Carrigrohane Castle · Photo: Garry Dickinson · CC BY-SA 2.0Ballincollig: 36 buildings on the National Inventory
History in Ballincollig goes back at least to 1780, the date of its oldest recorded building. Inside the town, the Sites and Monuments Record lists 55 archaeological sites. For every 10,000 residents, Ballincollig has 16 buildings on the record; the typical town has 48. 1.4% of its homes date from before 1919; the typical town has 3.4%.
typical town: 48
5 pictures of Ballincollig today and 1 from before 1950
The old views of Ballincollig date from 1900. Of the places on Ballincollig’s record, 4 have a photo here. Carrigrohane Castle and “Stables, Main Street, Ballincollig” lead the set.
Stables, Main Street, BallincolligRegional rating (NIAH)
Inishcarra BridgeRegional rating (NIAH)
St Mary and St John's Roman Catholic ChurchRegional rating (NIAH)
Saint Senan's ChurchRegional rating (NIAH)+1See all photosPhotos from Wikimedia Commons, copied to our own server, each credited to its photographer with its licence; names open the place’s page. Tap a photo to step through them full screen.
Ballincollig in old photos
1 old photograph, made before 1950.
c. 1900From Wikimedia Commons, copied to our own server: public domain, or from the National Library of Ireland’s collections (Lawrence, Poole, Eason and others) with no known copyright restrictions. Each credit opens the image’s page.
Where Ballincollig’s history is
Every building and site on the record inside the town, by its rating.
Hover a dot for its name; tap one to open its page.
The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage is the State’s survey of buildings from 1700 to today, county by county; each record gives a rating, dates, a type and an appraisal. Being on it is not legal protection: that is each council’s Record of Protected Structures.
Points from the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage and the Sites and Monuments Record, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (CC BY 4.0).
36 historic places in Ballincollig
Buildings rated Regional, of significance in their region, and archaeological monuments with an encyclopedia article.
All 24, A to Z
12 recorded by their type and address
12 are recorded only by their type and address: 7 homes, 2 farm and estate buildings and 1 public buildings; most date from the 19th century.
Main Street has the most
Streets with three or more buildings on the record, by the address it gives.
Of the 36 records, 19 give a street address.
A record rich in public buildings: 17% in Ballincollig, against 6% across Ireland
The record holds 20 homes, 56% of the whole. Among the highest-rated: Oriel House and Ballincollig Gunpowder Mills. All of Ballincollig’s recorded buildings carry a regional rating.
Types as the National Inventory records them, grouped; a building keeps the type it was built as.
Most of Ballincollig’s dated buildings come from the 19th century
Each building by the first date on its record.
2 of the 36 dated ones were built before 1800. The oldest is Oriel House, from 1780.
Archaeology in Ballincollig
The Sites and Monuments Record lists every known archaeological site; most are field monuments with little to see. By kind:
55 archaeological sites inside the town
Sites on the Record of Monuments and Places, the statutory list drawn from this record, are protected by law: anyone planning work at or near one must give the National Monuments Service two months’ notice.
| Fulacht fia12 records |
| Church6 records |
| Graveyard5 records |
| Excavation - miscellaneous4 records |
| Standing stone3 records |
| Enclosure3 records |
| Hearth3 records |
| Bridge2 records |
| Kiln - lime2 records |
| Pit-burial2 records |
| Mill - gunpowder1 record |
| Mill - corn1 record |
| Castle - Anglo-Norman masonry castle1 record |
| House - fortified house1 record |
| Castle - tower house1 record |
| 8 more kinds8 records |
Just outside Ballincollig: 11
| Beechmount HouseRegional rating (NIAH) · 200 m outside the town |
| The CottageRegional rating (NIAH) · 1.7 km outside the town |
| Saint Senan's ChurchRegional rating (NIAH) · 1.9 km outside the town |
| Abbey BridgeRegional rating (NIAH) · 1.9 km outside the town |
| Currabeha HouseRegional rating (NIAH) · 600 m outside the town |
| Carrignaveen HouseRegional rating (NIAH) · 1.7 km outside the town |
| The PresbyteryRegional rating (NIAH) · 1.7 km outside the town |
| WoodsideRegional rating (NIAH) · 100 m outside the town |
| Inniscarra Hydro Electric Power StationRegional rating (NIAH) · 2.1 km outside the town |
| Bridge, Classes, CurraghbegRegional rating (NIAH) · 100 m outside the town |
| Bridge, GreenfieldRegional rating (NIAH) · 100 m outside the town |
New homes stand out in Ballincollig: 12% built since 2011, where most towns have 5.8%
Ballincollig’s largest group of homes, 29%, went up from 1981 to 2000. Only 0.9% of Ballincollig’s homes were built between the wars, less than the typical town’s 3.9%. Over half of the homes in Ballincollig were already standing by 2001.
