2007:1038 - Ballinakill, Laois

NMI Burial Excavation Records

County: Laois Site name: Ballinakill

Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 07E0283

Author: Martin Doody, New Road, Portlaoise.

Site type: Urban

Period/Dating:

ITM: E 646482m, N 680518m

Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.873549, -7.309534

The proposed development consists of the creation of a new opening on to Chapel Street and the erection of three private dwelling houses to the rear of an existing two-storey street-side dwelling on Chapel Street. An assessment of the proposed development was requested.
The earliest documentary references to Ballinakill are in the late 16th century when the lands of ‘Ballenekyll’ were granted to Alexander Cosby and his wife. In 1606 the right to hold a market and fair was granted to Sir Thomas Coatch, and in 1613 the town was incorporated by a charter of James I. The 17th-century street pattern survives in the long axis formed by Graveyard Street and Stanhope Street, with Chapel Lane and Castle Lane at right angles to the east. Ballinakill in the 18th century was one of the most important fair towns in County Laois and much of its present layout belongs to that period, including The Square, Church Street and Bride Street. Part of the fabric of the houses on the east side of Stanhope Street and The Square may be of 17th-century date.
A total of five trenches were excavated using a mechanical digger on the footprint of the proposed development. These were located adjacent to the rear of the existing dwelling house.
The documentary research revealed nothing of particular archaeological interest in the area of the proposed development. The excavation confirmed the pre-existence of rubble stone houses along Chapel Street in the access point to the development which were demolished in the 1970s, with the remains being spread to build up the garden area adjacent to Chapel Street. The rear garden was archaeologically sterile and no trace of archaeological deposits was recorded.