Survey Data
Reg No
14916028
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural
Original Use
Grotto
Date
1720 - 1760
Coordinates
231018, 223388
Date Recorded
15/09/2004
Date Updated
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Description
Detached limestone grotto, built c.1740, next to the Clodiagh River. Comprising of a long passage terminating in a circular room with fireplace. Random rubble stone walls with random rubble corbelling to interior roof. Window openings with cast-iron tracery glazing bars. Tooled limestone door surround, now overgrown.
Appraisal
Designed by Lady Charleville and built with considerable expense to give employment to the poor peasantry in a season of scarcity. The magnificence of this structure is captured in a description by Sir Charles Coote, in 1801, when he describes it as 'finished in true rustic style with a venerable appearance of antiquity'. The architectural significance of the grotto is reflected in its elaborate form and attention to detailing in the window glazing bars and door surround which is unusual for a structure of apparently modest form.