Indicated — Ballymore Eustace East (ballymore Eustace Ed),ballymore Eustace West,bishopsland (ballymore Eustace Ed),bishopsland (ballymore Eustace Ed) (detached Portion),broadleas Commons

On a S-facing slope on the E bank of the River Liffey, near the border with County Wicklow. A significant pre-Norman ecclesiastical presence is indicated by the two high crosses (KD029-011006- and KD029-011007-) and a cross slab (KD029-011009-) in the graveyard (KD029-011004-) containing the ruins of St. John’s Church (KD029-011002-) at the E end of the town. According to Bradley et al. (1986, vol. 1, 71-74), the name ‘Ballymore’ [i.e. Baile mór/town] is found in late 12th-century documents, while the epithet Eustace first occurs in Irish in 1548 and in English sources from 1666, because the Eustace family held the office of constable of the castle (KD029-011005-) for most of the Middle Ages. A Norman motte (KD029-011003-) was erected, probably to the N of the present town. Ballymore was a manor belonging to the archbishops of Dublin: references occur to the archbishop’s castle of Ballymore in a grant of 1181-90 and to his manor of Ballymore in a grant of 1191. The grant of a weekly market is referred to between 1189 and 1199, and in 1234, Henry III granted the archbishop the right to hold a yearly fair. A document of c. 1256-66 indicates Ballymore had become a borough with burgesses paying 12d yearly and holding 12 acres in burgage. A 1326 extent of the manor of Ballymore states that there were 160 burgesses in the borough, as well as two water mills and a common kiln together with 16 cottages that paid no rent, four cottages lying in waste and a plot of land called ‘Taillourbourgage’. In 1540, the grant of a weekly market and annual fair was confirmed by the king to the archbishop. Ballymore was plundered during the Geraldine revolt of 1546, while in 1572, it was reported that all Ballymore, except for one le Strange’s house and castle, had been burned by the Irish. In 1608, James I revived the rights of fairs and markets in the town and in 1659, the population was given as 132. The precise location and extent of the medieval borough is uncertain. It may have stood near St. John’s Church (KD029-011002-) at the E end of the present town or may have been focused on Church Road, to the SW, which runs roughly N-S in a bend in the River Liffey, and off which, especially to the E, long narrow, burgage-like plots run. The layout of the ‘main’ part of the town, including Main Street and the Market Square to the NE of Church Road, probably dates from the 17th-century. In 1997 archaeological testing was carried out under licence no. 97E0370 on a proposed house site (693075/709960) listed as Site 2 at Bishopslane in 1997 uncovered medieval features, deposits and finds relating to the medieval settlement (KD029-011001-) of Ballymore Eustace (Hayden 1998, 90). The site was located on the S side of Bishopslane Road 155m W of the medieval church (KD029-011002-) and graveyard (KD029-011004-) and 265m SE of the Anglo-Norman motte castle (KD029-011003-). The archaeological deposits were concentrated at the N end of the development site in a 20m zone running N-S and facing onto the present road. Archaeological testing under licence No. 97E0425 was carried out on the adjoining development sites; Site 1 located immediately W of Site 2 and Sites 3-6 located immediately to the E. Medieval settlement features, deposits and finds were found in all 19 test trenches with possible medieval structure at the N and S ends of the trenches with cultivation furrows located in between the possible structures (Hayden 1998, 90, No. 262). The archaeological testing in these fields shows that the settlement associated with the medieval town or manor of Ballymore Eustace located between the medieval church and castle. In 1999 a Preservation Order (PO 1 of 1999) was placed on the proposed development site No. 1 (693046/709953), Site No. 3 (693099/709936) , Site No 5 (693146/709912) and Site No. 6 (693180/709896). In the same year archaeological monitoring was carried out on Site 4 prior to the construction of a single storey dwelling and no archaeological features or deposits were uncovered (Lynch 2000, 121, No. 360). The following year archaeological monitoring of ground-works on Site 3 under licence No. 97E0425etx. was carried out and medieval pottery dating from the 12th-15th century was recovered from the site. A bungalow was subsequently constructed on this site. Sites 1, 5, and 6 are currently undeveloped green-field sites as visible on Digital Globe aerial photographs. Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy Revised by: Caimin O'Brien Date of revised upload: 4 April 2017