Survey Data
Reg No
21901406
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Social
Previous Name
Ballyneety Sessions House
Original Use
Court house
Historical Use
Garda station/constabulary barracks
Date
1820 - 1840
Coordinates
162857, 149638
Date Recorded
09/12/2007
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached two-bay single-storey former sessions house, built c. 1830, having projecting end bay to front (east) elevation and lean-to to south elevation. Hipped and pitched slate roof with render copings. Dressed limestone walls to front having limestone plaque and plinth course. Roughly dressed limestone walls to rear and north elevations. Rendered walls to south elevation. Square-headed openings, some with limestone sills, having replacement uPVC windows. Square-headed opening with timber panelled double-leaf doors. Rubble limestone boundary walls to site having render copings.
Appraisal
The limestone walls and solid to void ratio of this former civic building, which is characteristically situated behind boundary walls, gives the façade an air of solidity and impenetrability. Fine craftsmanship is evident in the dressed plinth course and carved plaque. The sessions house once formed an important social and civil function in the area and as such makes a significant contribution to the heritage of the local area. On the first edition of the OS maps it is marked as a police barracks, while on the third edition of the OS maps it is marked as a ruined constabularly barracks.