Iverk Heritage Profile - Daniel Kirkpatrick

By Daniel Kirkpatrick | Compiled 2026-05-15 | Logainm 114

245 NMS sites 241 within protection zone 179 listed buildings 7 of 9 archaeological periods

Iverk is a barony of County Kilkenny, in the historical province of Leinster (Irish: Uíbh Eirc), covering 167 km² of land. The barony records 245 NMS archaeological sites and 179 NIAH listed buildings, placing it at around the 31st percentile among 280 ROI baronies for sites per km². This means it is in the bottom third of all baronies for sites per km². Dated archaeological evidence runs from the Neolithic through to the Post Medieval, spanning 7 of 9 archaeological periods, placing the barony in the 30th percentile among 280 ROI baronies for chronological depth. This means it is in the bottom third of all baronies for chronological depth. The largest dated subset of recorded sites dates to the Early Medieval. Logainm flags 24 placenames in the barony as carrying a recognised heritage root; the largest share — around 58% — are names associated with early Christian church and monastic foundations.

Iverk boundary detail

Iverk in regional context

Heritage at a glance

Percentile rankings throughout this profile compare each barony only against the other 279 Republic of Ireland baronies.

245

Recorded NMS sites

31st percentile

241

Within protection zone

98.4% of recorded sites

179

NIAH listed buildings

73rd percentile

167 km²

Barony area

The recorded heritage of Iverk

The National Monuments Service Sites and Monuments Record (SMR) is the statutory inventory of archaeological sites for the Republic of Ireland, maintained by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media. Sites recorded here include earthworks, ringforts, megalithic tombs, ecclesiastical remains, and post-medieval features; not every record is legally protected, but each is registered as a monument of archaeological interest.

The National Monuments Service records 245 archaeological sites in Iverk, putting it at the 31st percentile among 280 ROI baronies for sites per km². This means it is in the bottom third of all baronies for sites per km². Protection coverage is near-universal — 241 sites (98%) fall within a recorded monument protection zone, indicating an extensively surveyed landscape. The record is dominated by ecclesiastical sites — churches, graveyards, and holy wells (71 sites, 29% of the total), with defensive sites forming a substantial secondary presence (66 sites, 27%). Fulacht fia is the most prevalent type, making up 18% of the barony's recorded sites (45 records) — well above the ROI average of 6% across all baronies where this type occurs. Fulacht fia is a horseshoe-shaped Bronze Age burnt mound built around a sunken trough beside a water source, traditionally interpreted as a cooking site. Other significant types include Church (22) and Graveyard (21). Church is a building used for public Christian worship, of any date from c. 500 AD onwards; Graveyard is a burial area associated with a church, in use from the medieval period onwards. Across the barony's 167 km², this gives a recorded density of 1.46 sites per km².

Most common monument types

Hover or tap a monument type to see its definition.

Type	Count
Fulacht fia	45
Church	22
Graveyard	21
Ringfort – rath	18
Enclosure	15
Ritual site – holy well	12
Bullaun stone	9
Castle – unclassified	9

Chronological distribution

The dated archaeological record for Iverk spans from the Neolithic through to the Post Medieval, with activity attested across 7 of 9 archaeological periods. Every period from earliest to latest is represented in the record — an unbroken sequence of dated activity across the full chronological span. Activity concentrates most heavily in the Early Medieval (58 sites, 37% of dated material), with the Middle Late Bronze Age forming a secondary peak (46 sites, 29%). A further 88 recorded sites (36% of the overall NMS register for the barony) carry no period attribution — appearing as 'Unknown' in the bar chart below. This typically reflects either records that pre-date the standardised period vocabulary or sites awaiting specialist dating review, rather than a genuine absence of chronological evidence.

