Survey Data
Reg No
21901320
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social
Previous Name
Kilpeacon Glebe House
Original Use
Rectory/glebe/vicarage/curate's house
In Use As
House
Date
1815 - 1820
Coordinates
156127, 149777
Date Recorded
14/11/2007
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached three-bay two-storey Board of First Fruits Church of Ireland glebe house, built 1817, on a cruciform plan centred on single-bay single-storey flat-roofed projecting porch to ground floor; single-bay (five-bay deep) two-storey central return (north). Occupied, 1901; 1911. Hipped slate roof on a T-shaped plan with clay ridge tiles, paired fine roughcast central chimney stacks having stringcourses below capping supporting terracotta pots, and cast-iron rainwater goods on rendered stepped eaves. Rendered walls. Square-headed window opening in tripartite arrangement (porch) with cut-limestone sill, timber mullions, and concealed dressings framing six-over-six timber sash window having two-over-two sidelights. Square-headed opposing door openings ("cheeks") with two cut-limestone steps supporting wrought iron-detailed cast-iron bootscrapers, doorcases with three quarter-engaged colonettes on plinths supporting cornice on "patera"-detailed fluted friezes framing glazed timber panelled doors. Segmental-headed door opening into glebe house with margined tooled cut-limestone threshold, doorcase with three quarter-engaged Composite colonettes supporting cornice on "patera"-detailed fluted frieze framing timber panelled door having sidelights below fanlight. Square-headed window openings in tripartite arrangement with cut-limestone sills, timber mullions, and concealed dressings framing six-over-six (ground floor) or six-over-three (first floor) timber sash windows having two-over-two (ground floor) or two-over-one (first floor) sidelights. Square-headed window openings (north) with cut-limestone sills, and concealed dressings framing six-over-six (ground floor) or six-over-three (first floor) timber sash windows. Set in landscaped grounds with piers to perimeter having battlemented capping supporting spear head-detailed flat iron double gates.
Appraisal
A glebe house erected with financial support from the Board of First Fruits (fl. 1711-1833) representing an important component of the early nineteenth-century built heritage of County Limerick with the architectural value of the composition confirmed by such attributes as the deliberate alignment maximising on scenic vistas overlooking wooded grounds; the symmetrical footprint centred on a Classically-detailed doorcase showing a pretty fanlight, albeit one partly concealed behind a later pillared porch; and the diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor producing a graduated visual impression with those openings showing Wyatt-style tripartite glazing patterns. 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 glebe house having historic connections with the Kilpeacon parish Church of Ireland clergy including Reverend Edward Thomas Herbert (1793-1860) 'late of Kilpeacon Glebe in the County of Limerick' (Calendars of Wills and Administrations 1861, 135); and Reverend Charles Vereker Chester Atkinson (1867-1952), 'Clerk in Holy Orders' (NA 1901; NA 1911).