Rathcastle

4 registered freehold parcels lie mostly in Rathcastle, from 6,286 m² (0.63 ha, 1.55 acres) to 356,352 m² (35.64 ha, 88.06 acres). The dashed line is the townland's boundary; 13 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 Rathcastle 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 Rathcastle 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 Rathcastle.

Recorded monuments

• WM017-030 Designed landscape - tree-ring
  Description

  Situated in low-lying, generally level, wet pasture, on the demesne lands of Rathcastle House. Depicted on the 1837 ed. OS 6-inch map and the OS Fair Plan map as two small irregular-shaped tree-planted enclosures. Depicted on the revised 1913 ed. OS 25-inch map as a D-shaped tree-planted enclosure (approx. dims. 26m NE-SW; 23m NW-SE) with a second sub-rectangular-shaped tree-planted area (approx. dims. 30m NW-SE; 23m NE-SW) c. 50m to NE. D-shaped area is highlighted by two trees and is barely visible on Digital Globe aerial photography. The sub-rectangular-shaped area to NE has been levelled and is not visible on Digital Globe aerial photography. These two earthworks were described in 1981 as two small, irregular-shaped enclosures situated beside one another, one of which now appears to have been completely removed and the other indicated by a few trees; unlikely that either was of any archaeological significance. The two polygonal-shaped tree-planted enclosures are not depicted as an antiquity on any ed. OS 6-inch maps. On these maps they are both depicted as small tree plantations probably planted as part of the landscaping of the demesne lands of Rathcastle House located 435m to S. An estate map dating from 1809 depicts two dwellings belonging to John Sullivan in the area where the two earthworks are shown on the OS 6-inch map (NLI, MS 21 F. 48 (019). The tree-planted earthworks probably represent the remains of these two post-1700 dwellings shown on the 1809 map of the estate belonging to Thomas Bannon. Compiled by: Alison McQueen, Vera Rahilly and Caimin O’Brien Date of upload: 03 December 2018

• WM017-031 Ringfort - rath
  Description

  Situated on a slight natural rise, in a generally level paddock, surrounded by gently undulating pasture, c. 30m NNE of Rathcastle house. Possible souterrain (WM017-031001-) depicted as a cave located immediately to W. Annotated 'Fort' and depicted as a circular-shaped earthwork in the area known as 'Rathcaslin' on an estate map dating from 1809 (NLI, MS 21 F. 48 (019) ). Ringfort visible as a roughly circular-shaped tree-planted area on Digital Globe aerial photography. Depicted on the 1837 ed. OS 6-inch map as a circular-shaped tree-planted area, with a building shown to the immediate NE, in a small rectangular plot. Depicted on the revised 1913 ed. OS 25-inch map as a circular-shaped area (approx. dims. 38m NE-SW; 36m NW-SE) defined by a scarp with a small rectangular area named ‘cave’ indicated outside the monument to W and a rectangular building to the immediate NE, all enclosed within a rectangular plot adjoining Rathcastle house to SW. Monument described in 1965 as a large, imposing earthen ringfort consisting of a circular-shaped area enclosed by a tree-lined earthen bank (int. H 3’ [0.9m]; ext. H 6’ [1.8m]; Wth at top c. 5’ [1.5m]) with possible entrance gap at SE. There is no clear indication of an external fosse which may have been backfilled as part of landscaping associated with Rathcastle House. The interior is densely overgrown with vegetation and has been used as a rubbish dump. Monument described in 1975 as a much disturbed subcircular-shaped area defined by a substantial earthen bank with internal stone facing. The bank has several modern gaps and the original entrance is not recognisable. The wide, shallow remains of a fosse are visible. The interior is much disturbed by excavations and redepositing of earth and other material. The ringfort is located adjacent to Rathcastle House. This 19th century house was described by the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage as a; 'Detached three-bay two-storey over a basement house, built c.1815. This house was the residence of a T. Banon, Esq., in 1837' (www.buildngsofireland.ie; Reg. No. 15401716). Compiled by: Alison McQueen, Vera Rahilly and Caimin O’Brien Date of upload: 03 December 2018

• WM017-031001 Souterrain
  Description

  Situated on a slight natural rise, in a generally level paddock, surrounded by gently undulating pasture, c. 30m N of Rathcastle House. The monument is annotated on the 1837 ed. OS 6-inch map as ‘Cave’ where it is shown located to the immediate W of a ringfort (WM017-031----). It is clearly depicted on the revised 1913 ed. OS 25-inch map as a small rectangular-shaped area (approx. dims. 3.1m NW-SE; 2.5m NE-SW) forming part of the field boundary, to the immediate W of the ringfort. No surface remains visible during ASI field inspections of 1965 or 1975 by which time it may have been backfilled or obscured by vegetation. Compiled by: Alison McQueen, Vera Rahilly and Caimin O’Brien Date of upload: 03 December 2018

Architectural heritage

• Rathcastle House, house, 1800–1830 · Regional interest
  Description

  Detached three-bay two-storey over a basement house, built c.1815. Hipped roof with graduated natural slates having pair of ashlar limestone chimneystacks to the centre. Coursed rubble stone walls with red brick dressings to the openings, originally rendered. Square-headed window openings with six-over-six pane timber sliding sash windows to ground floor openings and six-over-three pane timber sliding sash windows to first floor openings. Cast-iron bars to basement windows to side (north and south) and rear elevations (west). Central round-headed ashlar limestone Ionic doorcase having timber door, leaded sidelights and a leaded radial fanlight over. Entrance reached by flight of cut limestone steps flanked by wrought and cast-iron railings. Set back from road in mature grounds with complex of outbuildings to west (15401718) and main entrance gates to southeast (15401717).

• Rathcastle House, demesne walls/gates/railings, 1800–1830 · Regional interest
  Description

  Entrance gates to Rathcastle House, erected c.1815, comprising central pair of ashlar limestone gate piers on square plan with ashlar coping over having moulded entablatures with fluted friezes, with flanking rubble stone walls to east and west having pedestrian entrances with plain ashlar limestone surrounds. Replacement gates. Located to the southeast of Rathcastle House (15401716), adjacent to attendant gate lodge.

• Rathcastle House, stables, 1800–1830 · Regional interest
  Description

  Complex of single and two-storey outbuildings arranged around a central courtyard, built c.1815. Pitched natural slate roofs with raised verges and remaining sections of cast-iron rainwater goods. Constructed of rubble limestone. Square-headed window openings with some remaining central pivot casement windows. Square-headed doorcases and segmental-headed carriage arches with timber battened doors. Gable-fronted loading bay at first floor level to centre of two-storey range to west. Located to the rear (west) of Rathcastle House (15401716).

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

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

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

Name

Rathcastle

Area

599,389 m² (59.94 ha, 148.11 acres)

Civil parish

Rathconrath, and its townlands

Barony

Rathconrath

Electoral division

Skeagh, the unit of the census

Census 2022

Skeagh electoral division: 259 people in 97 households; 89% of households own their home; 29% of homes were built since 2001; 12% of dwellings stood vacant on census night, and 0% were holiday homes.

Neighbouring townlands

Balrath, Bigfurze, Corkan, Rowlandstown, Skeagh More

Placenames

Rathcastle 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.