Work is nearing completion on the conservation of an historic wall which formed a boundary of the former Lough Rinn Estate in Co. Leitrim, enclosing a parcel of land known locally as the Clooncoe meadows with the aid of Green Low-Carbon Agri-Environment Scheme (GLAS) funding.
The wall forms part of an adjoining bridge, together with a weir and sluice which was constructed as part of a Famine Relief Scheme (Rinn and Blackriver Drainage Scheme), which was designed to improve the land and reduce flooding in much of south Leitrim.
The chief designer of the scheme was Thomas J. Mulvaney, civil engineer and district officer of the Belturbet Board of Works, and it was one of many accelerated and facilitated by the Drainage (Ireland) Act 1846.
The act dispensed with the need for primary funding of preliminary expenses, and allowed the government to carry out works under the direct control of the board, with reduced need for landowners’ assent to the work.
By July 1847, over 3,400 men were employed on the scheme.
GLAS conservation works
Conservation works have recently been carried out on the weir/sluice and bridge.
It was then decided that a programme of works should be designed and implemented to stabilise and conserve the fabric of the adjoining historic wall, which consisted of rubble limestone laid in lime/sand/clay mortar.
A pair of quality traditional farm/estate gates are also being restored. The conservation programme was designed by John Greene, Grade 1 conservation architect, who is also supervising the work being carried out Midland Restoration, Clonturk, Longford.
The general principles governing the conservation methodology and works specification, include that the authentic structure and fabric of importance to maintain the structure’s special character are to be respected and retained.
All existing sound fabric and features are being retained and protected, with the focus on repair rather than replacement, which can only be carried out where the fabric has perished.
The bedding mortar in the wall has perished over time with no surviving binder in the mortar.
Perished mortar and ingrained ivy had to be removed, and the wall is being restored, and rebuilt where necessary, using a binder of weak NHL2 lime in a 5mm sand with small gravel mixed through to match with original mortar, with joints brushed on completion.
Any existing rich cement mortar repairs are being removed and replaced.
Measures to assist proper curing, using approved cover sheeting as protection, were an integral and vital aspect of the project, both to protect the ongoing works and ensure slow evaporation of water from the mortar.
This project was undertaken with the support of the Heritage Council and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) under the GLAS Traditional Farm Buildings Grant Scheme 2022.
The scheme contributes to the conservation and retention of rural on-farm heritage, protecting important buildings and structures which might otherwise decay beyond economic repair, or disappear entirely.