‘Deeply historical’ Louth building deteriorating amid ‘significant exposure to elements’
Louth TD Joanna Byrne spoke on the subject of Carstown House at a recent Oireachtas meeting
A “deeply historical” building in County Louth is deteriorating amid “significant exposure to the elements”, an Oireachtas meeting has heard.
Louth Sinn Féin TD Joanna Byrne spoke on the subject of Carstown House on the outskirts of Drogheda during a recent meeting of the Joint Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport.
Deputy Byrne said: “Carstown House in Drogheda is effectively a shell. Carstown House in County Louth, or Carstown manor as it may have originally been called, was built in 1612 by Oliver Plunkett and his wife Catherine Hussey.
“They were members of prominent local dynasties, with Oliver being the grandson of the first baron and a relative of the later martyred archbishop, St. Oliver Plunkett.
“It is a deeply historical site that is on the Irish Georgian Society website and is a dedicated building of national importance on the County Louth record of protected structures.”
She went on to outline the current state and status of the building.
“It has not been lived in since the 1980s. The windows and doors are blocked up with cement blocks.
“The roof was stolen off the property in 2014, which led to significant exposure to the elements and deterioration of the building.
“I raised this umpteen times over my years on Louth County Council. I raised it directly with An Taisce and was told there was no money to acquire the property and restore it.”
Deputy Byrne added that the building is just one of many such examples that you see across the country.
She concluded by asking whether there were any examples of similar buildings being brought back into use.
In response to Deputy Byrne, Donough Cahill of the Irish Georgian Society, outlined the difficulties in restoring the building.
Mr Cahill said: “In the context of Carstown House, I recall at the time, which was maybe ten years ago, that the Louth archaeological society was actively campaigning for its protection.
A small grant was given by the Irish Georgian Society to support those works. If I remember correctly, there might have been a fire in the house.
“That really brought an end to it, to the huge frustration of everybody. Perhaps to a certain degree, it reflects the limitations of planning enforcement.”
He went on to give an example of a similar building in County Laois which has been successfully restored.
“The impression you get is that local authorities are terrified of the idea of planning enforcement as it relates to compulsory purchase orders.
“A case in point where it did work is in Millbrook House in County Laois, where the county council acquired the house through a compulsory purchase order, found a new owner for it, and it is in the process of being restored at the moment.”
These sentiments were echoed by conservationist Ian Lumley, who also pointed to Millbrook House as an example.
Mr Lumley said: “We have had some great cases of buildings being brought back from ruin in private ownership, including Millbrook, as Mr. Cahill has mentioned, where the CPO from the council triggered it in turn being able to find an owner to take on its restoration.
“There have been other spectacular examples around the country of derelict shells that have been roofed in private ownership, as well as for uses such as hotels.
“Unless the current owner of Carstown is willing to take on an initiative there, then the Millbrook example in County Laois is certainly one that the council should be looking at.”
He added that Carstown House was one of the few buildings of the early 17th century in Ireland that had retained a roof and continuous habitation.
For this reason, he described the building as a “huge national loss”, as well as being of “huge importance” to Louth.