Ederney Town Hall
History
The building was commissioned by the Reverend William James West, who lived at White Park, near Brookeborough in County Fermanagh, as a market house for the local people.
The building was designed by William Deane Butler in the neoclassical style, built in coursed stone and was completed in 1839. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with three bays facing onto Market Street; the central bay featured a wide segmental archway with an architrave and was flanked by two narrower openings with architraves, while the first floor was fenestrated by sash windows also with architraves. The central bay was surmounted by an open pediment with a clock in the tympanum. At roof level there was modillioned cornice and a hip roof. On the Ardvarney Road side, there was an archway in a similar style on the ground floor and a prominent Venetian window on the first floor. Internally the principal rooms were the market hall on the ground floor and the assembly hall on the first floor.
The arcading on the ground floor was infilled and the building was converted for use as a civic meeting place in 1889. The assembly room was used as a school room and as a venue for community events: facilities were also provided for meetings of Ederney Masonic Lodge. The building continued to be used as an events venue into the early 20th century but, by the mid 20th century, usage was falling and, by the 1970s, it was merely being used as a furniture store.
The condition of building deteriorated during the second half of the 20th century and, after an intensive local campaign to save the building, it was acquired by Fermanagh and Omagh District Council in 1989 and comprehensively restored. It subsequently became the home of the newly-established Ederney Community Development Trust, which provides and promotes a range of activities within the building.
References
- ^ "The Old Market House, Ederney, Co. Fermanagh (HB 12/14/005)". Department for Communities. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
- ^ Lewis, Samuel (1840). A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland. S. Lewis & Co. p. 595. ISBN 978-0-8063-1063-3.
- ^ MacNevin, Thomas (1846). The confiscation of Ulster in the Reign of James the First, commonly called the Ulster plantation. James Duffy. p. 180.
- ^ "1839: Market House Ederney Co. Fermanagh". Archiseek. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
- ^ "Co. Fermanagh, Ederney, Market House". Dictionary of Irish Architects. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
- ^ "Ederney Community Centre". Fermanagh and Omagh District Council. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
- ^ The universal masonic record and directory: containing the name, business, profession and residence of each subscriber; the name of the lodge, chapter, council, and encampment, to which he is attached; and the rank, position, and degree, he has attained in the order, confined exclusively to members of the Masonic Fraternity in good standing: containing also a list of all Masonic lodges in the world, with the place and time of meeting of each lodge, as far as known. Philadelphia and New York: Leon Hyneman. 1860.
- ^ Brett, Charles Edward Bainbridge (1973). Court Houses and Market Houses of the Province of Ulster. Ulster Architectural Heritage Society. p. 78. ISBN 978-0900457081.
- ^ "Evaluation of the Arts and Older People Programme: Final Report" (PDF). The Arts Council of Northern Ireland. 1 October 2013. p. 105. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
- ^ "Video Case Study: The Pat Murphy House: from tobacconist's to wellbeing and co-working hub". Heritage Trust Network. 12 December 2020. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
- ^ "Ederney Community Development Trust". Charity Commission for Northern Ireland. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
