Ms Moira Murrell

Chief Executive

Kerry County Council

County Buildings,

Rathass

Tralee

 

15 November 2016

Re: Milltown Village ACA & Protected Structures

Dear Ms. Murrell,

We a group of concerned residents of Milltown wish to bring to your attention the condition of Protected Structure RPS KY-047-020 (Detached house, 1 Kilcolman Abbey Square, Milltown) which along with the adjacent protected structure (21304710, 47-10 Gateway Kilcolman Abbey Gateway) forms a core surviving element of Milltown historic, architectural, social and cultural fabric. 

Both structures also form part of Milltown’s Architectural Conservation Area (ACA) as outlined on page 71, vol. 2 of the County Development Plan.  As you will be aware, ACA designation forms the basis for policies to preserve or enhance an area, and provides a basic control over the external appearance of buildings, which make a positive contribution to the character of the area. We note with interest that the County Plan states that old towns and villages have to be treated carefully to ensure they retain their intrinsic characteristics and that the Council will endeavour to conserve not only the historical built environment but also the traditional townscape and its setting.

More specifically in relation to Kerry’s architectural heritage, the current County Development Plan 2015-2011, states that it is an objective of the Council to – inter alia: -

·         H-34, protect the architectural heritage (of Kerry) and promote conservation-led regeneration and re-use of buildings, where appropriate

·         H-42, promote the positive enhancement of existing ACAs

·         H-45, encourage the protection, appreciation, retention and appropriate renovation of vernacular buildings throughout the County

·         H-48, implement statutory protection against unauthorized works, demolition, deterioration, dereliction or any alteration which would affect the character or special interest of a protected structure.

We also note that the Council is committed to preserving Milltown’s architectural heritage and enhancing its existing archaeological and historical features including Protected Structures under the Tralee Killarney Hub Functional Areas Local Area Plan 2013-2019, pp. 89-91.

It is in light of these legislative and planning obligations and commitments that we the undersigned are now writing to you in your capacity as Chief Executive of Kerry County Council to enforce both the Council’s own responsibilities and also those legally required under the Planning and Development Act 2000 (as amended).

As the Tralee Killarney Hub Functional Areas Local Area correctly states, Milltown developed as a planned estate town under Captain John Godfrey in the 1730s. The Square contains some of the oldest buildings in Milltown and it was developed deliberately in the 1770s to form an architectural space leading to the Big House, Kilcoleman Abbey.

An almost perfectly formed Georgian space, the Square was laid out according to neoclassical principles of rationality and symmetry.  Around the Square, the then landowner, Sir William Godfrey granted six sites ‘to hold forever’ to local freeholders such as Thomas Giles, Thomas Eagar, Caleb Palmer, William Godfrey, and John Curry, on condition that these gentlemen proceed to build plain but large houses of similar size and proportions with glazed windows, and slate roofs of which Protected Structure RPS KY-047-020 forms the best surviving example.

The Square was again remodelled in the 1820s when two new Gothic style piers were built and a so-called “laurel lawn” planted, i.e. two extensive laurel hedges cut to a certain height on both sides of the gate piers, one of only a handful of villages in Ireland or Britain that had this feature.

Unfortunately, the demolition of Kilcoleman Abbey in the 1970s and the building of a housing estate accessed through the demesne entrance turned the Square from a civic space into a public roadway, and the Square is now cluttered with inappropriate trees and street furniture and essentially functions as a car park. The laurel lawn which formed part of the curtilage of Protected Structure RPS KY-047-020 was removed some years ago and many of the buildings around the Square which were all originally of the same height and scale have been altered beyond recognition.

It is because of this gradual erosion of the architectural quality and symmetry of the Square over the last 40 years that makes Protected Structure RPS KY-047-020 even more important as it is the last surviving intact eighteenth century house in Milltown. It was built in 1786 by Thomas Giles and from the 1830s served as the gate lodge to Kilcoleman Abbey. During the Famine, it functioned as the estate employment office and was also where a soup kitchen was set up to feed the starving in Milltown. Later, it was inhabited by the Master of Hounds for the Kilcoleman Hunt and in fact the kennels for the hunt were still in situ up to the 1970s. It was also in this house that the last of the Godfreys died in December 1959 who on her deathbed insisted that the inhabitants of the house, the Carey Family, be given it as a thank you for the care they had shown her. The Careys inhabited the house up until the 1990s. This protected structure therefore is part and parcel and central to Milltown’s architectural heritage and history.

Yet, despite its inclusion in the Record of Protected Structures and forming part of Milltown’s ACA, this 230 year old house is now rapidly falling into ruin and its future is uncertain as the photographs below indicate.

As no doubt you are aware, under the Planning & Development Act 2000, the owner/occupier of a protected structure is legally obliged to ensure that the structure is preserved and that the structure or any element of it is not endangered through harm, decay or damage whether over a short or long period through neglect or through direct or indirect means. This includes the exterior and interior fixtures, fittings, and curtilage and attendant grounds of the structure.

We would ask you now that Kerry County Council invoke its powers under Section 59 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 to serve notice on the owner of Protected Structure RPS KY-047-020 to prevent this extremely important structure from falling into further dereliction and also for the Council to specify the works necessary in order to remedy the obvious neglect of the structure

I would also further request that under Section 60 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 that you serve notice to restore and reinsert the “laurel lawn” which formed part of the curtilage of this structure and which was not only unique to Milltown but also formed part of the character of Milltown’s ACA and which was removed without notice some years ago.

We are concerned that by allowing Protected Structure RPS KY-047-020 to fall further into decay, it will be eventually declared derelict and dangerous under the Derelict Sites Act with its demoliton a likely outcome

Milltown is at a crossroads in its history. Bad planning decisions over the last 20 years have seen the historic core of the estate village swamped by inappropriate housing. At the same time, the historic core itself has been completely neglected and also impacted upon by inappropriate “improvements”.  If the County Development Plan, The Tralee Killarney Hub Functional Areas Local Area Plan, Kerry’s Record of Protected Structures and The Planning & Development Act 2000 (as amended) are to have any legitimacy in Milltown, then it is incumbent on the Local Authority to ensure that the measures, obligations and designations imposed by these statutory measures are not only upheld but seen to be implemented.

We await your response

Yours sincerely,