Survey Data

Reg No

12301021


Rating

Regional


Categories of Special Interest

Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social


Original Use

House


Historical Use

Creamery


Date

1745 - 1755


Coordinates

253275, 172974


Date Recorded

18/05/2004


Date Updated

--/--/--


Description

Detached five-bay three-storey over basement house, built 1750, on a T-shaped plan centred on (single-storey) prostyle distyle portico to ground floor; single-bay (single-bay deep) three-storey central return (west). Damaged, 1798. Adapted to alternative use, 1900. Closed, 1913. Adapted to alternative use, ----. Closed, 2000. Sold, 2004. Now disused. Hipped slate roof on a T-shaped plan behind parapet centred on flat roof (west), clay ridge tiles, rendered chimney stacks having stepped capping supporting terracotta or yellow terracotta tapered pots, and concealed rainwater goods retaining cast-iron octagonal or ogee hoppers and downpipes. Roughcast walls on cut-limestone chamfered cushion course on rendered base with rendered quoins to corners supporting rendered parapet having cut-limestone coping; rendered surface finish (remainder) with slate hung surface finish (west). Square-headed central door opening behind (single-storey) prostyle distyle portico approached by flight of three cut-granite steps with dragged cut-limestone columns supporting "Cyma Recta"- or "Cyma Reversa"-detailed cornice on blind frieze on entablature, and rendered "bas-relief" surround framing timber panelled door having overlight. Square-headed window openings with cut-limestone shallow sills, and rendered "bas-relief" surrounds framing boarded-up six-over-six timber sash windows. Square-headed window openings originally in tripartite arrangement (west) with cut-limestone shallow sills, and concealed dressings with fittings now boarded-up. Interior including (ground floor): central hall retaining carved timber surrounds to door openings framing timber panelled doors, and decorative plasterwork cornice to ceiling centred on "Acanthus"-detailed ceiling rose; segmental-headed door opening into staircase hall with carved timber Classical-style surround framing timber panelled double doors having fanlight; staircase hall (west) retaining carved timber surrounds to door openings framing timber panelled doors, staircase on a dog leg plan with turned timber balusters supporting carved timber banister terminating in volute, carved timber surrounds to door openings to landing framing timber panelled doors centred on carved timber surround to window opening framing timber panelled shutters on panelled risers, and moulded plasterwork cornice to coved ceiling centred on "Acanthus"-detailed ceiling rose; reception room (south) retaining carved timber surrounds to door openings framing timber panelled doors with carved timber surrounds to window openings framing timber panelled shutters on panelled risers, and picture railing below moulded plasterwork cornice to ceiling; reception room (north) retaining carved timber surrounds to door openings framing timber panelled doors with carved timber surrounds to window openings framing timber panelled shutters on panelled risers, and moulded plasterwork cornices to ceilings; and carved timber surrounds to door openings to remainder framing timber panelled doors with carved timber surrounds to window openings framing timber panelled shutters on panelled risers. Set in unkempt landscaped grounds.

Appraisal

A house representing an important component of the mid eighteenth-century domestic built heritage of Castlecomer with the architectural value of the composition confirmed by such attributes as the symmetrical footprint centred on a pillared portico demonstrating good quality workmanship in a deep-grey limestone; the diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor producing a graduated visual impression; and the parapeted roofline: meanwhile, aspects of the composition illustrate the partial reconstruction of the house following 'the disturbances of 1798 [and] the violence of a party of insurgents by whom a considerable portion of [Castlecomer] was destroyed' (Lewis 1837 I, 292). A prolonged period of unoccupancy notwithstanding, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with substantial quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior where contemporary joinery; and plasterwork refinements, all highlight the artistic potential of the composition. Furthermore, a polygonal outbuilding of undetermined provenance continues to contribute positively to the group and setting values of a self-contained ensemble making a pleasing, if increasingly forlorn visual statement facing down High Street. NOTE: The house remains of additional interest for the period of reinvention as the Castlecomer Basket Factory and Pram Works (fl. 1900-13).