folly

Freestanding single-bay single-stage over part raised basement folly or summerhouse, extant 1840, on an octagonal plan. Now in ruins. Octagonal slate roof now missing with red brick Running bond "wallhead" chimney stack supporting abbreviated yellow terracotta pot, and no rainwater goods surviving on slate flagged eaves. Slate hung walls on lime rendered or roughcast base. Square-headed window openings (basement) with concealed dressings framing remains of timber fittings. Pointed-arch door opening approached by flight of toppled cut-granite steps with concealed dressings framing remains of timber fittings including fanlight. Pointed-arch window openings with cut-granite sills, and concealed dressings framing remains of six-over-six timber sash windows having timber boarded overpanels. Interior in ruins with remains of decorative timber boarded panelling centred on chimneypiece. Set in field on a slightly elevated site.

A folly or summerhouse representing an important component of the early nineteenth-century built heritage of south County Wexrord with the architectural value of the composition, one 'said to have been built by [Joseph Berkeley Deane [(1778-1850)] so that he could paint the River Barrow' (Craig and Garner 1975, 70), suggested by such attributes as the polygonal plan form; and the "pointed" profile of the openings underpinning a "picturesque" Georgian Gothic theme. A prolonged period of neglect notwithstanding, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior, including a slate hung surface finish widely regarded as an increasingly endangered hallmark of the architectural heritage of County Wexford.