Mesolithic

Neolithic

Early Bronze Age

Middle Late Bronze Age

Iron Age

Early Medieval

Medieval

Post Medieval

Modern

Unknown

Sample of recorded monuments

Show 25 sample monuments (of 245 total)

A representative sample of 25 recorded monuments drawn from the barony’s 245 total NMS entries. Sites within a recorded monument protection zone and rarer site types are prioritised so the list shows a meaningful cross-section rather than only the most common type. Each entry shows the official Sites and Monuments Record reference number and the description published by the National Monuments Service.

Ecclesiastical enclosure

SMR KK034-032011-Castletown (Iverk By)early_christianProtected

On the lower S-facing slope of Kilmacoliver Hill, overlooking the valley of the River Suir. The medieval church and graveyard (KK034-032002-) are located on the site of an early medieval monastery, as evidenced by four…

House – 17th century

SMR KK034-036001-Castletown (Iverk By)post_medievalProtected

The Archaeological Survey of Ireland (ASI) is in the process of providing information on all monuments on The Historic Environment Viewer (HEV). Currently the information for this record has not been uploaded. To…

Earthwork

SMR KK039-005006-TempleorumProtected

Graveslab (present location)

SMR KK039-022—-KildaltonProtected

Font (present location)

SMR KK039-022002-KildaltonProtected

Hut site

SMR KK039-023002-KildaltonprehistoricProtected

House – medieval

SMR KK042-008—-ClonmoreProtected

Well

SMR KK042-012—-WaddingstownProtected

Barrow – ring-barrow

SMR KK045-006—-Ballygoreybronze_ageProtected

Stone circle

SMR KK039-082—-Raheen (Kells By.)bronze_ageProtected

Wall monument

SMR KK042-001014-FiddownProtected

A mural tablet with an English inscription in Roman script commemorating Sir John Ponsonby of Bessborough, kt. The tablet is dated 1668. (Cockerham 2009, 361)

Compiled by: Mary Tunney

Date of upload: 27 May 2013

Penal Mass station

SMR KK034-056—-BallynacronnyProtected

On a slight SE-facing slope in a large pasture field. Local information that people came to an old building in this field when Owning chapel was ‘closed against the priest and people’ (a reference to Carrigan 1905).…

Bawn

SMR KK043-034008-Grannypost_medievalProtected

The castle, constructed of limestone rubble roughly coursed, consists of a square bawn (dims. 30m; wall T 2.2m) defended on the river side with a circular tower at the SE and SW angles, though only the foundations of…

Castle – motte

SMR KK035-038—-OwningmedievalProtected

Megalithic tomb – wedge tomb

SMR KK035-096—-OwningProtected

Approximately 7m N of a motte (KK035-038—-) on a level shoulder on the E side and at the head of a narrow river valley that runs between the two hills N of Owning. Carrigan (1905, vol. 2, 249) describes it as being…

Castle – motte and bailey

SMR KK038-011—-TibberaghnymedievalProtected

This is one of three ‘castles’ erected by Prince John in 1185 (AFM, iii, 67); the other two castles being Ardfinnan (TS088-001001-) and Lismore (WA021-019001-). These were erected to provide a fortified border between…

Castle – motte

SMR KK042-001001-FiddownmedievalProtected

Architectural fragment

SMR KK042-001006-FiddownProtected

Architectural fragment

SMR KK042-011005-Pollrone (Iverk By.)Protected

Castle – motte and bailey

SMR KK045-001—-PortnascullymedievalProtected

Megalithic tomb – wedge tomb

SMR KK035-114—-Garryduff (Iverk By.)Protected

Settlement deserted – medieval

SMR KK034-032010-Castletown (Iverk By)Protected

Mound

SMR KK035-027—-MullenbegProtected

Mound

SMR KK038-002003-WhitechurchProtected

Fulacht fia

SMR KK038-006—-Killonerrybronze_ageProtected

Listed buildings

The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (NIAH) is a state survey appraising buildings of architectural, historical, archaeological, artistic, cultural, scientific, social, or technical interest. Each surveyed structure receives a rating from International (the highest, for buildings of European importance) through National, Regional, Local, and Record-Only.

