Survey Data
Reg No
50080419
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Technical
Original Use
Workshop
In Use As
Workshop
Date
1840 - 1860
Coordinates
311215, 233400
Date Recorded
29/05/2013
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Attached eighteen-bay two-storey former erecting shop, built c.1850, now in use as workshop. Pitched roof having recent corrugated metal covering, with granite verge stone to south gable. Cut snecked limestone and rubble limestone walls with some cast-iron wall ties. Square-headed window openings to front (west) elevation having brown brick block-and-start surrounds. Round-headed window openings to rear having brown brick block-and-start surrounds and granite sills. Timber framed windows, with small lights, having spoked toplights and pivoting windows to rear elevation. Some replacement timber windows. Round-headed door openings to south gable, now blocked. Recent square-headed entrances to front and rear elevations with running rails providing train carriage access. Recent metal shutters.
Appraisal
The Inchicore Works was established in 1846 to maintain and construct rolling stock for the Great Southern & Western Railway. Now the headquarters for mechanical engineering and rolling stock maintenance at Irish Rail, it is the largest engineering complex of its kind in Ireland. The development of the Works was responsible for the transformation of this area from rural agricultural to an industrial village in the nineteenth century. The railway network transformed Ireland, linking remote areas in the country with urban settlements and ports, while promoting the commercialisation and industrialisation of larger towns. This building retains its early form and character, seen particularly in the form, stonemasonry and small-pane windows. While the scale of operations at the site has greatly reduced since the latter half of the twentieth century, the building continues its original use as a workshop.