0057 Annaholty

Annaholty, County Tipperary, is a townland in the southwest of the country. Located on the edge of a flat bogland, it is bisected by a motorway connecting Limerick City to Dublin. Sitka spruce plantations and a patchwork of grazing fields make up the remainder. Like the neighbouring County Limerick, the climate is mild and wet, protected by its inland location.The old road that connected market towns along the route from Limerick to Dublin also cuts through the townland.

Along this historic road, we found a traditional farmyard around which stood a stone byre to the east, a stone farmhouse to the west and a mature orchard to the north. The buildings are approximately 150 years old. Our client, an only son, lived in the house with his parents until 2002 when he built his own home on the adjoining site. His father passed away in 2015, followed by his mother in 2020. Our brief was to intervene in the existing fabric in order to extend the life of the house for another generation. In discussing his decision to renovate the house, our client spoke of his responsibility to ancestors and to descendants. For him, the buildings represented generations of connection to place. With this affinity for the place, the history and the fabric of the buildings already had an established value.