Conservation project on 220-year-old protected farm buildings in Riverstown
A RECENT project in Riverstown has seen the roofs of two 220-year-old protected farm buildings conserved, ensuring that they will remain in agricultural use for future generations.
The two-stage project has been supported by the Heritage Council’s GLAS Traditional Farm Buildings Grant Scheme and is nearing completion.
The buildings date from 1850 and are a fine example of a formally designed demesne farmyard at Coopershill, Co. Sligo.
Having survived, largely unaltered, for more than 200 years, the slated roofs of the buildings were beginning to deteriorate and had suffered significant damage in the winter storms of 2021. The cause of the problem was identified by conservation specialists as collapsing roof battens and the only remedy was to strip the existing structure, conserving as much original material as possible, replace the battens, reinforce rafters where necessary and refit the slates.
It is a requirement of the Heritage Council funding that the conservation is carried out using only traditional methods and materials and that as much as possible of the original building is retained or re-used.
“It’s very satisfying to know that the buildings will survive for future generations in as close to the original state as possible,” said Mark O’Hara, the current owner, commenting on the project.