Bulgaden Creamery, County Limerick

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Detached five-bay single-storey former creamery, dated 1891, with single-bay single-storey addition to south-west elevation. Now disused. Pitched corrugated-iron roof with cast-iron rainwater goods, lean-to roofed addition. Coursed rubble limestone walls with tooled quoins. Segmental-arched window openings with painted brick block-and-start surrounds and tooled limestone sills. Segmental-headed door opening with painted brick block-and-start surround. Concrete cart-loading platform to door opening. Segmental-headed door opening with painted brick block-and-start surround and tooled limestone keystone with date. Openings blocked by painted sheet metal throughout. Freestanding cast-iron water pump to south comprising circular-profile shaft with fluted head, having plaque, spout with foliate detailing and cow-tail curvilinear handle. Coursed rubble stone boundary wall to perimeter of site.

This former creamery building retains its original charm and character. This is enhanced by the pleasing visual and textural contrast between the stone walls and brick surrounds to the openings. The corrugated-iron roof is noteworthy, as it was a material which quickly replaced thatch as the dominant vernacular roofing material of the 1900s. The building would have been the heart of the community, a standing enhanced by the associated water pump. This pump, which retains all of its original components, is an attractive, early surviving artefact of mass-produced cast-iron ware. The various raised details serve to enhance the artistic design quality of the piece, while the cow tail handle is an elegant feature of the composition. The water pump is of additional significance as a reminder of the mechanisms installed for the extraction of clean drinking water in a period before mains water supply. Together with the creamery, they would have been key landmarks and form meeting place in the community, which still holds some local social significance.

From the Buildings of Ireland (National Inventory of Architectural Heritage) record 21904008

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Photo credits

National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
Maker not stated on source page, 2pos.irish
Maker not stated on source page, www.pinterest.com
Maker not stated on source page, en.wikipedia.org
Mike Searle, Geograph · CC BY-SA 2.0
The Speckled Bird, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Munster GAA Post Primary Schools; individual photographer not named, munster.gaa.ie

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