The NIAH records 179 listed buildings in Iverk, the 73rd percentile across ROI baronies for listed-building density. Among these, 6 are graded National — buildings of interest to the whole of Ireland rather than only its region. The Republic holds 937 National-graded buildings in total, so this barony accounts for around 1% of the national total. Construction dates concentrate most heavily in the Late Georgian (1800-1830) period. The most-recorded building type is house (55 examples, 31% of the listed stock).

Terrain and environment

Mean elevation across the barony is 64m — the 25th percentile among 280 ROI baronies for elevation. This means it is in the bottom third of all baronies for elevation. This is a relatively low-lying landscape by ROI standards. Elevation matters for heritage because higher-altitude baronies typically favour defensive monuments — ringforts and hilltop forts placed on prominent ground — while lowland baronies are more likely to carry the dense settlement and church networks of intensive agricultural landscapes. The barony reaches 324m at its highest point — a vertical span of more than 260m within its boundary, indicating significant topographic diversity. Mean slope is 3.7° — the 50th percentile among 280 ROI baronies for slope. This means it is in the upper half of all baronies for slope. Slope is a key control on both land use and archaeological preservation: steep ground resists ploughing and tends to preserve earthworks intact, while gentle slopes favour intensive cultivation that damages or destroys surface archaeology over time. The Topographic Wetness Index averages 10.8, the 50th percentile among 280 ROI baronies for wetness. This means it is in the upper half of all baronies for wetness. Drainage matters for heritage because poorly-drained ground preserves organic archaeology (wooden trackways, leather, textiles, and on rare occasions human remains) far better than free-draining soil; well-drained ground favours arable use but destroys organic material rapidly. The land-cover mosaic combines improved grassland (75%), woodland (15%), and arable farmland (6%), giving a mixed agricultural and semi-natural landscape.

Terrain measurements

Mean elevation63.9 m

Max elevation324.1 m

Mean slope3.7°

Wetness index (TWI)10.83 50th pct

Grassland74.7%

Woodland15.4% 47th pct

Cropland6.2%

Urban land1.6% 68th pct

Where this barony sits in the Republic of Ireland

Drainage

50th

Woodland

47th

Geology and preservation

Bedrock geology shapes the landscape long before any settlement begins — controlling soil drainage, agricultural potential, the survival of upstanding monuments, and the preservation of buried archaeology. The figures below come from the Geological Survey Ireland 1:100,000 bedrock map.

The bedrock underlying Iverk is predominantly limestone (59% of the barony by area), laid down during the Carboniferous period (62% by area, around 359 to 299 million years ago). Limestone is the most heritage-rich bedrock in Ireland. It supports fertile, well-drained soils that favoured dense Early Medieval settlement and Norman manorial agriculture, and it weathers into karst features — sinkholes, caves, swallow holes, and souterrains — that frequently carry archaeology. Where peat overlies limestone, organic preservation can be exceptional. A substantial secondary geology of sandstone (34%) adds further variety to the underlying landscape.

Dominant geological periodCarboniferous (62%)

Dominant rock typeLimestone (59%)

Mapped formations18

Distinct rock types4 35th pct for diversity

Rock type composition

Limestone

59%

Sandstone

34%

Slate

Slates

Largest mapped unit: Ballysteen Formation (22% of the barony)

Placename evidence

Logainm records 24 heritage-diagnostic placenames for Iverk, drawn from townland and civil-parish names across the barony. The dominant stratum is Early Christian ecclesiastical — cill-, teampall-, and domhnach-prefixed names that record the dense network of early church foundations established between the fifth and tenth centuries. The leading diagnostic roots are cill- (8 — church), ráth- (4 — earthen ringfort), and teampall- (3 — church). This is broadly in line with the ROI average of 30.7 heritage placenames per barony. The presence of multiple heritage strata side by side indicates layered occupation of the landscape across successive prehistoric and historic periods. Logainm records 119 placenames for Iverk (predominantly townland names). Of these, 24 (20%) carry one of the diagnostic Gaelic roots tracked above; the remainder draw on more generic landscape vocabulary that does not encode a heritage period.

