Photo: Sean an Scuab · CC BY-SA 3.0Foynes: 19% of homes built before 1919
Against 3.4% in the typical town, Foynes has 6 times the share. On the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage, Foynes counts 29 buildings. Its oldest building dates from 1840. Inside the town, the Sites and Monuments Record lists 1 archaeological site.
Foynes from 1880 to 1905
2 old photographs, in date order. All made before 1950.
c. 1880
1905From 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 Foynes’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).
29 historic places in Foynes
Buildings rated Regional, of significance in their region, and archaeological monuments with an encyclopedia article.
All 18, A to Z
11 recorded by their type and address
11 are recorded only by their type and address: 10 homes and 1 walls, gates and bridges; most date from the 19th century.
More homes than anything else in Foynes: 69%
Two of the highest-rated records are Brentwood House and Foynes Railway Station. The second-largest group on the record is churches and chapels, with 2. Its buildings rate regional: Foynes has none of national importance.
Types as the National Inventory records them, grouped; a building keeps the type it was built as.
Most of Foynes’s dated buildings come from the 19th century
Each building by the first date on its record.
Archaeology in Foynes
The Sites and Monuments Record lists every known archaeological site; most are field monuments with little to see. By kind:
1 archaeological site 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.
| Castle - tower house1 record |
Just outside Foynes: 8
| Mount Trenchard (country house)Regional rating (NIAH) · 2.9 km outside the town |
| Saint Senan's Catholic Church (church / chapel)Regional rating (NIAH) · 1.8 km outside the town |
| Mount Trenchard (outbuilding)Regional rating (NIAH) · 2.9 km outside the town |
| Ardanoir HouseRegional rating (NIAH) · 200 m outside the town |
| Spring Rice MonumentRegional rating (NIAH) · 100 m outside the town |
| CushowanRegional rating (NIAH) · 1 km outside the town |
| House, BarrigoneRegional rating (NIAH) · 2.9 km outside the town |
| Milestone, FoynesRegional rating (NIAH) · 700 m outside the town |
New homes are rare in Foynes: 2% since 2011, against a usual 5.8%
A full 12% of the homes in Foynes went up between the wars, beyond the typical 3.9%. Foynes added comparatively little from 1981 to 2000: 8.1% of its homes, the typical town 24%. The largest single period is from 1946 to 1980, with 39% of Foynes’s homes.
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.
Foynes and its neighbours
| Town | People | National Inventory | National | Archaeological sites |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Foynes | 512 | 29 | 0 | 1 |
| Askeaton | 1,236 | 23 | 2 | 18 |
| Rathkeale | 1,231 | 33 | 0 | 10 |
| Newcastle West | 7,209 | 48 | 1 | 19 |
| Shannon | 10,256 | 0 | 0 | 27 |
Foynes in brief
Old houses are part of Foynes’s character: 19% of its homes were built before 1919, against 3.4% in the typical town. In all there are 29 places on the record. Of the whole list, 69% are homes.
Of the 29 with a date, 15 come from the 19th century. The oldest is Áras Íde, from 1850. Otherwise the figures are ordinary: it also has an archaeological site.
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 Foynes’s history
How many historic buildings are recorded in Foynes?
29 buildings on the National Inventory, from the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.
What is the oldest building in Foynes?
Harbour, Foynes: the first date on its record is 1840.
Are there archaeological sites in Foynes?
Yes: the Sites and Monuments Record lists 1 archaeological site inside Foynes.
How old are the homes in Foynes?
19% 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 (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).