INVISIBLE_VALUE_DISSERTATION

Invisible Value.

How an understanding of emotional heritage can inform a more democratic approach to architectural re-use.

A dissertation submitted to Technological University Dublin in part fulfillment of the requirements for award of Masters in Architecture by David Bell January 2025 School of Architecture and the Built Environment Bolton Street Dublin 1 Head of School : Dr. Conor Norton Head of Discipline : Emma Geoghegan Supervisors: Dr. Marcin Wójcik + Dr. Kevin Donovan

Invisible Value

Declaration.

I hereby certify that the material submitted in this dissertation toward the award of Masters in Architecture is entirely my own work and has not been submitted for assessment other than part-fulfilment of the award named above.

Date: 13.01.2024

2

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments.

I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the following people: To my supervisors Marcin and Kevin, for your generosity and encouragement, and for helping me to rediscover the joys of architecture.

To Paddy and Fran, and the town of Mountmellick for sharing your stories, memories and local knowledge.

To my friends, both in studio and out, for all of the chats, silliness, coffees and adventures over the past five and a half years. Thank you all for making this so fun.

To Mum and Dad, for your unwavering kindness and selflessness, and for helping me to stay positive. I could not have done this without you.

Finally, to Júlia, for believing in me, inspiring me, and for showing me that anything is possible. Thank you for being by my side.

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Invisible Value

Abstract.

This project examines how we place value on heritage buildings, focusing in particular on a derelict Maltings factory South of Mountmellick, Co. Laois. (Fig. 01) In Ireland, our heritage legislation is overly intellectualised , and fails to effectively engage with the people who truly understand their inherited buildings. In response to this, the research tests plural methods of collecting stories and memories relating to the Maltings in an attempt to understand its Emotional Heritage, and invisible value. Using diagramming to map historical networks, and combining this with more conventional architectural drawing methods, the project explores new ways of representing value visually. Ultimately, I wish to communicate this value to others, and through doing so, suggest a new way of approaching architectural re-use.

Emotional Heritage: “When a building is abandoned , it remains alive in the memories of those who occupied it. [...]

These occupations have created an invisible constellation of social relationships that expand the influence of the building to a universe around it.” (Ricardo Flores, Eva Prats. 2023)

(Fig.01). The Maltings, Mountmellick. Elevation collage - Author

4

Content

Introduction.

Tracing value through time

6-8

Context.

Morphology of the Maltings

9-13

Methodology.

Questioning Value

14 -19

Conversations with Mountmellick

20 - 24

Drawing Memories

24 - 29

Dissemination.

30 - 33

Reflections.

34 - 35

Bibliography.

36 - 37

Appendix A. 38-45

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Invisible Value

Tracing value through time.

This paper is concerned with Heritage, and the ways in which people use buildings, place value on them, and change them over time. As a young architect operating in an Irish context, I am becoming increasingly aware of the responsibility we have for our inherited building stock, and beginning to notice some shortcomings in how we make use of these buildings today. Across Ireland, in our cities, towns and countryside, buildings, of various types and to varying degrees of dilapidation, are laying dormant. Their use(s) have long since expired, their purpose now uncertain. Some of these buildings, the ones with very overt historic and aesthetic value, have secured themselves a place on the record of protected structures. The others, considered to be of less value, are at the mercy of time.

Section 51.1 of The Planning and Development Act of 2000 describes a protected structure as one “which is, in the opinion of the planning authority of [...] special architectural, historical, archaeological, artistic, cultural, scientific, social or technical [...] interest within its functional area.”. (Government of Ireland. 2000). While this legislation is ultimately positive and prevents needless destruction, the qualities required for a building to be listed are quite vague. Furthermore, it places significant power in the hands of the local authorities who, like an overprotective mother, are so consumed by their responsibilities to preserve, that they hinder any opportunity for growth. Rather than being put to use, many of these buildings are frozen in time.

In order to understand our current legislation, and be critical of it, the research must acknowledge and discuss the historical context from which it has emerged. One of the first figures to tackle issues regarding heritage restoration was French architect Eugène Violletle-Duc. He argued that the role of the restorer was to bring the ‘essence of a monument back to life’, rather than faithfully restoring its physical qualities alone. (Stumm, A, 2022.

