Survey Data
Reg No
15303003
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Historical, Social
Previous Name
Rathowen Constabulary Barrack
Original Use
Garda station/constabulary barracks
In Use As
Garda station/constabulary barracks
Date
1870 - 1890
Coordinates
231810, 267372
Date Recorded
29/07/2004
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached two-storey three-bay former RIC barracks, built c.1880, with central single-bay two-storey projecting bay to centre of front façade (east). Reconstructed as a Garda Barracks by the Office of Public Works in 1926. Hipped natural slate roof with clay ridge tiles, remaining sections of cast-iron rainwater goods and two central brick chimneystacks. Roughcast rendered over smooth rendered plinth. Square-headed window openings with replacement windows. Square-headed doorcase with replacement door to south-side of projecting breakfront. Cast-iron boot scraper adjacent to entrance. Single-storey rubble limestone outbuildings to rear with pitched corrugated metal roofs. Flat panel wrought-iron gates to south. Road-fronted with single-storey return to rear and central attached chimney to northeast wall.
Appraisal
An imposing former Royal Irish Constabulary Barracks which retains its early form and character, despite a loss of original fabric in recent years. This barrack building was constructed in the late nineteenth-century and replaced an earlier barracks in Rathowen, which was located a short distance to the north of the present structure. This building was reconstructed for use by Irish authorities in 1926, part of an extensive programme carried out by the Office of Public Works, throughout Ireland, at the time. It remains an historically interesting building which adds to the streetscape of Rathowen.