hotel

Detached three-bay two-storey former canal hotel, built c.1810, with two-storey former commercial stores attached to east side. Now derelict and out of use. Pitched natural slate roof with brick chimneystack and raised stone verge to western gable. Coursed rubble limestone walls. Square-arched window openings with brick surrounds and stone sills to former hotel (west), windows now gone. Square-headed door opening with keystone detail and replacement timber sheeted door. Single square-headed doorcase with brick surrounds to former stores (east). Located on the banks of the Royal Canal harbour with gravel pathway leading to canal. Remains of cast-iron heavy goods crane to immediate north.

An attractive former canal hotel and canal store which retains their massing and form, despite their derelict condition. The Royal Canal played a vital role in the history of Ballynacarrigy and much of the present town dates to a period of rapid development brought about by canal trade in the early nineteenth-century. These buildings served as a focal point for canal traffic and it was here that supplies were stored, weighed and collected by barges. The remains of the goods crane to the front of the store gives some insight into past industrial/commercial activity. It remain and important part of the social and economic history of Westmeath.