Glenties €500,000 conservation works to be completed by October

Glenties has received €500,000 for conservation works on historic and cultural buildings.

The contracts were signed in The Highlands Hotel and works on the historic and cultural buildings will start this month and be completed by the end of October.  

This follows the announcement that Glenties will receive €350,000 in funding under the Heritage Council’s Historic Towns Initiative and €150,000 from Donegal County Council and in-kind contributions by property owners. 

The Glenties Historic Towns partnership team include the Conservation Office and Heritage Office of Donegal County Council, the Brian Friel Trust, Dedalus Architecture and local property owners. 

The signing of Glenties Historic Towns Initiative contracts in The Highlands Hotel

“The signing of the contracts is an important step in commissioning the proposed conservation works” explained Joseph Gallagher, Donegal’s Heritage Officer.  “The documentation sets out the scope of works to be undertaken.  Structures that will benefit from conservation works under the scheme include The Laurels that is playwright Brian Friel’s mother’s home and the setting for his play ‘Dancing at Lughnasa’; the mid-nineteenth century Glenties Courthouse that has been leased to the Brian Friel Trust to establish the Brian Friel Centre; the community-run St. Connell’s Museum and the steel-arched gateway that forms part of the curtilage of St. Connell’s Church.  The project also involves the design of a public realm along Main Street in Glenties.  

“The conservation works will employ best conservation practices and will demonstrate the cost-benefit of conserving our historic buildings and keeping them in use or bringing them back into use.  The focus of the Historic Towns Initiative on the heritage character of Glenties and its streetscape will help to accentuate some aspects of the town’s rich built heritage that often gets overlooked in our towns and villages.  

“The funding provided by The Heritage Council and the Department of Housing, Local Government & Heritage will make a significant contribution to protecting, enhancing and promoting the built heritage of Glenties.”

The Trust's ongoing vision is to completely restore and renovate The Laurels as the Dancing at Lughnasa House and to establish the main centre in the nearby Court House. Plans for the Court House include a vibrant, dynamic and creative interpretative visitor attraction, containing elements of the Friel archive - displays of photographs, letters and theatrical memorabilia, as well as Brian's reading library and a performance space.

Members of the Brian Friel Trust, St Connell's Museum, Dedalus Architecture & Building Contractors outside Glenties Courthouse

“The proposed work has been prioritised based on the conservation report on The Laurels and the feasibility study and architectural conservation report on Glenties Courthouse,” said Collette Beattie, Conservation Officer at Donegal County Council.  “The conservation works planned under the Historic Towns Initiative include structural repairs to historic buildings, roof and chimney repairs, lime pointing and rendering, repair of cast-iron rainwater goods, the repair and reinstatement of timber sash windows and doors, vegetation management, installation of a French drain, repair of a boundary wall and a painting scheme for historic buildings.  We will work closely with the Brian Friel Trust and the conservation works will be carried out using best conservation practices and traditional materials under the supervision of a Grade I conservation architect.  There will also be a public realm design commission that will be based on Brian Friel’s literary and real-life links with Glenties, something that several local groups and businesses are promoting already.”

Members of St Connell's Museum, Glenties with conservation architect and building contractors

Orlaith McBride, Chairperson of the Brian Friel Trust added: “The conservation and re-use of The Laurels and Glenties Courthouse are central to our plans for the establishment of a Brian Friel Centre in Glenties.  

“The long-term ambition of the Brian Friel Trust is to celebrate Brian Friel’s rich cultural legacy and his affinity with Glenties.  The conservation works envisaged under the Historic Towns Initiative are an important first step to authentically restoring The Laurels to its 1930s interior when Brian Friel used to visit the house where his aunts lived and to advancing our plans to create a vibrant, dynamic and creative visitor attraction in the Brian Friel Centre at Glenties Courthouse.  

“Thirteen of Brian Friel’s plays are set in the fictional town of Ballybeg, widely regarded to be based on Glenties.  The significance of The Laurels, which the Trust acquired in 2016, together with Friel’s decision to make Glenties his final resting place all make this project distinctive in the context of Glenties.”