Kiltoy Church of Ireland Church · Photo: DAYVEHUSE · CC BY-SA 4.0Letterkenny: 81 buildings on the National Inventory
The Sites and Monuments Record marks Letterkenny as a historic town and lists 42 archaeological sites inside it. The earliest building recorded goes back to 1500. For every 10,000 residents, Letterkenny has 36 buildings on the record; the typical town has 48. Of its homes, 1.6% were built before 1919, against 3.4% in the typical town.
typical town: 48
Look around Letterkenny: 5 photos
5 of Letterkenny’s recorded places are photographed. You can start with Kiltoy Church of Ireland Church and Letterkenny Courthouse. Pictured and oldest in Letterkenny: Kiltoy Church of Ireland Church, 1600.
Letterkenny CourthouseRegional rating (NIAH)
Bus Eireann Bus StationRegional rating (NIAH)
Conwall Church of Ireland Parish ChurchRegional rating (NIAH)
St. Conal's Psychiatric Hospital (hospital / infirmary)Regional 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.
Where Letterkenny’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).
81 historic places in Letterkenny
Buildings rated Regional, of significance in their region, and archaeological monuments with an encyclopedia article.
All 50, A to Z
31 recorded by their type and address
31 are recorded only by their type and address: 20 homes, 4 walls, gates and bridges and 2 other buildings; most date from the 19th century.
Upper Main Street has the most
Streets with three or more buildings on the record, by the address it gives.
Of the 81 records, 59 give a street address.
More churches and chapels than the national record: 20% in Letterkenny, 7% across Ireland
The record in Letterkenny comes up to 1990 at its newest. Counted by type, homes come first, 37 of them (46%). Among the highest-rated: Old Leck Church and Conwal Parish Church Graveyard.
Types as the National Inventory records them, grouped; a building keeps the type it was built as.
Most of Letterkenny’s dated buildings come from the 19th century
Each building by the first date on its record.
9 of the 81 dated ones were built before 1800. The oldest is Old Leck Church, from 1500.
Archaeology in Letterkenny
The Sites and Monuments Record lists every known archaeological site; most are field monuments with little to see. By kind:
42 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.
| Souterrain7 records |
| Standing stone4 records |
| Bullaun stone4 records |
| Church3 records |
| Graveyard3 records |
| Enclosure2 records |
| Ritual site - holy well2 records |
| Ringfort - unclassified2 records |
| Graveslab2 records |
| Ringfort - cashel1 record |
| Rock art1 record |
| Megalithic tomb - unclassified1 record |
| Cross-inscribed stone1 record |
| Historic town1 record |
| Bawn1 record |
| 7 more kinds7 records |
Just outside Letterkenny: 32
| Castle Wray (bridge)Regional rating (NIAH) · 700 m outside the town |
| Castle Wray (dovecote / pigeon house / aviary, folly)Regional rating (NIAH) · 500 m outside the town |
| Castle Wray (well)Regional rating (NIAH) · 400 m outside the town |
| Castlegrove (country house)Regional rating (NIAH) · 800 m outside the town |
| RockhillRegional rating (NIAH) · 1.3 km outside the town |
| Castle Wray (walled garden)Regional rating (NIAH) · 600 m outside the town |
| Castle Wray (bridge)Regional rating (NIAH) · 500 m outside the town |
| Castlegrove (walled garden)Regional rating (NIAH) · 500 m outside the town |
| Ballyconnelly BridgeRegional rating (NIAH) · 2.2 km outside the town |
| Castle Wray (kiln)Regional rating (NIAH) · 400 m outside the town |
| Castle Shanaghan (outbuilding)Regional rating (NIAH) · 900 m outside the town |
| Castle Shanaghan (outbuilding)Regional rating (NIAH) · 900 m outside the town |
| Cullion BridgeRegional rating (NIAH) · 900 m outside the town |
| The Deanery Glendooen (outbuilding)Regional rating (NIAH) · 2.7 km outside the town |
| The Deanery Glendooen (rectory / glebe / vicarage / curate's house)Regional rating (NIAH) · 2.7 km outside the town |
| Ardrumman HouseRegional rating (NIAH) · 2.9 km outside the town |
| Castlegrove (outbuilding)Regional rating (NIAH) · 700 m outside the town |
| Holly ValeRegional rating (NIAH) · 300 m outside the town |
| Rockhill HouseRegional rating (NIAH) · 900 m outside the town |
| Back LodgeRegional rating (NIAH) · 2.2 km outside the town |
38% of Letterkenny’s homes were built from 1981 to 2000
Letterkenny’s newest homes, from 2011 or later, are 5.8%, roughly the usual 5.8%. Building between the wars left Letterkenny with 1.5% of its homes, below the usual 3.9%. 35% of Letterkenny’s homes date in the 2000s, well above the typical 25%.
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.
Letterkenny and its neighbours
| Town | People | National Inventory | National | Archaeological sites |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Letterkenny | 22,549 | 81 | 0 | 42 |
| Ramelton | 1,288 | 80 | 1 | 8 |
| Convoy | 1,702 | 13 | 0 | 4 |
| Raphoe | 1,161 | 27 | 0 | 14 |
| Milford | 1,076 | 19 | 0 | 0 |
| Newtowncunningham | 1,192 | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| Ballybofey-Stranorlar | 5,406 | 27 | 0 | 8 |
Letterkenny in brief
Letterkenny has 81 places on the record. Upper Main Street alone has 9 places on the record. Of the 81 with a date, 50 come from the 19th century. The oldest is Old Leck Church, from 1500.
Its homes are mostly newer: 1.6% were built before 1919, against 3.4% in the typical town. The archaeological record adds 42 sites. Beyond that, it has 81 recorded buildings, about typical for a town its size (the middle one has 71); per resident it sits near the middle of Irish towns of 2,500 or more; and Joseph McGinley (1894) and Thomas Peebles (1857) were born here before 1900.
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 Letterkenny’s history
How many historic buildings are recorded in Letterkenny?
81 buildings on the National Inventory, from the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.
What is the oldest building in Letterkenny?
Old Leck Church: the first date on its record is 1500.
Are there archaeological sites in Letterkenny?
Yes: the Sites and Monuments Record lists 42 archaeological sites inside Letterkenny.
How old are the homes in Letterkenny?
1.6% 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.
History is described here, not graded.
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).