Survey Data
Reg No
21812005
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Social
Original Use
Market house
Date
1750 - 1770
Coordinates
168039, 123026
Date Recorded
08/10/2007
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
End-of-terrace three-bay two-storey former market house, built c. 1760. Now disused. Cut sandstone walls to front (north) having sandstone platband, rubble sandstone walls with cast-iron patris plates to west and rear (south) elevations. Round-headed openings to front and west elevations having cut sandstone voussoirs and impost courses, now blocked up. External sandstone staircase to rear having rendered coping. Rubble sandstone boundary walls to rear having rendered copings.
Appraisal
This former market house once formed the centre of commercial, social and historical activity in Kilfinnane. Courts were held here to deal with legal and land ownership issues. Fairs and Tuesday markets were held until the twentieth century. The founder of the Methodist Church, Reverend John Wesley, preached here on several occasions between 1765 and 1789. He was invited by a family of Protestants from the Rhine who had settled in the area. Despite the building's current ruinous state, it retains material evidence of its formerly imposing and impressive sandstone arcaded façade and makes an important contribution to the streetscape.