Historical Maps of Ballyoughter, Co. Wexford

Historical Maps of Ballyoughter

Historical maps provide a unique record of how Ballyoughter and the surrounding area have changed over time. Roads have been built and realigned, buildings have appeared and disappeared, townland names have changed in spelling, and the arrival of the railway transformed parts of the local landscape.

The maps below span more than two centuries and were created for different purposes and at different scales. They should therefore be read as historical evidence rather than as exact modern maps. When viewed together, however, they provide a fascinating picture of the development of Ballyoughter and its neighbouring townlands.

A map does not just chart, it unlocks and formulates meaning; it forms bridges between here and there, between disparate ideas that we did not know were previously connected.

Reif Larsen, American author

Down Survey of Ireland, 1656–1658

The Down Survey was carried out between 1656 and 1658 under the direction of William Petty. It is regarded as the first detailed land survey undertaken on a national scale anywhere in the world.

Its main purpose was to measure lands that were liable to confiscation following the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland so that they could be redistributed. As a result, the maps were primarily administrative documents rather than detailed maps of roads, buildings and individual properties.

The Down Survey is particularly valuable today because it records early forms of parish and townland names and provides a picture of the wider landscape more than 350 years ago.

Valentine Gill Map of County Wexford, 1811

Source: Wexford County Archive. Reproduced with permission.

Entitled ‘A new map of the County of Wexford from actual survey by Valentine Gill’, it was published by Gill, a surveyor of lands from Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford, in August 1811 and concentrated primarily on showing the location of people connected with the 1798 rebellion.

A list of subscribers to the map was published in the Wexford Herald of 7 September 1807. The coat of arms for each subscriber was to be engraved on their copy of the map, the subscription per copy being £2.5s.6d.

For Ballyoughter, the map is particularly valuable because it records the local road network before the arrival of the railway and a number of later road alterations. It also provides an important picture of County Wexford several decades before the first detailed Ordnance Survey.

Points to Note

Ballyoughter is clearly marked on the map.
An earlier Roman Catholic chapel is shown in the area. This was the predecessor of the present Church of the Sacred Heart, whose foundation stone was laid in 1874.
The road network around Ballyoughter differs noticeably from that seen today. At Ballyoughter crossroads, there is no direct road to Camolin. This road was not constructed until the railway was extended through the area in the early 1860s.
A route or pathway runs from Tubberneering towards Ballygullen and Ballydaniel, but it does not appear to continue onwards to Camolin. The main route from Ballyoughter to Camolin therefore appears to have passed through Meadowpaul (Medophall) and Norrismount.
A pathway is also shown from Tubberneering to the Braccina (Brackernagh). This route no longer exists.
The route from Ballyoughter towards Ballycannow (Ballycanew) also differs from the modern road alignment. It passed through Tomcoyle, Corrancroer (Cranacrower) and Tomgarron (Tomgar). There was no route through the Braccina along the line of the present road.
The road towards Carrigrew passed through the estate of Mr Donovan, as the later “New Road” had not yet been constructed.
Ballymore Demesne is clearly marked.
At Meadowpaul, the estate of Major General Thomas Brownrigg, who served with the Honourable East India Company in Bombay and died on 3 February 1808, is noted.
Toome appears as “Toomb” on the map, with the site of Ballinclare Church in the Parish of Toome indicated.
The Battle of Tubberneering is marked and annotated with the words “Colonel Walpole killed.”
The camp of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, in 1599 is shown at Springmount (Essex Bridge). The site marks a brief resting place used by his army while returning towards Dublin following his southern campaign during the Nine Years’ War.

The map provides an especially useful starting point for examining how the roads and settlements around Ballyoughter changed during the nineteenth century.

First-Edition Ordnance Survey 6-Inch Map, 1839

The first Ordnance Survey of Ireland was undertaken during the early nineteenth century. The resulting six-inch maps provided an unprecedented level of detail and remain one of the most important sources for Irish local and family history.

The first-edition map of the Ballyoughter area captures the landscape before the construction of the railway and allows individual roads, buildings, streams and field boundaries to be examined in much greater detail than on earlier maps.

Click or tap on the image below to enlarge it.

Source: Tailte Éireann historical mapping. © Ordnance Survey Ireland/Government of Ireland Copyright Permit No. MP 005821

Points to Note

Individual houses and other buildings are shown much more clearly than on the 1811 map.
The earlier Catholic chapel can be identified.
The road network still represents the pre-railway landscape.
Ballymore Demesne and the surrounding estates can be examined more closely.
Comparison with the 1811 map shows how the area developed during the first half of the nineteenth century.

This map is particularly useful when investigating the development of individual properties and determining whether roads or buildings existed by 1839.

The map above shows Ballyoughter and its immediate surroundings. To explore the area in greater detail or view neighbouring townlands, use the link below to open the Tailte Éireann Irish Townland and Historical Map Viewer.

The link to the Tailte Éireann Irish Townland and Historical Map Viewer is provided in accordance with its Usage Policy.

Using the Historical Map Viewer

Accept the terms and conditions of use for the site
Type Balloughter (not Ballyoughter) in the search bar
Select Balloughter, Wexford under ‘National Townlands’
In the top right of the screen, select the icon with the 4 white square boxes to launch the Basemap Gallery (This might already be showing on the page) and choose the map of your choice to view the area. Each map tells a different story.

1. Historic 6 Inch First Edition (1829–1842) Black & White
2. Historic 6 Inch First Edition (1829–1842) Colour
3. Historic 25 Inch
4. Historic 6 Inch Last Edition Black & White
5. Variety of aerial maps (1995–2018)

5. You may also click on the ‘Map Layers’ icon (top left of screen) to display historic features and townland borders.

Geological Survey of Ireland Map, 1862

The Geological Survey of Ireland produced detailed geological maps during the nineteenth century using Ordnance Survey mapping as their geographical base.

