Workhouse in Kilshanny

Freestanding walls of Mitchelstown Workhouse, built 1851, closed 1922. Coursed limestone rubble walls with tooled stone copings. Entrance to centre of south elevation, comprising pedimented vehicular entrance having tooled segmental-arch opening, having blank shield to pediment, and recent limestone plaque, flanked by segmental-arch pedestrian entrances, set into segmental-arch recessed surrounds in peck-dressed limestone ashlar walls. Corrugated-iron closures to openings. Recent vehicular entrances to east end south elevations having square-profile rendered piers with sheet aluminium gate. No buildings remaining to interior.

The walls and entrance to Mitchelstown Union Workhouse illustrate the skills of local stone masons and engineers in the mid-nineteenth century. The sturdy masonry work focuses the mind on the formal institutional purpose of the structure while the immense social significance of the institution is poignantly remembered in the plaque over the main entrance.