Survey Data

Reg No

14328013


Rating

Regional


Categories of Special Interest

Architectural, Historical, Social, Technical


Previous Name

Trim Union Workhouse


Original Use

Workhouse


In Use As

Hospital/infirmary


Date

1840 - 1845


Coordinates

280274, 256349


Date Recorded

30/04/2002


Date Updated

--/--/--


Description

Detached multiple-bay two- and three-storey former workhouse, built 1841. Comprising of fifteen-bay two-storey central block, with paired three-bay three-storey gabled blocks flanking to north and south. Rubble limestone walls. Pitched slate roofs and cast-iron rainwater goods. The gable-fronted blocks have timber bargeboards and louvered lancet windows. Now in use as hospital.

Appraisal

Saint Joseph's Hospital serves as a reminder of the work of the Poor Law Unions in housing and caring for the destitute of Ireland in the mid nineteenth century. The workhouses were built throughout Ireland to similar plans but on different scales to designs by George Wilkinson following the passing of the Poor Relief (Ireland) Act in 1838. Only the largest range survives.