archaeological & built heritage assessment - The Heritage Council

small island a short distance upstream of the bridge (ibid.). The present lock, the weir and the road bridge
were all built by the Shannon Commissioners in the 1840s but the original opening span had to be
replaced in recent years by a lifting bridge (ibid.). There is one building, Carnadoe Cottage, which is listed
for protection in the environs of Roosky, as referenced in the county development plan.
Strokestown
Strokestown was constructed in the latter half of the eighteenth century by the local landlords, the
Packenham-Mahon family. It has two unusually wide streets, intersecting eachother at right angles, with
the main street terminating at the gothic entrance gate which leads to Strokestown Park House, an
imposing mansion which is now open to the public. At the time of Lewis’s writings, c. 1837, he noted that
there were 1547 inhabitants and 261 houses in the town, 100 of which ‘are above the rank of cabins,
some of them being very good houses of stone, covered with Welsh slate brought by land carriage from
Sligo’. He also notes that there was a brewery and constabulary police station in the town.
Strokestown Park House was built by Thomas Mahon MP (1701-1782) on lands which had been granted
to his grandfather, Nicholas, in the latter half of the seventeenth century for his support in the British
colonial campaign. It was the family home of the Packenham-Mahon family until 1979 when the house, in
an advanced state of disrepair, along with what remained of the estate, was purchased by a local company,
who ensured that virtually all of the original furnishings and estate documents remained at the house. A
Palladian house with a centre block and wings, it was built in 1696 and altered and refaced in the late-
Georgian period; probably 1819, when J. Lynn is recorded as having carried out additions and alterations
for Lt. Gen Thomas Mahon, 2 nd Lord Hartland (Bence-Jones 1988). It is a three-storey over basement
structure with seven bays. The wings, which are of two storeys and four bays and joined to the centre
block by curved sweeps as high as they are themselves, seem likely to have been added c. 1730, to the
design of Richard Castle (ibid.). One wing contains a magnificent stable with vaulting carried on a row of
Tuscan columns. The house was opened to the public in 1987, while the walled gardens were restored
and put on public display in 1997. A Famine Museum is located in the original stable yards, housing several
original documents written by the tenants of the estate during the 1840s.
There is a diverse range of buildings and features in Strokestown all of which make a positive contribution
to the built heritage of the town. Lease clauses dating from the 1700s dictated building materials and
specifications, such as requirements to built of stone, lime and sand with sash windows and a stone
chimney; as was required on a building plot in Elphin Street in 1750 (Strokestown Local Area Plan 2004-
2009). The Market House on Church Street is one of the oldest buildings in the town, close by are two
bank houses, one still in that use. The Court House, though neglected is another important building in the
town. An Architectural Conservation Area (ACA) has been designated for Bawn Street, which
incorporates the buildings at the apex of Elphin and Church Street (ibid.). The work of esteemed
architects Richard Castles and J Lynne has influenced its development within the planned estate town.
There are seven structures/buildings located within the town that are listed as protected structures in
Roscommon County Development Plan which include St John’s Church; four town houses (Dower
House, Hartland House, House with cut stone doorway and Elphin Street, McHugh’s), Strokestown Park
House Gates and Ancillary Structures; and a mausoleum.
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