Castletown School House

Detached three-bay single-storey school house, dated 1854; extant 1894, on a T-shaped plan centred on single-bay single-storey gabled projecting porch. Disused, 1894[?]. In ruins, 2003. "Restored", 2006, to accommodate proposed alternative use. For sale, 2009. Disused, 2010. Replacement pitched slate roof on a T-shaped plan on strutted collared timber construction centred on pitched (gabled) slate roof with ridge tiles, coping to gables with repointed chimney stacks to apexes having stringcourses below capping supporting terracotta or yellow terracotta pots, tooled cut-limestone coping to gable to porch with repointed tooled limestone ashlar bellcote to apex, and cast-iron rainwater goods on cut-limestone eaves. Repointed snecked limestone walls originally rendered[?] with tooled cut-limestone flush quoins to corners. Paired square-headed central window openings below cut-limestone shield date stone ("1854") in tooled cut-limestone surround with cut-limestone sills, and tooled cut-limestone lintels framing replacement casement windows. Paired square-headed flanking window openings with cut-limestone sills, and tooled cut-limestone voussoirs framing replacement casement windows. Interior reconstructed, 2006, retaining hearths with tooled cut-limestone voussoirs. Set back from road in relandscaped grounds.

A school house 'erected by Arthur Guinness JP DL [1768-1855]' of Dublin representing an integral component of the mid nineteenth-century built heritage of south County Mayo with the architectural value of the composition confirmed by such attributes as the compact symmetrical plan form centred on an expressed porch; and the handsome bellcote embellishing the roofline as a picturesque eye-catcher in the landscape. Having been successfully "restored" following a prolonged period of neglect, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with remnants of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior, thereby upholding much of the character of the composition. Furthermore, the shell of a Georgian Gothic "cottage" (extant 1894) continues to contribute positively to the group and setting values of a neat self-contained ensemble making a pleasing visual statement in a sylvan street scene.