{"id":57339,"date":"2012-02-01T00:05:55","date_gmt":"2012-02-01T00:05:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.buildingsofireland.ie\/?post_type=building-otm&p=57339"},"modified":"2021-02-03T18:00:12","modified_gmt":"2021-02-03T18:00:12","slug":"lock-keepers-house-lock-44-ballyclare-killashee-td-killashee-county-longford","status":"publish","type":"building-otm","link":"https:\/\/www.buildingsofireland.ie\/ga\/building-of-the-month\/lock-keepers-house-lock-44-ballyclare-killashee-td-killashee-county-longford\/","title":{"rendered":"Lock Keeper’s House, Lock 44, BALLYCLARE (Killashee) Td., Killashee, County Longford"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Figure 1: A photograph from 2008 of the lock keeper’s house at Lock 44, Killashee, one of a series of houses erected (1815) along the Royal Canal linking the River Liffey in Dublin with the River Shannon in County Longford<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The restoration of the lock keeper’s house at Lock 44 on the Royal Canal, County Longford, was my mother Frances Kelly’s passion, being present for the reopening of the canal her dream.\u00a0 Family and friends wondered why she purchased what had become an animal shed.\u00a0 She had little as a child, led a frugal life and yet she gladly put every penny into its repair.\u00a0 But in the end no one questioned what was thought of as a fruitless effort: she was in the middle of treatment for cancer.\u00a0 Mom knew she wanted to bring an abandoned house back to life.\u00a0 As her health deteriorated, she must have felt it therapeutic to watch a derelict structure transform back into a home.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Figure 2: A photograph from 1992 showing the lock keeper’s house in poor repair<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was by chance, while walking the towpath, that my brother Billy stumbled upon the house.\u00a0 Mom bought it around 1990.\u00a0 Billy did a lot of the initial construction work during the summer of 1992.\u00a0 A local contractor did the new construction work.\u00a0 Mom made contact with Mike Kelly, a cousin from Abbeyshrule we had never met before, and he was able to oversee the project.\u00a0 A window opening, which had been broken open to allow cattle and sheep to enter, was repaired.\u00a0 A local plumber was hired to install back boilers to provide for the luxury of hot water.\u00a0 Mom and Billy wanted all the repairs to keep in line with the character of the house.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Figure 3: Frances K. Kelly of Forest Hills, New York, whose dream it was to see the lock keeper’s house restored as a home<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mom’s final summer there was shared by me and my family.\u00a0 Although the restoration of the canal had not been completed, Mom was quite content to sit outside watching the boys run up and down the towpath.\u00a0 She enjoyed reading children’s books by candlelight while keeping the turf fire going.\u00a0 Although family members dropped hints about installing electricity, she preferred to keep the house as basic as possible.\u00a0 She seemed quite at peace with herself.\u00a0 It is only looking back that I realize how precious those moments were to all of us as we did not know then that it was to be our last time there together.\u00a0 A short time before her passing Mom told me she only had one thing to ask of me: that I look after the house that she loved so dearly.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Figure 4: A photograph of Frances with her family at the restored lock keeper’s house.\u00a0 Although Frances did not live to see the Royal Canal reopened, her daughter Rosemary and grandson David returned to Ireland in September 2010 to see the first boat pass through Lock 44 on its way to the River Shannon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mom did not live to see water back in the lock.\u00a0 I became aware in early 2010 that the grand reopening of the Royal Canal was slated for that September.\u00a0 I felt compelled to be present for the event.\u00a0 I knew Mom would have urged me to be there.\u00a0 So, my son David and I made the journey back to honor of her long-time dream \u2013 to see the boats pass through Lock 44.\u00a0 It was a joyous and emotional time.\u00a0 I felt certain closeness with Mom as I watched the lock gates reopen for the first time, allowing boats to pass towards the River Shannon.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Figure 5: A plaque records that Frances ‘always loved old buildings and the history that went with them’<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rosemary Kelly, New York, USA<\/em><\/p>\n

Figure 1 photographed by Nutan Photography for the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage publication An Introduction to the Architectural Heritage of County Longford<\/em> (2010)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":57340,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"county":[],"class_list":["post-57339","building-otm","type-building-otm","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLock Keeper's House, Lock 44, BALLYCLARE (Killashee) Td., Killashee, County Longford - Buildings of Ireland<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.buildingsofireland.ie\/ga\/building-of-the-month\/lock-keepers-house-lock-44-ballyclare-killashee-td-killashee-county-longford\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"ga_IE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lock Keeper's House, Lock 44, BALLYCLARE (Killashee) Td., Killashee, County Longford - 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