What is recorded here

Indicated occupies the sharp corner where North Main Street meets Church Street in Youghal, presenting four pointed arches and sandstone rubble that have watched the town since the Jacobean era. Richard Boyle, Earl of Cork, endowed the building to house six poor Protestant widows, transforming a stark charitable act into a permanent local landmark. The corner location forces the eye to pivot from one street to the other, suggesting the almshouse was designed as much to be seen as to shelter. Its survival through renovation and continued use makes it one of Ireland’s oldest remaining examples of formal poor relief.

Fronting onto the north-west side of North Main Street at the junction of Church Street in the north sector of the medieval town of Youghal. Oldest surviving almshouses in Ireland (Craig 1982, 203), described as 'most convincingly Jacobean' (ibid.). They were endowed by Richard Boyle, Earl of Cork, in either 1613 or 1634 (ibid.; Condon 1945,opp. 120) to house 'six poor widows (Protestants)' (Condon ibid.). They consist of a four-bay, three-storey gabled-ended building, built of sandstone rubble. The rectangular windows formerly had stone mullion and transom divisions with occasional relieving arches visible in views where the render was removed. Four doorways with pointed arches are set in pairs on the ground floor, with window arrangements at first and second floor following the same alignment with that at ground floor varying to reflect the paired arrangement of doorways. The upper floor windows sit just under the eaves. A plaque, bearing the coat of arms of the founder is centrally placed on the front elevation (CO067-029017-). The NW gable 'turns the corner of two streets' into Church Street (Craig 1982, 203), and is broken by two small windows in the attic storey. The section on Church Street has a lower roof line, and is comprised of two, two-storey gable-fronted sections. Original stone hood-mouldings survive above ground floor level windows. Lewis (1837, vol. 2, 729) describes the building as 'recently rebuilt in their original style, with the arms of the founder in front'. The building was completely renovated in 1987 by Cork County Council for housing. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 2: East and South Cork' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1994), and the Urban Archaeological Survey of County Cork (unpublished, 1995). Date of revision: 05 January 2023 Compiled by: Archaeological Survey Unit, UCC, Urban Archaeological Survey and Anne-Julie Lafaye

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