Lickbla

30 registered freehold parcels lie mostly in Lickbla, from 442 m² to 313,952 m² (31.4 ha, 77.58 acres). The dashed line is the townland's boundary; 21 neighbouring parcels touch it.

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

No zone of a development plan covers Lickbla 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.

• 26 May 2021Conditional

  Retention consisting of an entrance hall to the front and a bathroom, kitchen and dining room to the rear of dwelling on ground floor, plus six bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs and an upgraded septic tank, waste water treatment system and associated works.

  Retention, 1 home · Westmeath County Council, 21294

• 6 May 2021N/a

  Permission for downstairs addition of bathroom, kitchen and dining room to the rear and a front hallway downstairs, plus six bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs in addition to a new septic tank waste water treatment system and associated works

  Retention · Westmeath County Council, 21245

• 24 Oct 2017N/a

  retention permission for 371sqm storage shed and all ancillary site services.

  Retention · Westmeath County Council, 176299

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 Lickbla.

Recorded monuments

• WM003-011 Ringfort - rath
  Description

  Situated on a N-S ridge with very good views to the SE. Overlooked by The Hill of Mael 1km to N and Rock of Curry 1.3km to NW. Circular area (diam. 30m N-S; 28m E-W) defined by a poorly preserved earthen bank best preserved from S-W-N, elsewhere reduced to a scarp, wide fosse and external bank. A gap in the bank at E may represent the original entrance. Running along the inner face of the inner bank there is a narrow flat ledge or berm (Wth 3-5m). The interior rises with the natural slope forming a circular shaped platform in the centre of the ringfort. The slight outline of a rectangular house (WM003-011001-) stands on top of this platform. No surface remains visible of souterrain (WM003-011002-) inside ringfort. Compiled by: Frank Coyne & Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 9 December 2016

• WM003-011001 Hut site
  Description

  Situated on a N-S ridge with very good views to the SE. Overlooked by The Hill of Mael 1km to N and Rock of Curry 1.3km to NW. The slight outline of a rectangular house (WM003-011001-) stands on top of a circular-shaped platform in the centre of a ringfort (WM003-011----). No surface remains visible of souterrain (WM003-011002-) inside ringfort. Compiled by: Frank Coyne & Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 9 December 2016

• WM003-011002 Souterrain
  Description

  Situated on a N-S ridge with very good views to the SE. Overlooked by The Hill of Mael 1km to N and Rock of Curry 1.3km to NW. The slight outline of a rectangular house (WM003-011001-) stands on top of a circular-shaped platform in the centre of a ringfort (WM003-011----). No surface remains visible of souterrain inside ringfort (Adams 1957, 46). The berm running along the inner face of the inner bank may indicate location of souterrain. Compiled by: Frank Coyne & Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 9 December 2016

• WM003-038 Church
  Description

  Located on rise of ground in undulating countryside with motte and bailey castle (WM003-037----) 50m to E, watermill 340m to WNW and Lady Well (WM003-098----) 400m to S. Ivy-covered ruins of a poorly preserved nave (int. dims. 11.4m E-W; 5.6m N-S) and chancel (int. dims. 5.7m E-W; 4.5m N-S; wall T 0.86m) church stands on high ground in the centre of an oval shaped graveyard (WM003-038001-). The building was impossible to examine in detail due to the dense cover of ivy and the interior of the nave was inaccessible due to the dense cover of vegetation. Present remains consist of a nave and chancel church with post medieval entrance gate inserted into E end of S wall of chancel when chancel was converted into private burial area. The walls of the church are built with coursed rubble with base batter visible on E gable of church which survives to full height and contains a single light round-headed window with hollowed recessed spandrels and square hood-moulding above. The punch dressed jambs with glazing grooves of the medieval window do not match the round headed arch of the window which was possibly inserted into the window in the late 16th/ early 17th century. The interior of the chancel which is smaller in width than the nave was converted into a private burial area in the 19th century if not earlier. Inside the chancel in front of the E window there is the headstone of Reverend John Murray, priest of Castlepollard who died in 1805. Only the springing stones of the chancel arch survives on the S side. A low stone wall running across this opening was built in the post-medieval period blocking access from the nave into the chancel. Possible remains of a broken out window in NE corner of chancel. There are two gaps in the S wall of the nave, the gap located off centre to E may the remains of a broken out window with the other gap representing the remains of a destroyed doorway. The W wall is covered in ivy and impossible to examine as a result. The N wall of the nave contains a gap which possibly represents the remains of window located directly opposite the gap in the S wall marking the possible doorway into the church. A second broken out gap in the N wall located off centre to E possibly represents the remains of a broken out window. According to Cogan (1867, 400) the parish of Lickbla was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin and formed part of the monastic estate of Fore abbey (WM004-035010-). Cogan described the church ruins of Lickbla as following; ‘the old church measured fifty-five feet seven inches (16.75m) by eighteen feet six-inches (5.6m)’ (ibid.). Compiled by: Caimin O’Brien Date of upload: 18 August 2015

