Survey Data
Reg No
32013003
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social
Original Use
Prison governor's house
In Use As
Office
Date
1810 - 1820
Coordinates
169854, 335788
Date Recorded
12/10/2004
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached three-bay two-storey governor's house, built 1815-8, on a T-shaped plan with two-bay two-storey side elevations; single-bay (two-bay deep) two-storey central return on an elongated half-octagonal plan (north). Modified, 1854, producing present composition. Occupied, 1901; 1911. Vacated, 1956. Now in alternative use. Hipped slate roof on a U-shaped plan abutting half-octagonal slate roof behind parapet (north), lichen-spotted clay ridge tiles, rendered central chimney stack having stringcourse below ogee cornice capping supporting yellow terracotta tapered pots, and cast-iron rainwater goods on cut-limestone eaves retaining cast-iron octagonal or ogee hoppers and downpipes. Part repointed coursed rubble limestone walls on cut-limestone chamfered plinth with margined tooled cut-limestone flush quoins to corners; part repointed coursed rubble stone walls (north) on cut-limestone chamfered plinth with margined tooled cut-limestone quoins to corners supporting cut-limestone stringcourse below parapet. Square-headed central door opening with three margined tooled cut-limestone steps, cut-limestone doorcase with tapered pilasters on plinths supporting pediment on blind frieze on entablature framing timber panelled door. Square-headed window openings with margined dragged cut-limestone sills, and margined tooled cut-limestone block-and-start surrounds centred on keystones framing two-over-two timber sash windows. Square-headed window openings (north) with margined dragged cut-limestone sills, and margined tooled cut-limestone block-and-start surrounds centred on keystones framing replacement uPVC casement windows replacing two-over-two timber sash windows. Set in shared grounds.
Appraisal
A governor's house erected by John Lynn (d. 1864) to designs by Richard Ingleman (1777-1838) surviving as the centrepiece of the Sligo County Gaol complex with the architectural value of the composition confirmed by such attributes as the compact symmetrical footprint centred on a Classically-detailed doorcase; the "sparrow pecked" deep grey Ballysadare limestone dressings demonstrating good quality workmanship; and the very slight diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor producing a feint graduated visual impression. Having been well maintained, the form and massing survive intact together with substantial quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior, thus upholding the character or integrity of a governor's house occupied by a succession of governors including the first governor John Beatty (d. 1867); and the last governor John Francis Moody (1898-1958) who oversaw the transfer of the remaining prisoners to Mountjoy Gaol following the Sligo Prison Closing Order (1956).