County: Sligo Site name: KEVINSFORT
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 02E1701
Author: Eoin Halpin, ADS Ltd.
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 567278m, N 835705m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.269110, -8.502325
The development consisted of the refurbishment of existing outbuildings and stables for the construction of a number of self-contained apartments around Kevinsfort House. The house was built in 1820 by George Dodwell, whose family had been in Sligo since the early 17th century. A George Dodwell was high sheriff of Sligo in 1782. Either this man or his son built Kevinsfort House and developed a walled and wooded estate of c. 500 acres (235ha). Some 50 species of trees were planted, and there is tree-ring evidence of intensive planting or replanting from 1820 onward. The house is built of cut and dressed limestone in Palladian style, with a limestone porch on fluted columns. It contains outer and inner halls, six bedrooms, three reception rooms, two bathrooms, staff quarters, storerooms etc. The water supply to the house was pumped by hand from a well in the basement courtyard to a lead-lined wooden attic tank until 1970. The farm outbuildings are of cut stone but of plainer finish than the house. They include three coachhouses and stables.
A number of test-trenches were opened around the house in the areas of proposed construction, including new access roads and service lines. It was clear from the trenches that the construction of the house, basements and outbuildings had severely scarped the original ground surface, with the result that nothing of archaeological significance was uncovered in any of the areas tested.
Unit 48, Westlink Enterprise Centre, 30–50 Distillery Street, Belfast BT12 5BJ
