth-floor level roughly mid-way in the S wall, only the W splay of the embrasures surviving, except at third-floor level where evidence of a mullion and transomed two-light, or larger, window of survives. At fifth-floor level, W of centre in the wall, the W jamb and lintel of a chamfered limestone fireplace survive. At the W end of the modified N wall a squinch has been inserted at first-floor level to square off the floor and to provide support for the features above, including a high rectangular recess at third-floor level. In the E of the surviving N wall there are the remains of straight-sided door embrasures at third and fifth-floor level, giving access between the rectangular tower and the circular tower to the N. The illustration in the Dublin Journal (ibid.) shows a large breach at ground level in the E wall, proba

• KK009-037003 Bawn
  Description

  On a terrace of a hill slope, looking across valleys with good views to the N, E and W. A small stream runs roughly E-W, outside the S side of Balleen Little castle (KK009-037001-). The medieval church (KK009-038001-) of Balleen is located c. 100m to the S. The 1st (1839) ed. OS 6-inch map indicates a circular bawn with two buildings in the SE quadrant which relate to a gatehouse, a building projecting from the bawn in the SSW and a building abutting the bawn internally in the NW quadrant. The 1st ed. OS map also shows a fork in the public road to facilitate entrance to the castle via the gatehouse (see castle for description). In a sketch plan of the castle complex in 1987 the bawn is drawn as being almost completely intact, the N section being truncated to the E by the N-S running public road and portions of the S section surviving to within 6m of the public road. The bawn (L 15m) is indicated running between the building in the NW quadrant and the tower in the SW quadrant and the foundations of the bawn (L 13m) are shown running between the SW tower and the gatehouse in the SE quadrant. The portion between the NW building and SW tower is completely obscured by collapsed masonry. The foundations in the S-SE quadrant, along with the buildings in the SE are no longer visible at ground level. The NW section of the bawn is largely standing, though the N section (L c. 30m) running up to the public road is no longer visible at ground level. The surviving NW section runs from the W end of the N wall of the NW building, but clearly post-dates this building as it is not keyed into the masonry. The upstanding bawn is constructed is quite small roughly coursed rubble sandstone with external harling (T0.06m). The bawn is well defended with a number of limestone gun-loops of various design, including two circular shot-holes, a stirrup loop and three crosslet loops with stirrup base. While circular in overall design the wall is not a true circle, rather it follows a circular plan made up of lengths of straight wall with subtle turns at intervals. The gun-loops suggest that the upstanding bawn dates from a later phase of building at the castle complex in the late 16th or early to mid-17th century. A circular tower, of which only the S wall survives incorporated into the N wall of the SW tower, may have been a mural tower on an earlier bawn associated with the NW tower. This monument is subject to a preservation order made under the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014 (PO no. 3/1992). Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 10 July 2018

• KK009-038001 Church
  Description

  On a slight plateau, just below a hill crest looking onto a slightly lower and larger plateau occupied by Balleen Castle (KK009-037001-) and then across the valleys to the N,E and W. A simple rectangular structure (max. dims. 14m E-W; 6m N-S) of roughly coursed rubble (wall T 0.9m). The central portion of both the N and S wall has largely collapsed, with the wall surviving at either end. The E gable (H 3.5m) has largely collapsed, forming a mound of rubble, very overgrown. The W gable (H c. 5.5m) is largely intact, though the upper portion is obscured by vegetation. Scrub growth obscures the tops of all the walls.The OS Letters (1839) describe, 'a breach in the north wall where the door must have stood, as there is no doorway to be seen any where else. There is a breach in the east gable which has carried away the window, if any there was. There is a small window high up in west gable, about three feet [0.9m] high and two and a half feet [c. 0.75m] wide, covered with a flag inside, about one foot ten inches [c. 0.56m] high and three inches [0.075m] wide on the outside, formed of five cut stones [sketch of flat-headed window opposite the description] (O'Flanagan ed. 1930, vol. 1, 94 (32)). Carrigan (1905, vol. 2, 332) suggests that this church served as a chapel for the castle c. 100m to N. There is no associated graveyard visible at ground level. A sheela-na-gig (KK009-037004-), probably originally from this church or the nearby castle (KK009-037001-), is now inserted in a wall at the nearby farmyard. This monument is subject to a preservation order made under the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014 (PO no. 3/1992). Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 16 July 2018

• KK009-038002 Earthwork
  Description

  On a slight plateau, just below a hill crest looking onto a slightly lower and larger plateau occupied by Balleen Castle (KK009-037001-) and then across the valleys to the N,E and W. Balleen church (KK009-038001-) is immediately to the S. Probably associated with Balleen Castle and bawn (KK009-037003-) c. 120m to the N. Several low banks forming an irregular pattern of hollows and platforms, with one large, rectangular platform (max. dims. 22m N-S; 7m E-W) at S. This monument is subject to a preservation order made under the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014 (PO no. 3/1992). Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 5 February 2018

Architectural heritage

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

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 Balleen Little, 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.

Terrain model

LiDAR of the Office of Public Works, flown in 2011, at 2 m: tile OPW_2032 (ZIP).

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 Balleen Little with five sales or more. The sales of the area are on the page of Co. Kilkenny.

Name

Balleen Little · Baile Uí Eidhin Beag

Area

67,424 m² (6.74 ha, 16.66 acres)

Civil parish

Balleen, and its townlands

Barony

Galmoy

Electoral division

Balleen, the unit of the census

Census 2022

517 people lived in 173 households in the Balleen electoral division. 93% of households owned their home. 33% of homes were built since 2001. 6% of dwellings stood vacant on census night, and 1% were holiday homes.

Neighbouring townlands

Balleen Lower

Placenames

Balleen Little 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.