The Gap House

Detached five-bay two-storey house, built c.1820, now in use as a public house. Modern extensions to the rear (west) and to the north. Half-hipped natural slate roof with a central pair of rendered chimneystacks (with decorative detailing) and having some remaining sections of cast-iron rainwater goods. Modern signage to roof on the main façade (east). Ruled-and-line rendered walls over smooth rendered plinth. Square-headed window openings with two-over-two pane timber sliding sash windows to the first floor openings and replacement timber casement windows to ground floor openings. Round-headed doorway with moulded architraved surround having a fluted scrolled keystone over, a timber panelled door and with a plain fanlight. Rendered pub front to the south corner of the main façade and to the south elevation, comprising square-headed openings and with fluted pilasters having consoles brackets supporting plain fascia with a moulded cornice over. Prominently sited on corner site at a road junction to the west side of Moate with forecourt to the east.

An appealing building, of early nineteenth-century appearance, which retains much of its early form and character. The front façade of this building is enhanced by the retention of a good quality doorcase, the survival of timber sliding sash windows to the first floor, the half-hipped natural slate roof and by the simple shopfront to the south end. This substantial building occupies a very prominent location at a corner site to the west end of Moate. Its location adjacent to the former mail/coach road from Dublin to Galway suggests that it may have been originally built as a hotel. This building gets its name ‘The Gap House’ from a former town gateway that stood on this site in the seventeenth century. People entering the town through this gate had to pay a toll and it became known locally as the ‘Custome Gap’ as a result. This building is an important element of the built heritage of Moate and presents a focal point in the streetscape to the west end of the town.