The 19th century philanthropist Charles Sheils has appeared here before, in relation to the almshouses built according to the terms of his will in Dungannon, County Tyrone (see In Demand « The Irish Aesthete). Sheils spent the greater part of his life in Liverpool where he amassed a fortune through involvement with a trans-Atlantic mercantile partnership. On his death in 1861, as his will explained ‘I propose building alms houses…to relieve as many as I can of those who from their former lives are entitled to a better provision in old age than the Workhouse.’ The first of these were built in his native village of Killough, County Down, designed by Lanyon, Lynn and Lanyon and incorporating a U-shaped terrace with belltower and superintendent’s residence. Further terraces in the same style were added in 1883 (by William Henry Lynn, formerly of Lanyon, Lynn and Lanyon, who also came from this part of the country) and 1912 (by Young and McKenzie), so that eventually there were 31 units. By the start of the present century, the complex had fallen into disrepair, with a third of the houses in a derelict state. Fortunately in 2013 a £3 million programme of restoration began, assisted by a number of governmental and private bodies, and in 2021 the project won an Angel Heritage Award. Today the complex continues to serve the same purpose intended by Charles Sheils.

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