Survey Data
Reg No
13311005
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Social
Original Use
Lock keeper's house
In Use As
House
Date
1810 - 1820
Coordinates
208208, 270780
Date Recorded
30/08/2005
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached three-bay single-storey lock keeper's house, built 1815, with single-storey extension to rear (west). Restored in 1990. Now in use as private house. Hipped (graded) natural slate roof with central rendered chimneystack and cut stone eaves course. Rendered walls. Recent memorial plaque to front elevation. Square-headed window openings, set in recessed segmental-headed arches, with cut stone sills and two-over-two pane timber sliding sash windows. Central square-headed doorway to main elevation (west), set in recessed segmental-headed arch, having battened timber door. Located adjacent to lock 44 (13311007) and to the northeast of Killashee.
Appraisal
This charming early nineteenth-century lock keeper's house retains its early character, form and much of its early fabric. The modest form of this building is enhanced by the recessed arches containing the openings, which helps to give this appealing structure a formal architectural quality. The quality of the construction is indicative of the grandiose ambitions of the Directors General of Inland Navigation (who took over responsibility for the Royal Canal following the dissolution of the Royal Canal Company in 1813) during the early part of the nineteenth century. Constructed by a single authority, it is not surprising that lock keeper's houses along the Royal Canal follow a standard plan. It was probably built to designs by John Killaly (1766 – 1832), the engineer responsible for the construction of the Royal Canal. It forms part of a group of related structures along with Savage Bridge (13311006) and the associated lock (13311007) and is a worthy addition to the built heritage of the Killashee area. The memorial/dedication plaque to the front elevation is to Frances K. Kelly of Forrest Hills, New York, who paid for the restoration of this building in 1990.