Survey Data
Reg No
15607046
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Historical, Social
Previous Name
Wexford Union Workhouse
Original Use
Workhouse
Historical Use
Hospital/infirmary
Date
1835 - 1845
Coordinates
303613, 122378
Date Recorded
05/07/2005
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Remains of Union Workhouse complex, built 1840-2; dated 1841; opened 1845, including: Detached nineteen-bay two-storey infirmary on a rectangular plan. Adapted to alternative use, 1923. Closed, 1992. Now disused. Pitched slate roof with clay ridge tiles, and cast-iron rainwater goods on exposed timber rafters retaining cast-iron downpipes. Roughcast walls. Square-headed window openings (north) or square-headed window openings in bipartite arrangement (south) with cut-granite sills, and concealed red brick block-and-start surrounds framing three-over-six (north) or one-over-one (south) timber sash windows. Set in shared grounds on an elevated site.
Appraisal
An infirmary surviving as an important relic of the Wexford Union Workhouse complex erected for the Wexford Poor Law Union (formed 1840) to a standardised design by George Wilkinson (1814-90), Architect to the Poor Law Commissioners in Ireland (appointed 1839; retired 1855).