Essential roof repairs to Tipperary Town Courthouse will commence this week. The works are being funded by Tipperary County Council and Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage with a grant from the Historic Structures Fund being made available as part of Project Ireland 2040.
These works will include the re-slating of the roof along with repairs to the roof timbers, cast iron gutters, downpipes and chimney stacks and will be carried out by MMT contractors over the coming months and will be overseen by Michael O’Boyle, Conservation Architect, on behalf of the Council.
Tipperary Courthouse is a five-bay two-storey former courthouse, constructed in 1837-39. The Courthouse is a protected structure and retains much of its nineteenth century interior in intact condition. It remained in use as a courthouse until 2010 when the condition of the building became a significant issue, leading to the court sittings relocating to the nearby Tipperary Excel building.
Anthony Coleman, District Administrator for Tipperary County Council stated that ‘the building has unfortunately been affected by water ingress and the upcoming works are a critical step in the overall effort to conserve the building and bring it back in to use. The Council has carried out minor repairs over the years but this upcoming project will secure the roof of the building for many years to come.’
The works form one of the recommendations under a recent Conservation and Management Plan for the Courthouse that was produced by Tipperary Town Revitalisation Task Force under the Community Heritage Grant Scheme 2021. The document sets out several key recommendations in relation to the conservation of the building, and can be downloaded from the Task Force website (see link below)
Mary Alice O’Connor, Chair of the Task Force Heritage Subgroup, welcomed the upcoming repairs to the building being carried out by Tipperary County Council and thanked the Heritage Council for their support in developing the Conservation and Management Plan. ‘The document will provide us with a blueprint for the future of the building and will support our efforts to bring the Courthouse building back in to use. We are currently examining a number of potential long term uses for the building in collaboration with Tipperary County Council and hope to be in a position to put forward a full proposal in 2022.’
The development of the Conservation and Management Plan for Tipperary Courthouse was a priority recommendation of the Tipperary Town Heritage Action Plan 2020-2022, produced by Alison Harvey of The Heritage Council, who is also driving the Collaborative Town Centre Health Check (CTCHC) in Tipperary Town. The Heritage Action Plan sets out a broad range of actions aimed at driving heritage led regeneration in the town over the coming years.
tipptownrevitalisation.ie 