Major renovation project is set for local building
KILDORRERY Community Development is set to launch a major renovation project on a local building.
The group has lodged a planning application for a building project at what is known locally as the ‘store building in the Creamery Yard’.
The plan is to bring that building up to a standard so that it can be used for functions and fundraising. Ideally, it would be suitable to hold events like the annual festival.
Kildorrery Community Development Limited is a non-profit organisation set up in 1993 with the aim of promoting Kildorrery as a welcoming and active community for its residents and visitors, thus encouraging tourism and industry into the area.
There are a number of sub-committees working within the Community Development, namely: The Community Housing Association, Community Alert, Tidy Towns Group, Historical Society, Senior Citizens’ Association, Community Garden Group and the Playground Group. Normally, but not at the moment,
The Community Development Office is open Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm and offers a full range of administrative services, such as typing, photocopying, printing, broadband use, laminating e-mailing and scanning.
The Community Office was restored and a restaurant developed in the extension of the original building between October 2012 and July 2013 with the help of LEADER Funding provided by Ballyhoura Development Ltd.
The building was purchased by Kildorrery Community Development Ltd in 1998 to house its office and also to facilitate the running of the local Community Employment scheme, which is still managed through the office.
The decision was made by the Development Committee to restore the building, but due to the historic nature of the structure and its inclusion in the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (NIAH), an architectural and archaeological impact study was carried out before any plans were drawn up.
The study found that this vernacular building was of a very early origin and, consequently, the plans drawn up for its restoration were sensitive to the integrity of its heritage.
The corrugated tin that was on the roof from a least before 1901 was removed, and the original thatch exposed and restored to its original appearance.
The original walls were retained and restored with a lime render finish contemporary with their period. The extension to the rear of the building, which now houses Thatch & Thyme Restaurant, was built in such a way as to incorporate the original building and not impact on its structural heritage.
Originally the building was thought to belong to a phase of the re-development of Kildorrery village by the Second Earl of Kingston in circa 1777.
It has since been featured as one of thirty houses selected for inclusion in the Cork County Council publication ‘Heritage Houses of County Cork’, and further examination of the building for the book has proposed that it belongs to a much earlier development of the village, possibly dating back as far as circa 1606.
This was at the time the village was being developed as a market town by Maurice Fitzgibbon of Oldcastletown, known as ‘ The 10th White Knight’.