What is recorded here
Castle Cinema in Oldcastle gave courting couples recessed doors to hide in, then put a canopy over them. A lovely little shelter for a secret romance, conveniently marking the exact spot your aunt should inspect.
Detached eight-bay double-height cinema, built 1944, on a rectangular plan with single- or two-bay double-height flat-roofed projecting block (west). Closed, 1981. Now disused. Two recessed doors with terrazzo steps, with concrete canopy above. Three windows with a continuous sill to first floor, above which is raised lettering. Roughcast-rendered walls with buttresses and pitched corrugated roof to auditorium.
This cinema is a typical example of mid twentieth-century functional architecture. Its design is simple yet stylish, incorporating elements such as terrazzo and narrow windows. It stands as a reminder of a period in social history, when every sizeable town in the country had a cinema, which was an important social venue, before the arrival of television.
From the Buildings of Ireland (National Inventory of Architectural Heritage) record 14306013
This does not grant access. Most recorded buildings are privately owned; view them only from public ground unless the owner allows entry.
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Photo credits
- National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
- Kieran Campbell, Geograph · CC BY-SA 2.0
- John M, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
- Mike Searle, Geograph · CC BY-SA 2.0
- Alvesgaspar, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Sitomon, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
- James Fergusson, after E. Conwell, Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
- Haydn Hammerton, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Bill Griffiths, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
- Richard Webb, Geograph · CC BY-SA 2.0
- P Webb, Geograph · CC BY-SA 2.0
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