Pg. 124.). Viollet-le-Duc strove to achieve an “aesthetic whole” , and would happily alter, augment and even erase what came before if it resulted in a more cohesive building. (Scott, F, 2008. Pg. 49). By contrast, John Ruskin (who was outraged by Viollet-le-Duc’s approach) was more concerned with the material preservation of a monument. For him, the ‘spirit’ of a 6

Introduction

monument was contained within its physicality. (Stumm, A, 2022. Pg. 125.) He celebrated ageing, and the passing of time: [...] How is the new work better than the old? There was yet some life, some mysterious suggestion of what it had been, and what it had lost; some sweetness in the gentle lines which the rain and sun had wrought. (Ruskin, J. 1849. Pg.243) It could be argued that what both Viollet-le-Duc and Ruskin are striving to protect is a form of authenticity. For the former, authenticity is dependent on performance, and meaning is derived from how a building might enhance the lives of those who use it. For Ruskin, use is less important, and meaning is derived from the memories, stories or ‘spirit’ embedded within the physical.

If we trace these ideas forward in time, we can see their influence on the Venice Charter of 1961. Perhaps aligning more with Ruskin than Viollet-le-Duc, it implies that the authenticity, or value of a monument is contained within its physical qualities, or aesthetics. Articles 4 8 are concerned with Conservation, and while they do encourage a ‘use’ being restored to a building, it is forbidden to alter layout or decoration to achieve this. Articles 9 - 13 deal with Restoration, and while less strict regarding possible intervention, they too demand the preservation of “artistic and historic evidence”. (Gazzola et al. 1961).

The influence of the Venice Charter has been widespread and enduring, and has coloured many of the subsequent documents relating to Heritage throughout the late 20th Century.

(Markeviciene, J. 2011). While having a strict set of rules to follow is useful, these rules are directed towards specialists, and value is only to be identified “based on the respect for original material and authentic documents”. (Gazzola et al. 1961). The intellectualisation of value is an undemocratic act. It can alienate people from their heritage, and disregards any notions of intangible value.

While being first and foremost an echo of the Venice Charter, the Grenada Convention of 1985 begins to consider the importance of public participation. Article 14 endeavours to 7

Invisible Value

“establish in the various stages of the decision-making process, appropriate machinery for the supply of information, consultation and cooperation between the State, the regional and local authorities, cultural institutions and associations, and the public”. (Council of Europe, 1985).

The Grenada Convention was ratified by Ireland in 1997, and we can see its influence on the Planning and Development act. Section 55.1 states how the local authority is required to notify the public of any proposed additions or deletions to the record of protected structures. This notice must be published in at least one local newspaper, and the public have a window of six weeks to submit a written response. (Government of Ireland, 2000). While this does in some ways meet the requirements of the Grenada Convention, it leaves much to be desired. Ultimately, the power still rests with the local authority who often have a different understanding of value to the general public.

The 2005 Faro Convention builds upon the ideas of public inclusion described in the Grenada Convention. It presents a much more balanced concept of Heritage, one which places equal value on tangible and intangible qualities. (Markeviciene, J. 2011. Pg. 635). Article 12 states the need to include everyone “in the process of identification, study, interpretation, protection, conservation and presentation of cultural heritage”. (Council of Europe, 2005).

Ireland has yet to ratify the Faro Convention, and if we do, it will likely result in a major revision of the Planning and Development Act.

8

Context

Morphology of The Maltings.

Keeping this historical context in mind, the research project explores how architecture may have the capacity to bridge the gap between heritage and the people who use it. As a way to test this idea, a particular building has been chosen which exemplifies some of the shortcomings in how we utilise heritage buildings in Ireland today. The Maltings is a derelict industrial building just South of Mountmellick, Co. Laois. The building has been required to perform in a variety of different ways over its long life, with each change of use resulting in physical augmentations to its form.

