Saint Fintan's Catholic Church · Photo: LoriStrang · CC BY-SA 4.0Mountrath has 24 buildings on the National Inventory
Mountrath has kept more old homes than most towns: 13% were built before 1919, against 3.4% in the typical town. The Sites and Monuments Record marks it as a historic town and lists 4 archaeological sites inside it. The oldest record dates from 1680.
3 photographs of Mountrath’s heritage
Among them: Saint Fintan's Catholic Church and Mountrath Methodist Chapel. 3 recorded places in Mountrath have a photo. Saint Peter's Church (Clonenagh and Clonagheen), dated 1810, is the oldest pictured in Mountrath.
Mountrath Methodist ChapelRegional rating (NIAH)
Saint Peter's Church (Clonenagh and Clonagheen)Regional rating (NIAH)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.
Where Mountrath’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).
24 historic places in Mountrath
Buildings rated Regional, of significance in their region, and archaeological monuments with an encyclopedia article.
All 15, A to Z
9 recorded by their type and address
9 are recorded only by their type and address: 5 other buildings and 4 homes; 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 24 records, 24 give a street address.
Mountrath’s largest group: homes, 25% of the record
The second-largest group on the record is churches and chapels, with 3. Beyond Mountrath, homes make up a bigger share of the national record: 62%. Two of the highest-rated records are Fitzpatrick and Bank of Ireland.
Types as the National Inventory records them, grouped; a building keeps the type it was built as.
Most of Mountrath’s dated buildings come from the 19th century
Each building by the first date on its record.
5 of the 24 dated ones were built before 1800. The oldest is Fitzpatrick, from 1680.
Archaeology in Mountrath
The Sites and Monuments Record lists every known archaeological site; most are field monuments with little to see. By kind:
4 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.
| Historic town1 record |
| House - 16th/17th century1 record |
| Meeting-house1 record |
| Burial ground1 record |
Just outside Mountrath: 3
| Deerpark House (farmyard complex)Regional rating (NIAH) · 2.4 km outside the town |
| Millbank CottageRegional rating (NIAH) · 100 m outside the town |
| Deerpark HouseRegional rating (NIAH) · 2.7 km outside the town |
The biggest share of Mountrath’s homes dates in the 2000s: 35%
Mountrath reached half its present housing before 2001. Since 2011 Mountrath has added 7.2% of its homes, close to the typical town’s 5.8%. More of Mountrath’s homes than usual date between the wars: 5.4%, against 3.9%.
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.
Mountrath and its neighbours
| Town | People | National Inventory | National | Archaeological sites |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mountrath | 2,070 | 24 | 0 | 4 |
| Portlaoise | 23,494 | 185 | 6 | 17 |
| Abbeyleix | 1,897 | 35 | 0 | 0 |
| Mountmellick | 4,905 | 54 | 0 | 3 |
| Rathdowney | 1,368 | 20 | 0 | 4 |
Mountrath in brief
More of Mountrath’s homes are old than in most places: 13% were built before 1919, against 3.4% in the typical town. In all there are 24 places on the record. Of the 24 with a date, 19 come from the 19th century. The oldest is Fitzpatrick, from 1680. The rest is about typical: Daniel Delany (1747) and Henry Despard (1784) were born here before 1900; and it also has 4 archaeological sites.
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 Mountrath’s history
How many historic buildings are recorded in Mountrath?
24 buildings on the National Inventory, from the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.
What is the oldest building in Mountrath?
Fitzpatrick: the first date on its record is 1680.
Are there archaeological sites in Mountrath?
Yes: the Sites and Monuments Record lists 4 archaeological sites inside Mountrath.
How old are the homes in Mountrath?
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).