Ram House

Detached three- or five-bay two-storey house, extant 1821, on a cruciform plan centred on single-bay full-height breakfront on an engaged half-octagonal plan; single-bay (two-bay deep) full-height central return (north). Occupied, 1901-21. Damaged, 1921. Repaired, 1925. Sold, 1973. Restored, ----. Replacement hipped slate roof on a cruciform plan centred on half-octagonal slate roof with terracotta ridge tiles, cement rendered chimney stacks having concrete capping supporting terracotta pots, and plastic rainwater goods on timber eaves boards on rendered eaves. Part creeper- or ivy-covered replacement rendered walls. Segmental-headed central door opening with threshold, and concealed dressings framing replacement timber panelled door having overlight. Square-headed window openings with shallow sills, and concealed dressings framing replacement two-over-two timber sash windows. Set in landscaped grounds with piers to perimeter having shallow pyramidal capping supporting wrought iron gate.

A house representing an important component of the domestic built heritage of Coolgreany with the architectural value of the composition, one allegedly erected 'by the Rams of Ramsfort House for two troublesome aunts…far enough to inhibit many visits' (Rowe and Scallan 2004, 843), confirmed by such attributes as the symmetrical footprint centred on a polygonal breakfront; and the diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor producing a graduated visual impression. Having been sympathetically restored following a period of neglect in the later twentieth century, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with quantities of the original or replicated fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior, thus upholding the character or integrity of a house making a pleasing visual statement in a rural village setting. NOTE: The house remains of additional interest for the period of reinvention as a constabulary barrack headed by Sergeant William Keating (NA 1901) and Sergeant Michael Collopy (NA 1911).