Wasted Heritage Buildings - Your nominations

Nenagh Castle isn't the correct term.
The Castle walls still exist but very little left.

This is not a castle, it's a keep and there were once five of these surrounding the castle.

Ah when I was but a young lad you could enter this.
There were shields of family crests on the walls. You could walk up the narrow stairs and overlook the town.

Got shut down mainly for safety reasons plus Castle Park is plagued with knacker drinking.



Good news, our useless council after decades of talking finally got around to taking action.
Also, it's going to be visible from the other side, currently blocked off on that street.
It's going to the main attraction for the town. The excellent heritage center and restored jail is across the road. There is genealogy service too for tracing relatives.



Edit, there on on the right you can see the old Castle walls.
We used to climb over these as kids

The scene of many a necktie party including the mercenary & jesuit Dominic Collins Youghal Clock Gate needs a mention.


The whole town of Youghal is steeped in medieval what not and St Mary's Collegiate Church had a College that predated Trinity.

Pic of Dom awaiting execution.

http://www.sjweb.info/jesuits/saintShow.cfm?SaintID=37

<H1>Youghal’s Future In The Past As Clock Gate’s Potential Studied


</H1>





A feasibility study into the potential for Youghal’s Clock Gate suggests it should be adapted for multi-purpose uses. The study, conducted by consultants KPMG for the Heritage Council (of Ireland), in conjunction with the Irish Walled Towns Network, suggests the listed building’s four floors be utilised for disparate purposes as follows:
Report: Christy Parker – Photo: Kieran McCarthy www.youghalonline.com



Clock Gate Youghal



Floor 1: Interpretive heritage centre
Floor 2: Display of local crafts and wares
Floor 3: Recreation of original tower use as a jail
Floor 4: Virtual observation desk
The roof was deemed a commercially unviable due to the bell tower limiting safe access space to only 2-3 people.

Town Clerk Liam Ryan explained and presented the study to the July sitting of the town council, reading in part from a 63-page report. He opened by saying the building needed repair and renovation, having not been in public use since housing a museum in the 1970′s. KPMG used desktop research and public consultation to explore its potential, while assessing the need and demand for the uses. The consultants amassed considerable input from vested stakeholders such as local traders/Chamber of Commerce, Youghal Town Council, Cultural/Heritage/Tourism Groups and various other local interest groups.

An original list of four potential options emerged, within the following guidelines:
* Ensuring that the clock tower is a minimum burden on resources of the town council and ideally being self-sustaining.
* Establishment of appropriate use that would satisfy the citizens, particularly in regard to public access.
* Attracting tourists, simultaneously increasing town trade and helping reverse current decline
* Restoring sense of pride amongst the local inhabitants.

These options were thus: 1) Status Quo (leave it as it is); 2) Multi use; 3) Commercial use; 4) Storage facility.

When the four options were evaluated in terms of both monetary and non-monetary costs and benefits, Option 2 was favoured.

Good ideas…

This option see a quality interpretative heritage centre on the ground floor, potentially encompassing a welcome desk, display area for artefacts, display area for interpretive information on local heritage, a toilet ad a stairway to the second floor.

The second floor display of local crafts and arts would be combined with the history of their creation and also encompass information on Youghal’s traditional (and lost) industries such as textiles and pottery. The display of the crafts should have advertising for the products, retailers and signposts where the retailers premises can be seen from the Clock Tower. Promotion of the products should attract visitors to the town core with resultant economic benefit.

Recreation of the jail on the third floor would remind visitors of the building’s original purpose. The floor could be finished in materials reminiscent of those used following its 18th century construction. Wax works and artefacts would enhance the heritage theme.

The fourth floor’s observation desk would be a variation on the ‘camera obscura’ concept. This represents a small hole created in a dark room, through which an inverted image is projected onto a wall or flat surface in the room. Popular in similar British attractions, they usually take the form of a large, dark chamber within a high building so that a ‘live’ panorama of the outside world is projected onto the flat surface.

It is proposed that the view projected into the fourth floor would be the view from the top of the Clock Gate. This would be facilitated by four weather-proof cameras erected on the roof. Four images would be projected onto four fourth floor walls. There could also be a short audio-visual presentation and guide to the town, with references to retailers on the second floor. Images of Youghal at night and during all four seasons could be presented along with current views. Images from the virtual observation desk could also be shown on internet, further promoting Youghal as an attraction.

…Bad prospects

The good news delivered, the report also dwells on the grim reality of restraints Funding for refurbishment presently carries no source. It is deemed unlikely in the current economic nightmare that private sector funding to the estimated tune of €339,000 would be forthcoming, so public sector investment is needed.

