House - 16th/17th century

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated at no. 18 Parnell Street, at the junction of Parnell Street and Chapel Lane in Ennis historic town (CL033-082----). Known as ‘McParland’s’, as so named on the late 19th-century shopfront, this two-storey house with dormer attic in private ownership was discovered in 2008 to be in an unstable condition. Modification to the shop in the 19th century had resulted in the structural failure over time of the gable wall and its diagonally set Jacobean chimney. It was proposed to dismantle and re-build the chimney cap, to remove the gable wall and chimney breast and to rebuild them. In order to facilitate the programme of restoration the dismantling of the chimney cap and breast was archaeologically monitored under licence (11E0377) (Coyne 2012). Excavations preceding the reconstruction were conducted on the ground floor of the interior (also under licence 11E3077). These revealed at least five periods of use for the fireplace, the earliest dating to the construction of the gable around AD 1600. The original dimensions of the fireplace were 1.9m N-S and 1m in depth and it was floored with small rounded cobbles. The fireplace became progressively smaller during several later reconstructions. The body of the house has thick walls (c. 0.9m) with very large horizontal (0.25m x 0.2m) oak beams and vertical oak standards in the S and W walls. Some of these timbers were dendrochronologically dated to 1672 (Ó Dálaigh 2012, 24). The house was home to Harriet Smithson, wife of Hector Berlioz in the 19th century. Timbers in the attic revealed a probable dormer window to the rear and a light door to the adjoining attic of house no. 20 shows that the two originally formed one house (Ua Cróinín 2012, 71-4). House no. 24-6 (CL033-082006-) has a similar Jacobean chimney and is of similar date. (Bradley, Halpin and King 1988, 51)

CL033-082005-_01.jpg and CL033-082005-_02.jpg attached.

Compiled by: Mary Tunney

Date of upload: 5 March 2014

References

Bradley, J., Halpin, A. and King, H.A. 1988 Urban archaeological survey - county Clare. Unpublished report commissioned by the Office of Public Works, Dublin.

Coyne, F. 2012 Archaeological monitoring and excavation as part of the repair and stabilisation of McParland's House, No. 18 Parnell St., Ennis, Co. Clare. 11E0377. Unpublished report submitted to the National Monuments Service, Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Dublin.

Ó Dálaigh, B. 2012 Irish Historic Towns Atlas, No. 25. Ennis. Royal Irish Academy. Dublin.

Ua Cróinín, R. 2012 McParland's Ennis: the last half-timbered house in Ireland? The Other Clare 36, 71-4.