• WM003-038001 Graveyard
  Description

  Situated on top of rise of ground in undulating countryside with motte and bailey castle (WM003-037----) 50m to E. Medieval church ruins (WM003-038----) stands in centre of graveyard which contains memorials of post-medieval date. Graveyard depicted as an oval shaped area on the 1838 ed. OS 6-inch map and as an irregular shaped graveyard (approx. dims. 45m N-S; 50m E-W) on subsequent editions of the OS maps. Present remains consist of an irregular shaped area enclosed by a stone wall of post medieval date with entrance gate and stile at E facing onto public road. The enclosing boundary wall incorporates cut stone fragments of the medieval church which are visible in the external facing of the graveyard wall. The curvilinear shape of the graveyard wall along the S and W sides possibly indicates the presence of an Early Christian ecclesiastical enclosure (WM003-038002-) (Swan 1988, 21). A chamfered window sill from the medieval church has been reused as gravemarker in the SW quadrant of the graveyard. According to Cogan (1867, 409) the Reverend Walter Murtagh who was appointed to Castlepollard in 1846 was responsible for the building of the graveyard wall at Lickbla and Foyran (WM001-042001-) in order ‘to prevent desecration of the dead’. Compiled by: Caimin O’Brien Date of upload: 18 August 2015

• WM003-038002 Ecclesiastical enclosure
  Description

  Situated on top of rise of ground in undulating countryside with motte and bailey castle (WM003-037----) 50m to E. Medieval church ruins (WM003-038----) stands in centre of graveyard (WM003-038001-) which contains memorials of post-medieval date. The curvilinear shape of the graveyard wall along the S and W sides possibly indicates the presence of an Early Christian ecclesiastical enclosure (Swan 1988, 21). Compiled by: Caimin O’Brien Date of upload: 18 August 2015

