Ringville House

Detached three-bay single-storey farmhouse with half-dormer attic, extant 1839, on an L-shaped plan originally forming part of larger five-bay two-storey composition centred on single-bay single-storey gabled projecting porch. Occupied, 1901; 1911. Truncated, ----, producing present composition. Now disused. Pitched slate roof; pitched (gabled) slate roof behind parapet (porch), clay ridge tiles, red brick Running bond chimney stacks retaining fragments of rendered finish having shallow capping, and cast-iron rainwater goods on dentilated rendered cornice. Part creeper- or ivy-covered roughcast battered walls on overgrown plinth with rendered "bas-relief" strips to corners; roughcast surface finish (porch) with concrete or rendered "saddleback" coping to curvilinear parapet. Square-headed door opening with concealed dressings framing timber panelled door. Square-headed flanking window openings with concealed dressings framing fixed-pane timber fittings. Square-headed window openings with lichen-spotted sills, and rendered "bas-relief" surrounds framing timber fittings behind wrought iron bars (ground floor) or three-over-three timber sash windows without horns (half-dormer attic). Set in unkempt grounds.

A farmhouse representing an integral component of the domestic built heritage of south County Kilkenny with the architectural value of the composition, one originally forming part of a larger house described (1837) as 'the seat of Lady Esmonde [Letitia Hill Esmonde (née Devereux) (d. 1851)]' (Lewis 1837 I, 136), suggested by such attributes as the compact rectilinear plan form; the somewhat disproportionate bias of solid to void in the massing compounded by the diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor producing a graduated visual impression; and the high pitched roofline. Furthermore, adjacent outbuildings (extant 1839); and the remnants of a walled garden (extant 1839), all continue to contribute positively to the group and setting values of a self-contained estate having historic connections with Francis Harvey Devereux (d. 1860); Patrick Heneberry (d. 1879), 'Gentleman late of Ringville Ferrybank County Kilkenny' (Calendars of Wills and Administrations 1879, 313); and Francis "Frank" Ryan (----), 'Farmer' (NA 1901; NA 1911).