Survey Data
Reg No
15605120
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Historical, Social
Previous Name
Hospital of the Holy Trinity
Original Use
Almshouse
Date
1770 - 1775
Coordinates
271853, 127303
Date Recorded
21/06/2005
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached seven-bay two-storey almshouse or "hospital", dated 1772, on a rectangular plan. Renovated, ----. One of a pair. Replacement hipped fibre-cement slate roof with ridge tiles, rendered chimney stacks having red brick corbelled stepped capping supporting terracotta pots, and uPVC rainwater goods on rendered eaves retaining cast-iron downpipes. Rendered, ruled and lined battered walls. Square-headed door openings centred on square-headed door opening with cut-granite step thresholds, and concealed dressings framing timber boarded doors. Square-headed window openings with cut-granite sills, and concealed dressings framing replacement timber casement windows replacing one-over-one (ground floor) or six-over-six (first floor) timber sash windows without horns having flush exposed sash boxes. Street fronted with concrete footpath to front.
Appraisal
An almshouse or "hospital" erected by Charles Tottenham (1716-95) of Mac Murragh House (see 15702913) representing an important component of the later eighteenth-century built heritage of New Ross with the architectural value of the composition, one occupying the site of a sixteenth-century hospital founded (1584) by Thomas Gregory [SMR WX029-013011-], confirmed by such attributes as the compact rectilinear plan form; the feint battered silhouette; the somewhat disproportionate bias of solid to void in the massing compounded by the uniform or near-uniform proportions of the centralised openings on each floor; and the high pitched roofline. Having been well maintained, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with quantities of the original fabric: however, the introduction of replacement fittings to most of the openings has not had a beneficial impact on the character or integrity of an almshouse or "hospital" forming part of a self-contained ensemble (including 15605119) making a pleasing visual statement in South Street.