• WM003-039 Megalithic tomb - wedge tomb
  Description

  The following description is derived from Ruaidhrí de Valera and Seán Ó Nualláin, Survey of the Megalithic Tombs of Ireland. Volume III. Counties Galway, Roscommon, Leitrim, Longford, Westmeath, Laoighis, Offaly, Kildare, Cavan. (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1972) (See linked document with details). ‘The monument is situated on rolling pasture land some three miles north of Castlepollard. About 1 mile from the site, towards the north-west, the land falls away to low flat bog. To the north the Hill of Mael and the Rock of Curry form the skyline. The tomb is ruined and the orthostats are deeply buried in the enveloping mound. The remains of a long narrow gallery, orientated roughly NNE-SSW, are visible. An outer-wall about 1 m. beyond the eastern side of the gallery is represented by two stones. One stone, near the northern edge of the mound, may be another outer-wall stone. Four prostrate stones lying along the gallery are probably displaced roofstones. These are from 1.30 m. to 2 m. in maximum dimension and between 0.30 m. and 0.50 m. thick. The structure stands in the northern end of a roughly oval-shaped mound about 20 m. long, 14 m. in greatest width and up to 1.50 m. high. The present outline of the mound is probably the result of spill and cultivation. About 1 m. south of the present end of the gallery a depression, about 2.30 m. in diameter, and 0.35 m. deep, is probably the result of robbing. A fence passes within 2 m. of the mound at the north-east. Embedded in the fence, some 2 m. north of the tomb, is a fine erect stone, 1.60 m. long, 0.35 m. thick and 1.15 m. high, which may have once formed part of the structure. Three stones of the western side of the gallery are visible. That at the north is at least 0.55 m. long, 0.20 m. thick and 0.15 m. high. Its north and south ends are concealed. The next sidestone is 4.80 m. to the south. It is 0.40 m. long, 0.35 m. thick and 0.25 m. high. The stone next to this is 0.85 m. long, 0.25 m. thick and 0.50 m. high. The opposite side of the gallery is also represented by three stones. The more northerly is 0.35 m. long, •20 m. thick and 0.20 m. high. The stone next to this is 0.50 m. long, 0.25 m. thick and 0.20 m. high. The third stone is 2.80 m. further to the south. It is 0.50 m. long, 0.30 m. thick and 0.20 m. high. Several points of stone exposed along this side may be the tops of other sidestones but this cannot be decided without excavation. The outer-wall stone at the south is 0.90 m. long, 0.45 m. thick and 0.70 m. high. The second outer-wall stone is in line with the last and 4.50 m. to the north. It is 1.40 m. long, 0.60 m. thick and 1 m. high. Some 4 m. west of this, on the opposite side of the gallery, is an almost prostrate stone which may be a third outer-wall stone. It is 1 m. long, 0.20 m. thick and, if erect, would be 0.50 m. high. Several almost concealed stones around the north end of the tomb are of uncertain function and may only be cairn stones. A displaced stone, 1.20 m. in maximum dimension and 0.50 m. thick, lies at the edge of the mound at the north-east. Though the remains are scant, the tomb can confidently be classified as a Wedge-tomb. The gallery seems to have been at least 7 m. long and about 1.30 m. in width.’ Date of upload: 3 October 2011

• WM003-040 Ringfort - rath
  Description

  Situated on a slight SE facing slope surrounded by gently undulating land with extensive views to the E, S & W. A sub-triangular shaped area with straight side at W enclosed by and earth and stone bank with traces of an external fosse best preserved from S-W. Entrance gap at E. The interior slopes gently from NW-SE and is subdivided by low earthen banks. The outline of a possible rectangular house (WM030-040001-) is visible in the centre of the ringfort with a second, smaller rectangular house (WM030-040002-) adjoining the bank on the S side. Compiled by: Frank Coyne & Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 4 January 2017

• WM003-040001 Hut site
  Description

  Situated on a slight SE facing slope surrounded by gently undulating land with extensive views to the E, S & W. The interior of a ringfort (WM003-040---) is subdivided by low earthen banks. The outline of a possible rectangular house is visible in the centre of the ringfort with a second, smaller rectangular house (WM030-040002-) adjoining the bank on the S side. Compiled by: Frank Coyne & Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 4 January 2017

• WM003-040002 Hut site
  Description

  Situated on a slight SE facing slope surrounded by gently undulating land with extensive views to the E, S & W. The interior of a ringfort (WM003-040---) is subdivided by low earthen banks. The outline of a possible rectangular house (WM003-040001-) is visible in the centre of the ringfort with a second, smaller rectangular house adjoining the bank on the S side. Compiled by: Frank Coyne & Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 4 January 2017

• WM003-041 Megalithic structure
  Description

  All that remains visible are the W corner, approximately rectangular, of a large slab with another stone set on edge beside it. The latter is orientated approximately SW-NE. According to the landowner the SW-NE stone was years ago about 1 ft 6 inches (0.45m) in height. It is now only c. 0.15m in height. The stone on edge is 0.9m in length. Compiled by: Frank Coyne & Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 5 January 2017

