Survey Data
Reg No
50080055
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Historical, Social, Technical
Previous Name
Great Southern and Western Railway Works
Original Use
Gates/railings/walls
In Use As
Gates/railings/walls
Date
1845 - 1855
Coordinates
311117, 233164
Date Recorded
24/05/2013
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Coursed rubble limestone wall, erected c.1850, to north, south and east of Inchicore Railway Works site. Rubble limestone coping stones, having string course to parapet on Sarsfield Road. Cast-iron railings on plinth wall with square-profile tooled limestone gate piers to former Inchicore Model School, dated 1853, now Inchicore National School. Wall to Grattan Crescent rebuilt 1934, having wrought-iron railings. Square-headed opening from Sarsfield Road to Inchicore Terrace North, having red brick voussoirs and surround. Post box, manufactured c.1905, incorporated into wall at corner of Sarsfield Road and Grattan Crescent. Metal signage erected c.1945 at entrance to Inchicore Terrace South, English language on north wall, Irish language on south wall. Granite section of wall to east of Granite Terrace, with rubble limestone capping and rubble coping stones.
Appraisal
The Great Southern & Western Railway was established in 1844, and the GS&WR engineering works were constructed on a 73 acre site at Inchicore from 1846. The Works Estate was constructed to the east of the GS&WR Works to accommodate workers and their families, then a rural area. This boundary wall encloses the Works Estate and Inchicore Model School, a notably intact example of a nineteenth-century industrial village, coherently planned with recreational, educational, and employment facilities alongside housing. The lower section with railings to Grattan Crescent was rebuilt in 1934 when the road was widened by Dublin Corporation. The wall previously held gates at the entrance from Grattan Crescent to Inchicore Terrace South, the largest of two entrances to the estate. The wall has one opening to the north, providing access from Inchicore Terrace North to the former Great Southern & Western Railway House. Skill and craftsmanship are evident in the construction of the boundary wall, particularly in the execution of a section of granite wall at Granite Terrace.