Kinsale and Macroom landmark projects to get heritage funding

PROJECTS in Kinsale and Macroom are among 34 Cork heritage projects sharing €321,154 under this year’s built heritage investment scheme (BHIS). 

The BHIS is one of two funding schemes run by the Department of Heritage in association with local authorities.

The scheme assists owners of heritage structures – including those on the local authorities’ record of protected structures and those in architectural conservation areas – to meet their obligations to care for their properties by providing matching  grants of up to €15,000 for standard projects (not involving thatch).

The scheme is not limited to private dwellings, but also provides assistance to a wide range of other important heritage structures. 

This year’s BHIS includes awards to a range of historic structures throughout Cork, including work on Patsy’s Corner at Market Square in Kinsale and St Catherine’s at Sleveen East on Chapel Hill in Macroom.

Marc Ó Riain, Green Party rep for Kinsale, praised the decision to award Patsy’s Corner a sum of €14,000. Works will include external joinery repair, lime rendering, roof repair, structures and coverings including lead work, and rainwater goods repair/replacement.

‘Kinsale town centre is an area of architectural conservation but has seen a lot of dilapidation in the last 10 years,’ he said. 

‘We have seen some action to dress the Folkhouse and the Seaview in the last year, and we would love to see both Patsy’s Corner and the Silent Banjo being brought back to their former glory,’ he added.

The Chapel Hill School of Art at the former St Catherine's Convent in Macroom which has received heritage funding.

The former Sisters of Mercy Convent in Macroom, St Catherine’s, closed in 2012 but is now home to the Chapel Hill School of Art. In 2016 Joe Neeson and John McCormack acquired the property and their first phase to create a school of art began in 2021 when art classes were relaunched in the former stained glass prayer room and chapel on the property.

Also included under this year’s scheme is funding of €500,000 for conservation repairs to eligible historic thatched structures with grants of up to €20,000 available through the scheme. Cork County Council has been awarded €42,753 for five thatched structures under this year’s scheme.

Details of awards granted under the Department’s other built heritage scheme, the historic structures fund, will be announced following assessment in the coming weeks.