Survey Data
Reg No
31805014
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Social
Original Use
Hydroelectric power station
In Use As
Museum/gallery
Date
1905 - 1910
Coordinates
161894, 294969
Date Recorded
19/08/2003
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached five-bay single-storey power station, built 1908, on an L-shaped plan with single-bay single-storey lean-to outshoot (south). Decommissioned, 1933. In alternative use, 1988-96. Disused, 2003. Pitched fibre-cement slate roof extending into lean-to fibre-cement slate roof (south) with ridge tiles, timber bargeboards on timber purlins, and cast-iron rainwater goods on timber eaves with cast-iron downpipes. Repointed coursed rubble stone walls with tooled cut-limestone flush quoins to corners. Square-headed door opening (east) with tooled cut-limestone block-and-start surround framing timber boarded door. Square-headed flanking door opening with two steps, and tooled cut-limestone block-and-start surround framing timber panelled double door having boarded-up overlight. Square-headed window openings (east) with drag edged dragged cut-limestone sills, and tooled cut-limestone block-and-start surrounds framing timber casement windows behind mild steel-framed mesh screens. Square-headed window openings (remainder) with drag edged dragged cut-limestone sills, and tooled cut-limestone block-and-start surrounds framing timber casement windows behind mild steel-framed mesh screens. Street fronted.
Appraisal
A power station representing an important component of the early twentieth-century built heritage of Ballaghaderren. Electric light was introduced to Boyle in 1901 and Ballaghaderren followed suit when a provisional order was granted (1905) 'by the Board of Trade under the Electric Lighting Acts 1882 and 1888 to the Rural District Council of Castlerea in respect of the town of Ballaghaderreen' (The Electrician 6th January 1905, 478) and a site for a power station was secured (1906) from the Congested Districts Board for Ireland (Roscommon Messenger 30th June 1906, 6). A notice to tenderers named Louis Joseph Lawless (1844/5-1912) of Dublin as the consulting engineer (The Builder 8th February 1908, 163) while another notice invited 'tenders for suction gas plants, gas-engines, dynamos, battery, switchgear, overhead distribution lines, arc lamps, and service connections' (The Electrical Engineer 22nd February 1908, 279). The power station was originally equipped with two suction gas engines but the Ballaghaderreen Lighting Committee subsequently applied to the Local Government Board for a loan of £1,100 to adapt it to hydro-electricity powered by water harnessed from the Luny River (The Electrician 16th May 1913, 235). The power station was subsequently used as a science laboratory for students studying at Saint Nathy's College and was last used as an art centre and museum (1988-96).