Survey Data
Reg No
13316025
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Social
Original Use
Masonic lodge/hall
Date
1840 - 1860
Coordinates
215820, 256996
Date Recorded
18/07/2005
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached three-bay single-storey Masonic lodge, built c. 1850, with porch to south end of front elevation (northwest) with pitched roof, and having recent single-bay single-storey extension to the southwest gable. Now derelict. Pitched slate roof (partially failing) with terracotta ridge tiles and finials, and timber bargeboards. Lined-and-ruled rendered walls with trefoil motif to porch and to the south gable. Square-headed window openings with metal casement windows. Square-headed door opening with replacement sheet metal door. Rubble stone boundary walls with square-profile rendered piers and wrought-iron pedestrian gate having Masonic symbols over. Set back from road in own grounds to the east/southeast of Ballymahon town centre.
Appraisal
Although now derelict, this former Masonic hall retains its form and many of its features. The terracotta ridge crestings and timber bargeboards are typical of nineteenth-century craftsmanship and attention to detail in design. The metal windows are a notable feature. The trefoil motifs lend it a vaguely ecclesiastic character. It stands today as a reminder of a long established society with lodges in cities and towns throughout Ireland. The good quality entrance gates and the simple boundary wall complete the setting and add to this appealing composition. This building is one of a number of Masonic lodges/halls still extant in County Longford, along with other notable examples at Granard (13305001) and at Longford Town (13001402), indicating that Freemasonry was relatively popular in the county during the nineteenth century. This building is an important element of the built heritage of Longford and the social history of Ballymahon. The Masonic symbols of the square and the compass to the gate serve as a reminder of the origins of the society in stonemasons guilds. It was registered as Lodge Number 308 in a World Masonic Register dated 1860.