Pre-Christian / Early Medieval Defensive

Root	Count	Meaning
ráth-	4	earthen ringfort
dún-	2	hilltop or promontory fort
lios-	1	ringfort or enclosure
caiseal-	1	stone ringfort

Early Christian Ecclesiastical

Root	Count	Meaning
cill-	8	church (early)
teampall-	3	church (later medieval)
tobar-	2	holy well
gráinseach-	1	monastic farm / grange

Burial, Ritual, and Norse-Contact

Root	Count	Meaning
leaba-	1	megalithic tomb

Other baronies in Kilkenny

See all 280 baronies in the Republic of Ireland Heritage Tool.

Explore further

Grounding History: 10 Maps of Northern Ireland’s Past

If you’re interested in Irish heritage more widely, the companion report for Northern Ireland brings together the analysis of all 462 NI wards into one place through 10 high-quality maps — covering monument density, archaeological periods, placename heritage, terrain, wetland, and the historic landscape at first survey. Take a look.

View the report — £12.99

About this profile

Click any section below to expand.

What is a barony?

A barony is a historic administrative unit in Ireland, broadly equivalent to an English hundred. The 280 baronies used here are from the OSi 2019 National Statutory Boundaries (generalised 20m), covering the 26 counties of the Republic of Ireland. Baronies derive from the Norman period, were formalised in the 17th century, and have not been redrawn for statistical purposes. They vary enormously in area, from compact urban baronies in Dublin to vast upland baronies in Connacht, and should not be compared by raw site count without accounting for area differences.

What counts as a site?

This profile combines three distinct heritage registers, each with its own definition of what constitutes a recordable site:

Archaeological sites (NMS). The National Monuments Service Sites and Monuments Record (SMR) catalogues every known archaeological monument or site of archaeological interest in the Republic, from prehistoric burial mounds and ringforts to medieval churches and post-medieval defensive works. Inclusion does not require legal protection — only that the site has been identified, surveyed, and assessed as having archaeological value. A separate subset of these sites lies within a recorded protection zone, which gives them statutory protection under the National Monuments Acts.
Listed buildings (NIAH). The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage records buildings of architectural, historical, archaeological, artistic, cultural, scientific, social, or technical interest. Each surveyed structure is appraised on a five-tier scale: International, National, Regional, Local, and Record-Only. The NIAH appraisal is informational rather than strictly statutory, but it underpins local-authority Record of Protected Structures (RPS) listings.
Heritage placenames (Logainm). Logainm is the authoritative database of Irish placenames maintained by the Placenames Branch. This profile applies a heritage-diagnostic classifier to the Irish-language form of each townland name, flagging roots that signal defensive sites (ráth-, lios-, dún-, caiseal-, cathair-), ecclesiastical foundations (cill-, teampall-, domhnach-, mainistir-), prehistoric burial-ritual features (tuaim-, carn-, leaba-), or Norse-contact settlement (gall-). Townlands without one of these diagnostic roots are not flagged here — they may still carry historical significance, but that significance is not encoded in the name itself.

Editorial principles

The narrative sections of this profile follow several explicit principles:

Evidential. Every claim about this barony’s heritage character is anchored in the underlying register data. Where a site count, a placename count, or a percentile rank is cited, it is computed from the source datasets at export time, not estimated.
Comparative. Counts and metrics are reported alongside their percentile rank against the other 279 ROI baronies. A barony with 50 ringforts in absolute terms could be unusually high or unusually low depending on its size and regional context; percentile ranking removes that ambiguity.
Transparent on limits. Where a register has known coverage gaps, survey biases, or data-quality issues that affect this barony’s figures, the profile flags them rather than presenting the numbers as definitive.
No interpretation beyond what the data supports. The narrative does not speculate about historical events, social dynamics, or cultural meaning beyond what the recorded heritage and placename evidence directly attests.

