Midleton Library (), formerly Midleton Town Hall (), is a municipal building in Main Street,

Midleton Midleton (; , meaning "monastery at the weir") is a town in south-eastern County Cork, Ireland. It lies approximately 16 km east of Cork City on the Owenacurra River and the N25 road, which connects Cork to the port of Rosslare. A satelli ...

County Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...

, Ireland. The building, which was used as the market house and town hall throughout most of its life, is now used as a public library. It is included in

Cork County Council Cork County Council () is the local authority of County Cork, Ireland. As a county council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001, as amended. The council is responsible for housing and community, roads and transportation, urban pl ...

Record of Protected Structures Conservation in the Republic of Ireland is overseen by a number of statutory and non-governmental agencies, including those with responsibility for Historic preservation, conservation of the built environment and Environmental protection, conservat ...

History

The building in its original form was commissioned by Sir St John Brodrick of Ballyannan who was granted rights as

lord of the manor Lord of the manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England and Norman England, referred to the landholder of a historical rural estate. The titles date to the English Feudalism, feudal (specifically English feudal barony, baronial) system. The ...

of the Ballyannan Estate to the southwest of Midleton in 1670. It was complete by the time of the publication of Sir William Petty's county map, ''Hiberniae Delineatio'', in 1685 and was enhanced by a clock in around 1750. After it became dilapidated, George Brodrick, 4th Viscount Midleton invited proposals for the rebuilding of the structure in the early 1780s. The new structure was designed by John Morrison in the

Italianate style The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style combined its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Ita ...

, built in rough

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

and was completed in 1789. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of five bays facing onto Main Street. The building was arcaded, so that markets could be held, with meeting rooms on the first floor. There were five openings with imposts,

voussoir A voussoir ( UK: ; US: ) is a wedge-shaped element, typically a stone, which is used in building an arch or vault.“Voussoir, N., Pronunciation.” Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford UP, June 2024, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/7553486115. Acces ...

s and keystones on the ground floor and round headed windows with

architrave In classical architecture, an architrave (; , also called an epistyle; ) is the lintel or beam, typically made of wood or stone, that rests on the capitals of columns. The term can also apply to all sides, including the vertical members, ...

s and keystones on the first floor. At roof level, there was a

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an upward extension of a wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/brea ...

and a central two-stage

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, usually dome-like structure on top of a building often crowning a larger roof or dome. Cupolas often serve as a roof lantern to admit light and air or as a lookout. The word derives, via Ital ...

, with clock faces in the first stage and a

belfry The belfry /ˈbɛlfri/ is a structure enclosing bells for ringing as part of a building, usually as part of a bell tower or steeple. It can also refer to the entire tower or building, particularly in continental Europe for such a tower attached ...

in the second stage and an

ogee An ogee ( ) is an object, element, or curve—often seen in architecture and building trades—that has a serpentine- or extended S-shape (Sigmoid curve, sigmoid). Ogees consist of a "double curve", the combination of two semicircle, semicircula ...

-shaped

dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...

and a

weather vane A wind vane, weather vane, or weathercock is an instrument used for showing the direction of the wind. It is typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building. The word ''vane'' comes from the Old English word , m ...

above. Internally, the principal rooms were a shambles, a weigh-house and a market hall on the ground floor and an assembly room and council chamber for the use of Midleton Corporation on the first floor. The corporation was abolished under the

Municipal Corporations (Ireland) Act 1840 The Municipal Corporations Act (Ireland) 1840 ( 3 & 4 Vict. c. 108), ''An Act for the Regulation of Municipal Corporations in Ireland'', was passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom on 10 August 1840. It was one of the Municipal Corporat ...

. Soldiers from the

14th Regiment of Foot 14 (fourteen) is the natural number following 13 and preceding 15. Mathematics Fourteen is the seventh composite number. Properties 14 is the third distinct semiprime, being the third of the form 2 \times q (where q is a higher prime). ...

were billeted in the building, in the aftermath of the

Fenian Rising The Fenian Rising of 1867 (, ) was a rebellion against British rule in Ireland, organised by the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB). After the suppression of the ''Irish People'' newspaper in September 1865, disaffection among Irish radical n ...

in East Cork which began in Midleton on Skellig Night in March 1867. After Midleton Urban District Council, formed in 1900, started to use the building as a town hall, a town clerk's office was established at 45 Main Street, on the directly opposite side of the road. The market house also eventually became the home of the local library. An extensive programme of refurbishment works to restore the fabric of the building to its original condition was completed in 2008.

References

{{City and town halls in Ireland, state=collapsed City and town halls in the Republic of Ireland Government buildings completed in 1789 Midleton Libraries in the Republic of Ireland