Survey Data

Reg No

15004181


Rating

Regional


Categories of Special Interest

Architectural, Artistic


Previous Name

Athlone Barracks


Original Use

Hospital/infirmary


In Use As

Barracks


Date

1800 - 1810


Coordinates

203597, 241501


Date Recorded

10/10/2004


Date Updated

--/--/--


Description

Detached ten-bay three-storey former military hospital, dated 1808. Now in use as infantry barracks. Pitched natural slate roof with raised verges, five rendered chimneystacks and cast-iron rainwater goods. Roughcast rendered walls with ashlar limestone quoins to the corners. Square-headed window openings with limestone block-and-start surrounds and cut stone sills, all now with replacement windows. Round-headed doorcases to third bay from either end with limestone block-and-start surrounds, replacement timber doors and plain fanlights over. Rendered wall with cast-iron railways to north side of building. Located to south end of Custume Barracks.

Appraisal

An attractive early nineteenth-century barrack building which survives with its original character and massing intact. It is typical of barrack buildings of the period in Ireland. The limestone block-and-start surrounds are a common feature of the mid-to-late-Georgian buildings in Custume Barracks and are of artistic merit. This hospital is said to have been originally built by French prisoners and remained in use as a hospital until 1968 when it was converted for use as infantry barracks accommodation for female soldiers. It remains an important component of Custume Barracks.