The map covering Ballyoughter forms part of Sheet 149, Gorey. It was surveyed by W. L. Willson and J. Beete Jukes, with the trappean rocks re-surveyed by George V. Du Noyer in 1861–1862. The map was published in 1862.

Although its primary purpose was to record the geology of the area, the underlying Ordnance Survey mapping also provides a valuable record of the roads, buildings and local landscape immediately before the arrival of the railway.

Click or tap on the map below to enlarge it.

Source: Geological Survey of Ireland / British Geological Survey. Permission courtesy of the British Geological Survey © UKRI [2021] Original Source: Map 1002104

Points to Note

The townland is shown as “Balloughter”.
The earlier Roman Catholic chapel is marked. This was the predecessor of the present Church of the Sacred Heart, whose foundation stone was laid in 1874.
Two routes towards Camolin can be identified. One passed through Medophall and Norrismount, while another approached Camolin through Toberanierin.
The present direct road from Ballyoughter crossroads towards Camolin is not shown. The road appears on later mapping following the construction of the railway in 1863.
The Pottle is shown as “The Cross Pottle”.
By 1862, the route towards Ballymore and Clologue no longer passed through Ballymore Demesne (Mr Donovan’s Estate) as it had on the 1811 map. From Ballyoughter, the route passed towards The Cross Pottle, turned towards Camolin, and then continued towards Ballyeden and Medophall.
The road towards Ballycanew still followed the older route through Cranacrower and Tomgar, rather than the route through Brackernagh used today.

The map is particularly valuable because it captures the road network immediately before the railway brought significant changes to the landscape around Ballyoughter.

The Railway and the Changing Road Network, 1863

The arrival of the railway in 1863 brought major changes to the landscape around Ballyoughter. The new railway line cut across existing roads and fields, requiring bridges, embankments and altered road approaches.

The maps below compare the first-edition six-inch survey of 1839 with the much more detailed 25-inch Ordnance Survey mapping from around 1900.

This helps explain some of the most noticeable differences between the first-edition Ordnance Survey map and later maps of the area.

Click or tap on the images below to enlarge them.

Source: Tailte Éireann historical mapping. © Ordnance Survey Ireland/Government of Ireland Copyright Permit No. MP 005821

Points to Note

There is no railway on the map surveyed in 1839.
By c. 1900, the railway had become one of the most prominent features of the local landscape.
New bridges and altered road approaches were required where existing routes crossed the railway.
The direct road from Ballyoughter towards Camolin had been created.
Some earlier roads and tracks became less important or disappeared from later mapping.
The comparison helps explain several differences between the modern road network and that shown on the early nineteenth-century maps.

The railway therefore changed more than travel between towns. Its construction permanently altered parts of the road network and physical landscape around Ballyoughter.

Ordnance Survey One-Inch Map, 1904

The Ordnance Survey one-inch map of 1904 was produced at a smaller scale than the six-inch and 25-inch maps.

Rather than showing individual houses and field boundaries in detail, it provides a wider view of the road, railway and settlement network across the surrounding region. It is therefore particularly useful for placing Ballyoughter within the wider landscape of north County Wexford.

Click or tap on the map below to enlarge it.

Source: Tailte Éireann historical mapping. © Ordnance Survey Ireland/Government of Ireland Copyright Permit No. MP 005821

Points to Note

Ballyoughter National School is shown close to the church.
The road from Ballyoughter to Camolin, passing over the railway bridge, is clearly established.
The modern route towards Ballycanew through Brackernagh is also shown.
Smith’s crossroads is still shown as a conventional four-road junction. The roads were later staggered in 1958 in response to the increasing volume of motor traffic and the number of accidents at the junction.
The route of the Bracken River can be followed across the map.
The railway is clearly established as part of the wider transport network linking the area with Camolin, Ferns, Gorey and beyond.

Although it contains less local detail than the 25-inch map, the 1904 map is valuable for showing how Ballyoughter fitted into the wider road and railway network at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Ballyoughter Through the Maps

Viewed together, the maps show how Ballyoughter changed from a small settlement within an older network of roads and pathways into a landscape increasingly shaped by improved roads, the railway, the church, school and other nineteenth-century development.

Some features have shown remarkable continuity, while others have disappeared completely. Routes visible in 1811 and 1839 were altered or abandoned, new roads appeared, and the arrival of the railway in 1863 permanently changed movement through the area. By 1904, the road and railway network had taken on a form much closer to that seen today.

A Note on Historical Maps

Historical maps are extremely valuable sources, but they should be interpreted with care.

The date associated with a map may refer to the date on which it was surveyed, engraved, revised or published. These dates can sometimes differ by several years.

The absence of a road, building or other feature from a map does not necessarily prove that it did not exist at that time. Different maps were produced for different purposes and at different scales, and smaller features were not always recorded.

Where possible, map evidence on this website is therefore compared with other historical sources, including census returns, valuation records, local authority records, school registers, newspaper reports, photographs and other contemporary documents.

Place-name spellings also vary considerably between maps and historical records. Balloughter and Ballyoughter, for example, have both been used historically. Today, Balloughter is generally used for the Electoral Division, while Ballyoughter is used for the townland, although the two spellings are sometimes used interchangeably in older records.

Sources and Map Credits

Historical mapping and information featured on this page have been drawn from a number of collections and institutions, including:

The historical Ordnance Survey extracts of Ballyoughter reproduced on this page are used under Copyright Permit No. MP 005821.

Individual source and copyright acknowledgements are provided beneath the relevant maps.

Where possible, links are also provided to the original online collections so that visitors can explore the maps and surrounding areas in greater detail.