Worker's house, 4 Florence Terrace, Kilkenny Street, Castlecomer · Photo: A.-K. D · CC0

64buildings on the National Inventory

History of Castlecomer · National Inventory of Architectural Heritage

Castlecomer: 64 buildings on the National Inventory, one of them of national importance

Castlecomer has kept more old homes than most towns: 13% were built before 1919, against 3.4% in the typical town. Its oldest building dates from 1745.

1of national importance 1745oldest record

On the National Inventory

Of national importance

NIAH National or International, and national monuments

Archaeological sites

Sites and Monuments Record

Oldest building

1745

the first date on its record

Homes built before 1919

13%

typical town: 3.4%

In pictures

Landmarks of Castlecomer, in 7 photos

The photos cover 3 of Castlecomer’s recorded places; the rest have a record card. First come Catholic Church of the Immaculate Conception and “Worker's house, 4 Florence Terrace, Kilkenny Street, Castlecomer”. Of the buildings pictured in Castlecomer, Catholic Church of the Immaculate Conception is the oldest, from 1835.

Catholic Church of the Immaculate ConceptionNational rating (NIAH)

Worker's house, 8 Florence Terrace, Kilkenny Street, CastlecomerRegional rating (NIAH)

Castlecomer House (gate lodge)Regional rating (NIAH)

Church, SmithstownRegional rating (NIAH)

Saint Mary's Church (Castlecomer)Regional rating (NIAH)+2See all photos

Photos 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.

National and International

One place of national importance in Castlecomer

Buildings the National Inventory rates National or International: of significance across Ireland or beyond. Each one opens its own page.

Church / chapel · 1835–1845Catholic Church of the Immaculate ConceptionKilkenny Street, CastlecomerPhoto: liam murphy · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Commons file

Regional and other sites

63 more historic places in Castlecomer

Buildings rated Regional, of significance in their region, and archaeological monuments with an encyclopedia article.

All 26, A to Z

37 recorded by their type and address

37 are recorded only by their type and address: 34 homes, 2 mills, stations and works and 1 walls, gates and bridges; most date from the 19th century.

18th century5

19th century24

20th century8

See all 37 on the map

Historic streets

Kilkenny Street has the most

Streets with three or more buildings on the record, by the address it gives.

Kilkenny Street18 on the record · 1 of national importance

High Street16 on the record

Barrack Street9 on the record

Florence Terrace8 on the record

Of the 64 records, 53 give a street address.

What’s recorded

In Castlecomer, homes lead the record (77%)

From one type to the next, Castlecomer’s record lists 7 kinds of building. 4 records make public buildings the second group. Two of the highest-rated records are Catholic Church of the Immaculate Conception and Creamery House.

Homes49

Public buildings4

Mills, stations and works3

Walls, gates and bridges3

Churches and chapels3

Farm and estate buildings1

Other buildings1

Types as the National Inventory records them, grouped; a building keeps the type it was built as.

How old

Most of Castlecomer’s dated buildings come from the 19th century

Each building by the first date on its record.

1500–1799 three centuries8

19th century 1800–189948

1900 and later to today8

8 of the 64 dated ones were built before 1800. The oldest is Creamery House, from 1745.

Archaeology and around

Just outside Castlecomer

Places on the record just outside the town that belong to it, nearest first.

Just outside Castlecomer: 35

Bridge, CastlecomerNational rating (NIAH) · 100 m outside the town

Dysart BridgeRegional rating (NIAH) · 1.1 km outside the town

Orton HouseRegional rating (NIAH) · 100 m outside the town

Castlecomer House (gates / railings / walls)Regional rating (NIAH) · 100 m outside the town

Castlecomer House (icehouse)Regional rating (NIAH) · 100 m outside the town

Smithstown House (farm house)Regional rating (NIAH) · 200 m outside the town

Ardra HouseRegional rating (NIAH) · 300 m outside the town

Bank of IrelandRegional rating (NIAH) · 100 m outside the town

Saint Mary's Church (Castlecomer)Regional rating (NIAH) · 300 m outside the town

The RectoryRegional rating (NIAH) · 100 m outside the town

Smithstown House (farmyard complex)Regional rating (NIAH) · 200 m outside the town

Clohogue HouseRegional rating (NIAH) · 100 m outside the town

Smithstown National SchoolRegional rating (NIAH) · 2 km outside the town

The CottageRegional rating (NIAH) · 100 m outside the town

Castlecomer House (gate lodge)Regional rating (NIAH) · 100 m outside the town

Castlecomer House (gates / railings / walls)Regional rating (NIAH) · 100 m outside the town

Ormonde BrickRegional rating (NIAH) · 700 m outside the town

Church, SmithstownRegional rating (NIAH) · 2 km outside the town

Bridge, Chatsworth Street, CastlecomerRegional rating (NIAH) · 100 m outside the town

House, High Street, CastlecomerRegional rating (NIAH) · 100 m outside the town

Homes by age

Castlecomer grew fastest from 1946 to 1980, when 26% of its homes were built

The midpoint of Castlecomer’s housing falls before 2001: half the homes are older. 12% of Castlecomer’s homes were built between the wars, more than the typical town’s 3.9%. From 2011 on, Castlecomer built 7% of its homes, near the typical 5.8%.

13%

Before 1919

12%

1919–45

26%

1946–80

20%

1981–2000

23%

2001–10

Since 2011

CastlecomerTypical town

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.

Born here

5 notable people born in Castlecomer before 1900

From Michael Phelan (1817) to Mark Wilson (1896): their lives on one timeline, earliest first.

Michael Phelan

John Byrne

Tom McCormack

Eamonn Coogan

Mark Wilson

1800182518501875190019251950

Michael Phelan1817–1871 · American writer

Eamonn Coogan1896–1948 · Irish politician

John Byrne1832–1879 · Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross

Tom McCormack1888–1959 · Irish hurler

Mark Wilson1896–1956

Everyone born in Castlecomer → Birthplaces from Wikidata, each checked against the person’s English Wikipedia article; portraits from Wikimedia Commons.

Neighbours

Castlecomer and its neighbours

Town	People	National Inventory	National	Archaeological sites
Castlecomer	1,496	64	1	0
Ballyragget	1,116	20	1	4
Abbeyleix	1,897	35	0	0
Kilkenny	27,184	586	25	445

In brief

Castlecomer in brief

Old houses are part of Castlecomer’s character: 13% of its homes were built before 1919, against 3.4% in the typical town. In all there are 64 places on the record, 1 of them in the top tier, including Catholic Church of the Immaculate Conception. Kilkenny Street alone has 18 places on the record. Of the whole list, 77% are homes.

Of the 64 with a date, 48 come from the 19th century. The oldest is Creamery House, from 1745. Of the 5 people born here before 1900, the best known include Michael Phelan (1817), Eamonn Coogan (1896) and John Byrne (1832).

How to read these numbers

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 Castlecomer’s history

How many historic buildings are recorded in Castlecomer?

64 buildings on the National Inventory, one of them of national importance, from the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.

Which places in Castlecomer are of national importance?

Catholic Church of the Immaculate Conception.

What is the oldest building in Castlecomer?

Creamery House: the first date on its record is 1745.

How old are the homes in Castlecomer?

13% 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).