A building in Ardfert, Co. Kerry, that had been partly used for housing horses in the past and had served as a chicken house in recent years, was repaired and restored as part of the Traditional Farm Buildings Scheme run by the Heritage Council and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM.)
The building, which is located in Barrow East, on a beef and tillage farm, is around 200-years-old and was worked on with stone, lime mortar and a corrugated iron roof under the scheme.
Before restoration commenced, the north side of the Ardfert building was in reasonably good condition but needed work, as water was leaking through the existing roof for many years. This part had been used for housing horses and chickens.
The south part of the building was in bad shape, quickly deteriorating after the roof had fallen in and the weather got into the stonework.
Most of the walls and gables of the south side of the building were still standing, but door lintels had mostly fallen away in the last few years.
The Ardfert conservation restoration was guided by Mark Dignam of Meitheal Architects. The walls and gables were carefully restored by Timmy Quilter of Quilter Stonework using the original stone of the building.
All of the existing corrugated sheets were rusty and leaking, so none could be salvaged.
There were remnants of thatch present under the old roof, which, after inspection, were recorded and then removed, as it had become rotten over time.
The old trusses, however, were left including multiple swallow nests which had been there for many years.
Salvaged pitch pine lintels were installed by local joiner, Jim O’Sullivan and larch doors were also constructed by Jim together with Jimmy and Jenny Galvin, the owners.
“We are so delighted to be able to preserve the old vernacular architecture for future generations and keep those buildings and their character and stories alive.
“We are delighted we were able to avail of the grant support by the Heritage Council and the DAFM and would like to thank Anna Meenan for her expert advice and guidance which allowed us to bring this project to completion,” they said.
“A challenge during building was definitely the weather, as it was very wet and windy. Parts of the building were in quite bad repair, so a good bit of stonework was needed to salvage the buildings as well as a new roof.
“It was so great to be able to save those old buildings; the decay is quite quick once the water gets in, so if we hadn’t gotten the grant, we wouldn’t have prioritised those buildings, and the extend of repair would have been much greater in years to come.
“The buildings were old cow sheds/horse shed, one still has cobblestone floors and they will be used for storing seed bags and other farm equipment,” she added.