Like most country houses, Shankill Castle, County Kilkenny has a range of outbuildings close to the main residence. The latter dates from c.1825, its neo-gothic design attributed to local architect William Robertson. The other structures, composed of cut limestone with granite for windows and doorcases, share stylistic similarities and can therefore be presumed by Robertson also. Some of them are used as studios and gallery space by the property’s present owners, but what to do with the others? Expensive to maintain, they no longer appear to have an apparent purpose. This is the conundrum facing everyone today responsible for such buildings.
Well I suppose it depends on how close they are to the main house. Suggestions for use range from turning them into holiday cottages to renting them out for commercial use as offices, studios etc. Either way money would need to be invested in them to bring them up to a useable standard with the hope of generating future income.
I’d happily move into one!
It might be of interest to know that the Heritage Council has recognised this very real problem and initiated the Reps 4 Traditional Farm Buildings Scheme to provide grants for smallscale stitch-in-time type repairs to these conundrum-inducing buildings.