Farm house in Blackcastle

Detached five-bay two-storey house, c.1880, retaining early fenestration with single-bay single-storey flat-roofed projecting porch to centre and single-bay two-storey recessed lower end bay to east. Renovated and extended, c.1970, comprising three-bay two-storey flat-roofed parallel range to rear to north having single-bay two-storey flat-roofed return. Renovated, c.1995, with single-bay single-storey mono-pitch conservatory added to west. Gable-ended roofs with slate. Clay ridge tiles. Rendered chimney stacks. Rendered coping to gables. Replacement aluminium rainwater goods, c.1970. Flat-roof to porch behind parapet wall. Flat-roof to parallel range and return to rear to north. Bitumen felt. Roughcast walls. Unpainted. Rendered strips to corners. Square-headed window openings (one remodelled to ground floor, c.1970). Stone sills (concrete to rear elevation and to conservatory). 2/2 timber sash windows to front (south) elevation with exposed sash boxes. Timber casement windows, c.1970, to rear elevation to north. Fixed-pane uPVC windows to conservatory. Round-headed door opening. Moulded doorcase with archivolt. Replacement glazed door, c.1970. Spoked fanlight. Interior with timber panelled shutters to window openings. Set back from road in own grounds. Gravel forecourt to front. Detached three-bay single-storey rubble stone outbuilding, c.1880, to north-east. Gable-ended and hipped roof with slate. Clay ridge tiles. Iron rainwater goods. Rubble stone walls. Cut-granite quoins to corners. Square-headed integral carriageways. Timber doors. Freestanding cast-iron waterpump, c.1905, comprising cylindrical shaft with raised horizontal banding, fluted upper section with fluted spout having acanthus leaf motif and 'cow-tail' handle having ball finial. Now disused with cap missing. Freestanding cast-iron petrol pump, c.1940. Now disused. Inner gateway, c.1880, to south comprising cut-granite circular piers with ball finals having cast-iron gates with oak leaf finials. Gateway, c.1880, to south comprising cut-granite panelled piers with moulded capping having cast-iron gates and railings with spear head finials.

This house is a fine and well-maintained late nineteenth-century middle size farm house that retains much of its early character. Although extended in the late twentieth century, the later additions do not detract from the original form on the front (south) elevation of the house which, with the exception of an enlarged window opening, retains its early aspect. The front elevation is a regular façade composed on a symmetrical plan, centred about a projecting porch, and retains many important salient features including fenestration, a fine doorcase with fanlight and a slate roof, while the interior retains timber panelled shutters to the window openings. The house is set attractively in its own grounds, which contain a variety of artefacts and structures of considerable interest. The outbuilding to north-east retains much of its early character, features and materials and includes sections of locally-quarried granite in its construction. The waterpump is of technical interest and, having been conceived as an aesthetic piece as well, is of some artistic value. The petrol pump is also a rare survival - designed in a Modernist style, such pumps were once a common sight throughout Kildare in the burgeoning age of the automobile, but have mostly been replaced with less design-conscious corporate models. Although disused, the example at Blackcastle retains much of its original features. Also of artistic interest are the two gateways on site - the first providing access to the house and simple in design, the second comprising a graceful and decorative gateway of piers, gates and railings that announces the entrance to the estate on the road side and which is an attractive landmark in the rural locality.