House - 17th century

The National Monuments Service's description

On the Down Survey (1655-6) barony map of Cranagh (Hibernia Regnum, courtesy of Trinity College Dublin), there is a large house drawn in the S portion of 'Laghunstowne' or 'Loughinstowne' townland, roughly W of a marshy 'Logh' indicated on the OS 6-inch map as 'The Loughans'. Though the house is not depicted on the Down Survey parish map of Cloghmantagh, it does note Nicholas Shortall, Irish Papist, as the proprietor of 'Loghunstowne' in 1640. This townland appears to have been subsequently renamed and divided into two townlands, Balief Lower and Woodsgift. The demesne houses associated with these townlands, Balief House (date unknown) and Woodsgift House have both been demolished (Craig 1973, 127; Bence-Jones 1988, 286). Woodsgift House was Georgian, it was burnt before 1914 and subsequently demolished (Bence-Jones 1988, 286). It is possible that Balief House dated to the 17th century and may be the house indicated on the Down Survey map, however, without supporting evidence that this is the case, the precise location of the 17th-century house remains unknown within Balief Lower or Woodsgift townland.

See attached extracts:
KK012-064----_01 Down Survey (1655-6) barony map of Crannagh (Hib. Reg., courtesy of Trinity College Dublin).
KK012-064----_02 Down Survey (1655-6) parish map of Cloghmantagh (Hib. Reg., courtesy of Trinity College Dublin).

Compiled by: Jean Farrelly

Date of upload: 1 April 2020

References

Bence-Jones, M. 1988 A guide to Irish country houses. London

Hibernia Regnum: A set of 214 barony maps of Ireland dating to the period AD 1655-59. The original parish maps have been lost but the Hibernia Regnum maps are preserved in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris (Goblet 1932, v-x). Photographic facsimiles of these maps were published by the Ordnance Survey, Southampton in 1908.

Craig, M. 1973 Buildings of architectural interest in Co. Kilkenny. An Foras Forbartha. Unpublished report. Dublin.