Funding for ongoing maintenance costs (structurally €7,500 per annum) looks equally elusive. Youghal Town Council has indicated it would prefer the entire project would be rendered self-financing and self-sustaining.

Being a Listed Building work would be constrained to the extent that extensive renovation might not be permissible. Access to the building is limited by a steep, narrow staircase, presently designed to accommodate only the able-bodied, which in turn may limit potential uses. That bane of entrepreneurial life, Health and Safety Issues may intrude on the accommodation of a large number of visitors on the building at one time. Access to the roof, as mentioned earlier, is historic hurdle in the Heritage Handicap. However, ultimately it would be considered that funding is the fence most likely to bring down the aspirations of the field.



http://www.youghalonline.com/2009/08/11/youghals-future-in-the-past-as-clock-gatess-potential-studied/

What an uninspiring report on one of Irelands Historical Gems.

I wonder if anyone has contacted KPMG and asked them to return the money for the report the highlights of which are here read like a Marketing Students effort. Does not deserve a passing grade.

Fairly sickening looking at this thread.

While it is sad at the amount of neglected buildings/monuments we have in the country we should also bare in mind the fact that there are plently of fully re-developed historical sites all over the country that people hardly know exist.

Johnstown Castle in Co. Wexford has already been mentioned but one other I would add to that list is Barryscourt Castle in County Cork. The Lonely Planet guide advised tourists to see this towerhouse over Blarney Castle and I could not agree more.

The castle itself is situated ideally, in Carrigtwohill, just off the N25 Cork - Youghal Road. Unfortunately the signposting is crap. If you do manage to find it you will be pleasantly suprised. There are some beautiful gardens and an apple orchard with over 50 different types of Irish apple! There is also a lovely old fashioned little tea/coffee shop with some of the best home-made cakes you will ever taste in your life. As for the castle itself...

It is quite big - a guided tour (only access) will take about 40 mins - 1 hour, but it is worth it. The castle was purchased in the late 80's and redeveloped over a period of about 20 years! It is magnificent. The incredible thing is that it is free - yes FREE! Incredible considering what you would pay to see Blarney, Ross Castle, ect.

Talking to some of the staff there the impression I got is that the OPW have neglected the place since spending 6 million on restoring it. Minister Martin Mansergh visited recently and got lost trying to find it. He promised new signage straight away. That was 6 months ago. New signage / better advertising has been requested for about 5 or 6 years without any success. Incredible. For the govt to spend that much restoring a building and not even bothering to advertise it.

Incidentally, before visiting I rang OPW to enquire about their heritage card. I mentioned Barryscourt Castle and the reply from the woman on the phone was 'oh, is that privately run?' She did not even know it was an OPW site. Unbelievable.

Great thread by the way.

I once heard an interview with the pop singer Donavan who was once a tax exile in Ireland.

He had bought a country house from the Sacred Heart Missionaries who had sold the lead off the roof ,only to have to buy the same lead back.

Lead is very expensive and often the value of the salvage from old properties falling into disrepair was worth more than the properties themselves. Roofs,gutters and windows etc were often removed to make the properties safe to be around and they were not totally demolished.

I once stayed for a while in a country house and I cant remember what I disliked most - the cold or the occasional rat infestation - one of the other guys living there woke up one night to discover a rat on his chest who bit his chin.

Michael Flately could restore and maintain such a house but it is hugely expensive to do so.

Do you mind me asking what historical significance the castle has and what if the current owners do not want to sell.

It is private property and that is protected by the constitution.

Of course, if it would generate such revenue why haven't local business people bought it.

Do you have an equivalent castle in mind where this has worked.

Not wanting to rain on your parade but in Ennis last year I visited the Cloisters and paid a 3 or 5 euro entrance fee to see a wall. Visited Malahide castle recently and it was a disappointment.

Why would one go to Tullamore as a tourist anyway ?

owenc wrote: »

and why would that disappoint you thats part of that families heritage, if it were me i'd be keeping that to pass it on etc as its part of the family and i wouldn't be giving it away to some national company who would let it wreck and ruin like some of the buildings here.

There are some great people out there that have kept the family homes going and they should be entitled to them as anyone with any inheritance.

There are lots of properties in public ownership -but it would not be a bad idea if some "pretentious gits" wanted to refurbish them and live in them like Lord and Lady of the Manor in their lifetimes.

I would even give them titles if it saved heritage and if it gave them pleasure I would be more than supportive.

We are a small country and we do not have huge resourses -so we should be realistic about what we can afford and achieve.

Leinster House

I didnt mean to pick on Tullamore

Carrigholt -should even be given away to someone on condition they do a refurb.

Even double glazed with pvc would have to be better than the potential eventual collapse

http://irishantiquities.bravehost.com/clare/carrigaholt/carrigaholt.html