Ancestry UK

Kildysart (Killadysert), Co. Clare

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Kildysart, also known as Killadysert, was one of the new Poor Law Unions created in Ireland between 1848 and 1850. The new union was formally declared on 22nd February 1850. It was created from the eastern part of the Kilrush Union and the south-western part of the Ennis Union, and occupied an area of 100 square miles. The population falling within the Kildysart Union at the 1901 census was 9,165. In 1905, it comprised the following electoral divisions:

Co. Clare: Ballynacally, Clondagad, Coolmeen, Kilchreest, Kilfiddane, Killadysert, Killofin, Kilmurry, Liscasey, Lisheen, Rinealon.

The Guardians met at noon on alternate Thursdays.

The new Kildysart Union workhouse was erected on a six-acre site a mile to the north-east of Kildysart. Designed by the Poor Law Commissioners' architect George Wilkinson, the building was intended to accommodate 500 inmates. Its construction cost £5,450 plus £975 for fittings etc. The site location and layout are shown on the 1922 OS map below.

Kildysart workhouse site, 1922.

The layout was somewhat different to Wilkinson's earlier designs, and was a similar size and design to the workhouses at Castlecomer, Clonakilty, Urlingford and Mitchelstown which were built at around the same time. The front of the site at the south had a central entrance, flanked by two two-storey blocks.

To the rear, the main buildings had a T-shaped layout. The wing to the south probably contained the dining-hall and kitchens. The two main accommodation wings, one for men and one for women, were three storeys high.

THe workhouse was closed in 1920 and the buildings were burned during the troubles in 1922. The site is now occupied by housing.

Kildysart former workhouse site from the north-east, 2002
© Peter Higginbotham.

Records

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Bibliography

  • The Workhouses of Ireland by John O'Connor (Anvil Books, 1995)

Links

  • None.

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