Survey Data
Reg No
15702561
Rating
National
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social, Technical
Previous Name
Wilton House
Original Use
Country house
Date
1835 - 1845
Coordinates
294296, 135042
Date Recorded
22/08/2007
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached three-bay three-storey over basement country house, built 1838-44, on an asymmetrical plan with single-bay three-storey advanced end bays; six-bay two-storey Garden Front (south). Occupied, 1911. Burnt, 1923. Now in ruins. Set in unkempt grounds.
Appraisal
The shell of a country house erected to a design by Daniel Robertson (d. 1849) representing an important component of the domestic built heritage of County Wexford with the architectural value of the composition, '[a] very beautiful castle in the early Tudor style on the site of [an] old mansion in the dull style of the period of William and Mary' (Hickey alias Doyle 1868, 179), confirmed by such attributes as the deliberate alignment maximising on panoramic vistas overlooking the meandering Boro River with the wooded Bree Hill as a picturesque backdrop; the asymmetrical footprint centred on a "medieval" doorcase demonstrating good quality workmanship in a silver-grey Mount Leinster granite; the diminishing in scale of the multipartite openings on each floor producing a graduated visual impression; and the battlemented turrets producing an eye-catching silhouette in the landscape. Although reduced to ruins during "The Troubles" (1919-23), 'the work of destruction carried out by about thirty men [who destroyed] one of the best known residences of the Enniscorthy district' (The People 10th March 1923, 5), the elementary form and massing survive intact together with remnants of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior, including a partial plastered slate hung surface finish widely regarded as an increasingly endangered hallmark of the architectural heritage of County Wexford. Furthermore, an adjacent farmyard complex (see 15702562); a gateway surviving as an interesting relic of the eighteenth-century Wilton House (see 15702565); and an outlying walled garden (see 15702566), all continue to contribute positively to the group and setting values of an estate having historic connections with the Alcock family including Harry Alcock (1792-1840); Colonel Harry Alcock JP DL (1821-93), one-time High Sheriff of County Wexford (fl. 1846); and Captain Philip Clayton Alcock JP DL (1861-1949), one-time High Sheriff of County Wexford (fl. 1900).