Census 2022, households by the year their home was built (CSO, Small Area Population Statistics, CC BY 4.0); the typical town is the middle Irish town of 2,500 or more.
3 notable people born in Ballincollig before 1900
From Goodwin Young (1850) to Horace de Vere Cole (1881): their lives on one timeline, earliest first.
Everyone born in Ballincollig → Birthplaces from Wikidata, each checked against the person’s English Wikipedia article; portraits from Wikimedia Commons.
Ballincollig and its neighbours
| Town | People | National Inventory | National | Archaeological sites |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ballincollig | 21,940 | 36 | 0 | 55 |
| Killumney | 1,466 | 6 | 0 | 8 |
| Tower | 3,300 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Bishopstown | 14,529 | 27 | 0 | 20 |
| Blarney | 2,779 | 18 | 0 | 4 |
| Inishkenny | 5,552 | 11 | 0 | 27 |
| Shanakiel | 3,804 | 48 | 0 | 2 |
Ballincollig in brief
The official list counts 36 places on the record in Ballincollig. Most entries on the list, 56%, are homes. Of the 36 with a date, 32 come from the 19th century. The oldest is Oriel House, from 1780.
Horace de Vere Cole (1881), Goodwin Young (1850) and Tim Hallihan (1876) were all born here before 1900. Its homes are mostly newer: 1.4% were built before 1919, against 3.4% in the typical town. It also has 55 archaeological sites on the record. The rest is about typical: it has 36 recorded buildings, about typical for a town its size (the middle one has 71); and per resident it sits near the middle of Irish towns of 2,500 or more.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- The National Inventory. The State’s survey of post-1700 buildings, made county by county since 1990 (NIAH); a few records are older. It records; it does not protect.
- Ratings. International and National: of significance across Ireland or beyond. Regional: in its region. Local and record-only buildings get no page here.
- Archaeology. The Sites and Monuments Record (National Monuments Service) lists known archaeological sites; the national monuments to visit and the sites with an encyclopedia article get pages here.
- Protection. Both registers are surveys, not protection: a building is protected by its council’s Record of Protected Structures, and no national open list joins the 31 councils’ records.
- The grade. Ireland’s History grade is not built yet: the page describes, and gives no grade.
Questions about Ballincollig’s history
How many historic buildings are recorded in Ballincollig?
36 buildings on the National Inventory, from the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.
What is the oldest building in Ballincollig?
Oriel House: the first date on its record is 1780.
Are there archaeological sites in Ballincollig?
Yes: the Sites and Monuments Record lists 55 archaeological sites inside Ballincollig.
How old are the homes in Ballincollig?
1.4% of its homes were built before 1919, against 3.4% in the typical town.
Are the buildings on this page protected?
Being on the National Inventory or the Sites and Monuments Record is a record, not protection by itself: buildings are protected by their council’s Record of Protected Structures, which each council keeps and no national open list gathers, so this page can’t say which are on it.
This page describes its history; it gives no grade.
Source: National Inventory of Architectural Heritage and Sites and Monuments Record, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (CC BY 4.0); Wikidata (CC0).
Sources: National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (buildingsofireland.ie) · Sites and Monuments Record and the National Monuments Service’s monuments to visit · CSO Census 2022 (homes by the year built) · Photos: Wikimedia Commons, including the National Library of Ireland’s collections, each credited with its licence and copied to our own server · Wikidata and English Wikipedia for people born here · Wikidata (CC0) for other names and articles. Under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).
Contains Central Statistics Office (CSO) data, Census 2022, and Tailte Éireann boundaries (CSO Urban Areas, Small Areas, local electoral areas, constituencies), under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).