Barracks in Kilnacloy

Detached ten-bay two-storey former infantry barracks, built c.1800, dated 1914, with asymmetrical four-bay centrepiece having central carriage archway flanked by slightly projecting turret-like bays each side. Now subdivided into housing. Hipped slate roof to front pitch, recent artificial slate to rear, grey clayware ridge-tiles, red brick chimneystacks with terracotta pots, and cast-iron rainwater goods. Centrepiece has dentillated eaves course, pediment over archway, dressed limestone copings to pediment and flanking bays. Squared coursed limestone walls with tooled ashlar block-and-start quoins. Limestone plaque inscribed 'BELGIAN SQUARE 1914' over archway. Roughcast rendered walls to end elevations. Square-headed window openings with painted dressed stone surrounds and sills. Pointed and square-headed blank window openings to east bay of centrepiece. Replacement windows throughout. Flat-headed door openings with painted tooled dressed stone surrounds with quadrilateral keystones. Replacement doors throughout. Tudor arch to carriageway with tooled dressed stone surround and soffit, timber lintel on tooled dressed stone brackets corbels to inner side, with portcullis-style timber feature over opening. Fronts directly onto street with yard to rear divided into domestic yards. Further barracks building to rear.

This well executed limestone barracks block is still interpretable as a piece of military architecture. It adds to the architectural variety of Monaghan Town and its robust stonework contrasts with the brick of the nearby terraces of tall houses. Various details, such as the portcullis feature and the suggestion of turrets, add interest. The setting, with well built stone houses and their gardens, on the approach to the main entrance, adds pleasant environs to the building.