• WM003-103 Water mill - unclassified
  Description

  The precise location of a medieval watermill in the townland of Lickbla has not been identified. A 1558 land grant to Sir Richard Nugent, Baron of Delvin included ‘a water-mill in Likebla’ (Morrin 1861, 395). There appears to have been two mills located in Lickbla. In 1647 a fine of £15 was levied on a group of mills in Co. Westmeath to pay Captain Ignatius Nugent of the Irish Confederate Army. The sum of £3 5s 4d. was levied on 'Lady of Glancoe, or her tenants, two mills in Lickbla' (Cal. S.P. Ire., 624). The 19th century corn mills beside Lickbla House may have been located on or close to the site of the medieval mill. The present 18th century mill was described by the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage as following: 'Former corn and flax mill complex, built c.1790 and extended c.1840, comprises detached and attached multi-bay two and three-storey buildings, arranged around a courtyard to the rear (east) of Lickbla House (15400305). No longer in use as a mill complex. Pitched natural slate roofs with overhanging eaves and cast-iron rainwater goods. Built of coursed rubble limestone with evidence of early lime render to some sections of walling. Red brick dressings to the openings. Square-headed openings with remains of diamond pane cast-iron windows and timber battened doors. Segmental-headed carriages arches with replacement timber double doors. Set back from road in mature grounds. Rubble limestone gate piers on circular plan having wrought-iron double gates give access to site from the west. Rubble limestone boundary walls to road frontage (northwest). Double-arched rubble limestone bridge over tailrace to the east' (buildingsofireland.ie). Compiled and revised by: Caimin O’Brien Date of revised upload: 6 December 2016

Architectural heritage

• Lickbla House, country house, 1780–1880 · Regional interest
  Description

  Detached three-bay two-storey house, built c.1800 and altered c.1880, with single-storey extension to the south. Possibly incorporating the fabric of an earlier structure. Pitched natural slate roof with raised rendered verges to either end and a pair of brick chimneystacks to the centre. Rendered walls over rendered plinth with raised quoins to the corners. Square-headed openings with cut stone sills and six-over-six pane timber sliding sash windows. Canted bay windows having shallow hipped roofs over flank doorcase to main façade (west). Square-headed doorcase having glazed timber double doors set in later cut stone Doric porch. Set back from road in extensive mature grounds with extensive complex of rubble limestone outbuildings, arranged around a courtyard, and a former corn mill (15400305) to the rear to the rear (east) and main entrance gates to the west. Located to the northwest of Castlepollard.

• Lickbla House, mill (water), 1790–1840 · Regional interest
  Description

  Former corn and flax mill complex, built c.1790 and extended c.1840, comprises detached and attached multi-bay two and three-storey buildings, arranged around a courtyard to the rear (east) of Lickbla House (15400305). No longer in use as a mill complex. Pitched natural slate roofs with overhanging eaves and cast-iron rainwater goods. Built of coursed rubble limestone with evidence of early lime render to some sections of walling. Red brick dressings to the openings. Square-headed openings with remains of diamond pane cast-iron windows and timber battened doors. Segmental-headed carriages arches with replacement timber double doors. Set back from road in mature grounds. Rubble limestone gate piers on circular plan having wrought-iron double gates give access to site from the west. Rubble limestone boundary walls to road frontage (northwest). Double-arched rubble limestone bridge over tailrace to the east.

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 5 homes in this area is likely to have high radon levels. Testing a home

Landslides

Susceptibility moderately low, low, low (inferred), on the 1:50,000 map.

Terrain model

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

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 Lickbla with five sales or more. The sales of the area are on the page of Co. Westmeath.

Name

Lickbla

Area

1,608,622 m² (160.86 ha, 397.5 acres)

Civil parish

Lickbla, and its townlands

Barony

Fore

Electoral division

Glore, the unit of the census

Census 2022

Glore electoral division: 186 people in 67 households; 89% of households own their home; 32% of homes were built since 2001; 8% of dwellings stood vacant on census night, and 1% were holiday homes.

Neighbouring townlands

Bigwood, Curry, Gilbertstown, Rathcreevagh, Robinstown

Placenames

Lickbla 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.