Survey Data
Reg No
21812022
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Social
Original Use
School
In Use As
School
Date
1900 - 1910
Coordinates
167959, 123230
Date Recorded
09/10/2007
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached U-plan school, built in 1909, comprising four-bay single-storey recessed centre-bay, two-bay single-storey gabled end bays with lean-to to centre bay and front (north-east) elevation. Three-bay single-storey extension to rear (south-west). Pitched slated roof with limestone copings, red brick eaves course and rendered chimneystacks. Painted roughcast rendered walls having red brick quoins and plinth course. Pair of rusticated cut-limestone plaques inscribed: "KILFINANE [sic] GIRLS NATIONAL SCHOOL 1909". Round-headed openings to gabled end bays having red brick block-and-start surrounds, limestone sills and replacement uPVC windows. Square-headed openings to centre-bay, north-west, south-east elevations, and rear elevation with red brick block-and-start surrounds and limestone sills having replacement uPVC windows. Square-headed bipartite opening to school, recessed centre-bay having red brick block-and-start surround, shared limestone sill and replacement uPVC windows. Square-headed opening to lean-to to front with brick block-and-start surrounds having limestone details, glazed overlights over timber battened doors. Limestone steps to entrance. Square-headed opening to rear with brick block-and-start surround, glazed overlights over timber battened door. Pair of square-plan ashlar limestone piers with carved caps, plinths and double-leaf cast-iron gates. Pedestrian entrances with single-leaf cast-iron gates and ashlar piers. Roughcast rendered boundary walls with limestone copings and cast-iron railings.
Appraisal
This school was built by the architect and engineer Brian Edward Fitzgerald Sheehy. The visual appeal of the building is created through the use of gabled end bays, rendered walls and brick quoins. The separate lean-tos clearly articulate the separate entrances and classrooms, which were a common feature of the educational system in Ireland in the nineteenth century. Prominently sited, this former school provides a pleasing roadside feature.