J.H. Bennett and Company

Detached irregular-plan former malt house complex, built c. 1870, having double-pile main block running north-south with eight-bay five-storey west elevation, having taller two-bay three-storey block with hipped slate roof with catslide roof to south elevation attached to south elevation of main block, eight-bay five-storey M-profile north elevation to main block, having seven-bay four-storey block attached to west end of same, in turn having two-bay two-storey office extension with pitched artificial slate roof to west end of north elevation. Double-pitch three-storey block with attic accommodation attached to north end of east elevation of main block, having twelve-bay south elevation and four-bay M-profile east elevation, and having parallel multiple-bay three- and four-storey block attached to north elevation. Three-bay single-storey extension with pitched corrugated-iron roof filling re-entrant corner between north elevation of main block and west gable of north-east block. Now in use as store. Pitched metal roofs to main block, pitched corrugated-iron and corrugated sheet roof to north-west block, pitched artificial slate roofs with rooflights and vents to blocks to east. Rendered and rubble stone walls. Segmental-headed openings to main block, to north elevation of north-west block, and to blocks to east, with mixed rendered surrounds and red brick voussoirs and surrounds and timber battened paired shutters and doors, and timber sliding sash windows with one-over-one panes. Square-headed openings with timber battened fittings to north elevation of north-east block and to east gable of west block.

J.H. Bennett and Company malted barley from the surrounding area and supplied the Guinness brewery in Dublin. It was from studying samples of barley malted in this premises that one of Guinness's employees, William Sealy Gosset (1876-1937), developed his statistical test published under the pseudonym "Student" in 1908. Student's t-distribution and test of statistical significance are still widely used one hundred years later in the study of statistics. Although no longer used, these buildings are a physical reminder of the industry and commerce typical of Ballynacorra in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, when it was a busy port. The simple forms are indicative of the utilitarian function of the structures. The retention of much early timber contributes to the patina of age.