Search
22 Oct 2025
Search
22 Oct 2025
Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content.
Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist.
If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider contributing and/or subscribing to our free daily Newsletter .
Support our mission and join our community now.
To continue reading this article, you can subscribe for as little as €0.50 per week which will also give you access to all of our premium content and archived articles!
Alternatively, you can pay €0.50 per article, capped at €1 per day.
Thank you for supporting Ireland's best local journalism!
The entry on the NIAH listing website
It is still not known the extent of the damage done to the historic Bridge House on John Street in Kilkenny where a fire broke out this morning, but it appears to be significant.
The building had a number of historic features rendering it unique. According to its entry on the National Inventory of Architecture Ireland, the building is:
"An elegantly-composed house of national significance originally forming part of a larger composition with the range adjoining to east... rebuilt to designs prepared by Thomas Barnes (n. d.) in the mid eighteenth century incorporating the fabric of an early seventeenth-century house damaged by the flooding of the adjacent River Nore: evidence of the earlier range survives to the present day in the form of thick wall masses with the remains of cut-limestone window surrounds to the rear (south) elevation highlighting the archaeological significance of the site.
"Occupying an important site in the centre of Kilkenny the house is identified by characteristics including an elegant bowed bay, a finely-carved shared doorcase representing a feature recurrent in the architectural heritage of the locality... Despite renovation works over the centuries the house presents an early aspect with some vital early features surviving intact including the remains of a mid seventeenth-century carved timber staircase.
"The house remains of additional importance in the locality for the historic connections with George Matthews (n. d.) and Derby Egan (n. d.) together with an episode relating to the Civil War (1921-5) manifested in the form of bullet holes reputedly marking the wall fabric."
The building is an end-of-terrace, four-bay, two-storey over basement house, post-1763, 'originally forming part of larger seven-bay two-storey over part-raised basement composition with house to east incorporating fabric of earlier range, c.1600, with three-bay two-storey bowed bay to right, and two-bay three-storey return to south'.
Subscribe or register today to discover more from DonegalLive.ie
Buy the e-paper of the Donegal Democrat, Donegal People's Press, Donegal Post and Inish Times here for instant access to Donegal's premier news titles.
Keep up with the latest news from Donegal with our daily newsletter featuring the most important stories of the day delivered to your inbox every evening at 5pm.
This publication supports the work of the Press Council of Ireland and Office of the Press Ombudsman, and our staff operate within the Code of Practice of the Press Council. You can obtain a copy of the Code, or contact the Council, at www.presscouncil.ie, Lo-call 1800 208 080 or email: info@presscouncil.ie.
