Works will begin on the Tipperary Town Courthouse this week in an effort to conserve the building and bring it back into use.
Funded by Tipperary County Council and a Historic Structures Fund, this is part of the Project Ireland 2040 initiative.
Tipperary Town Courthouse is a five-bay two storey building, constructed between 1837 and 39 and was in functional use up until 2010.
Court proceedings were then relocated to the Tipperary Excel building when the condition of the original building was no longer up to scratch.
The works will include the re-slating of the roof, and repairs to roof timbers, cast iron gutters, downpipes and chimney stacks.
It is a protected structure and maintains much of its 19th Century interior.
While repairs have been carried out over the years, there is water damage and the roof needs to be secured for future use.
The works were one of the recommendations from the Tipperary Town Revitalisation Taskforce, under a conservation and management plan.
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 www.tipptownrevitalisation.ie
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.”