Data caveats and limits

NMS Sites and Monuments Record is the product of survey campaigns conducted at different intensities across different counties and decades. Some baronies have been surveyed more thoroughly than others, and absolute counts should be read in that light. Sites destroyed by development before survey are typically not represented; sites in heavily forested or upland terrain are sometimes under-recorded.
NIAH coverage is broadly complete for the Republic of Ireland but the survey was conducted on a rolling county-by-county basis, and the most recent appraisal date varies. Buildings demolished or substantially altered after their original survey may still appear in the register; conversely, recent buildings of merit may not yet have been appraised.
Logainm classification applies a deliberately conservative pattern-matching approach to the Irish-language townland forms. The classifier prioritises true positives over recall: a townland may carry a heritage signal that the classifier doesn’t recognise, particularly where the diagnostic root has been heavily anglicised or where the townland name draws on a less common term. The 60,000+ townland records and ~9,800 classified placenames give a substantial signal at barony scale, but individual townland names should be checked against Logainm directly for definitive interpretation.
Period attribution. The chronological distribution reflects only those NMS sites that carry a recognised period attribution in the source data. Sites listed as “Unknown” period are excluded from the dated subset.
Boundary changes. Some baronies have undergone minor boundary adjustments since their 19th-century definition; the OSi 2019 generalised boundaries used here are the current statutory definition and may differ slightly from historical maps in border areas.
Bedrock geology is mapped at 1:100,000 scale, which means local variation within a barony — small pockets of different rock type, mineral veins, alluvium overlying bedrock — is generalised. The dominant-system and rocktype figures are area-weighted, so a barony reading “70% Carboniferous limestone” may still contain small but archaeologically important pockets of older or younger rock. Around 3% of GSI polygons do not match the lexicon and contribute no rocktype or system attribution.

Data sources

National Monuments Service — Sites and Monuments Record (SMR)
Contributes archaeological site records, classifications, periods, and recorded protection-zone status.

© Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage · Licence: Open data, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)
https://data.gov.ie/dataset/national-monuments-service-archaeological-survey-of-ireland
National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (NIAH)
Contributes listed-building records and architectural-significance grades.

© Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage · Licence: Open data, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)
https://data.gov.ie/dataset/national-inventory-of-architectural-heritage-niah-national-dataset
Logainm — Placenames Database of Ireland
Contributes Irish-language and English townland names, civil parish associations, and barony assignments for the heritage-placename classifier.

© Government of Ireland, Placenames Branch · Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Ireland (CC BY-ND 3.0 IE)
https://www.logainm.ie/
Ordnance Survey Ireland — National Statutory Barony Boundaries 2019
Contributes the canonical 280 barony boundaries (generalised 20m).

© Ordnance Survey Ireland / Government of Ireland · Licence: Open data, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)
https://data-osi.opendata.arcgis.com/
EURODEM — European Digital Elevation Model
Contributes elevation, slope, and topographic-wetness statistics, plus the hillshade rendering on each barony’s topographic map.

© Maps for Europe · Licence: Open data
https://www.mapsforeurope.org/datasets/euro-dem
ESA WorldCover
Contributes land-cover classifications for grassland, woodland, cropland, wetland, urban, and water statistics.

© European Space Agency · Licence: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)
https://esa-worldcover.org/en
Geological Survey Ireland — 1:100,000 Bedrock Geology
Contributes bedrock geological data: dominant geological system (Carboniferous, Devonian, etc.), rock-type composition, and formation-level mapping, with the GSI Bedrock Lexicon providing descriptive attributes.

© Geological Survey Ireland · Licence: Open data, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)
https://www.gsi.ie/en-ie/data-and-maps/Pages/Bedrock.aspx

Explore more: Search any of the 280 ROI baronies, browse by historical province, or read the methodology and data sources for the full Republic of Ireland Heritage Tool.

Spotted an error? This dataset is updated continuously. Email contact@danielkirkpatrick.co.uk with corrections, missing records, or suggestions for improvement.