An early OS map dating from 1839 (Fig. 02) describes the building as a ‘Woolen Factory’, and it is likely to have been used for the production of cloth. (Hammond, F. 2017). The arrangement of buildings on the site was quite simple, with two four storey stone buildings sitting perpendicular to each other. These buildings were long and narrow, with clear floor areas to facilitate an assembly line of production. To the East, a string of low rise buildings ran alongside

(Fig.02). 1839 OS 6 Inch Map, Showing initial

the road, forming courtyards with the main

configuration of buildings on the site - osi.ie

factory buildings and creating a strong edge to the site. These buildings were used for storage. (Fennely, F. 2024) To the North, a gatehouse acted as a formal entrance to the complex, and linked the factory back to Irishtown House, where the factory owners (the Sheane family) once resided. (Fig.03) There is no indication of either a water wheel, or chimney for a steam engine at this time, meaning that the work was labour intensive, and likely required a large number of employees. (Hammond, F. 2017)

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Invisible Value

Between 1839, and 1940 the building changed uses (and hands) a number of times. The most significant of these changes was the establishment of a factory for malting barley in 1868, when the building’s current name originated. All of the stone buildings from the time of the woolen factory were retained and utilised. Like with cloth production, barley malting also required long unobstructed floor areas. This allowed the barley to be steeped in water, spread out, and turned to aid with germination. The biggest physical alteration at this time was the addition of the drying building, which slotted in between the existing four storey stone buildings. Here, the germinated barley was subjected to heat to halt any further germination.

(Hammond, F. 2017). Additional buildings (shown in orange) were added presumably for extra storage and to house machinery. (Fig. 04)

(Fig.03). 1800-1839- Author

(Fig.04). 1839-1940. New additions in orange - Author

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Context

In the 1940’s, the factory was extended yet again (Fig 05), this time using a more contemporary construction method of cast in-situ concrete. The additions were primarily to the South of the site, and included a three storey solid concrete extension (the first floor being double height), which housed offices, laboratories, and the machinery required for malt extraction.

Beside this, a rather beautiful brick chimney accompanied by a cast concrete boiler house were constructed to heat the water needed for the process. In the following years, the scale of operations in the factory diminished gradually, and parts of the building (which no longer had a use) slowly started to deteriorate. The factory closed permanently in 2001. (Hammond, F. 2017)

(Fig.05). 1940-2001 New concrete additions in blue - Author

(Fig.06). 2001-Today. Significant demolitions - Author

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Invisible Value

Since then, The Maltings has been derelict and considered ‘an eyesore’ by locals. (Miller, S. 2021). In 2007, a local developer was granted planning to build 37 housing units on the site. (Buggy, P. 2024) Site works were commenced, and a significant portion of the existing structures (none of which were on the record of protected structures at the time), were demolished. (Fig. 06) However, before any actual building could occur, the project was halted by the 2008 financial crash, and the site was subsequently acquired by NAMA (National Asset Management Agency). (Kiernan, L. 2024).

In 2012, NAMA sold the site to Laois County Council for a shockingly low 10,000 euros, and with the help of a town and village grant, (worth 80,000 euro), they built a new wall in place of the demolished roadside buildings. (Buggy, P. 2024). Currently, part of the building (red) is on the record of protected structures, while the remaining parts are considered to be of less value due to their state of dilapidation. (Fig.07) As a result of significant pressure from the Central Government, Laois County Council are proposing to use the site for social housing. (Buggy, P. 2024) Originally, the intention was

(Fig.07). Site plan today, showing protected structures in red - Author 12

Context

to build thirty two housing units around the existing structure on the site, setting it aside for development at a later date. Recently, this scope has expanded to provide forty units, meaning they intend to fit housing into the existing protected structure as well as around it. (Kiernan, L. 2024) While on one hand this is a positive development, it is difficult to imagine how an industrial building, with a very specific form (relating to the processes that happened within it) might adapt to perform in an entirely different way.

Furthermore, to zone a building which was once synonymous with prosperity and employment in the town as solely residential seems like a missed opportunity.

This condition is symptomatic of our current heritage legislation. A site or group of buildings, (The Maltings) which has been derelict for some time, has been acquired by the local authority. The Council, without developing a true understanding of the buildings’ value, have zoned it as residential. (Ireland needs houses, so why not, right?) They are then faced with a dilemma, which is that the protected building on the site does not lend itself to the newly proposed use. Meanwhile the local community, who encounter the building daily, and understand its true intangible value (emotional heritage), are not involved in the project.

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Invisible Value

Questioning Value.

Considering this context, some general questions begin to emerge: How can an understanding of historical performance within heritage buildings help us to quantify their value and potential future performance?

The aim of this question is to try to broaden the definition of value beyond how it is stated in the planning and development act, and the Venice Charter. An understanding of the wider historical networks the Maltings was part of may help to place it in a contemporary network. From this, a use might present itself that is suitable to both the physical form of the building and the time that it is situated in. In the previous semester, this was explored using conventional architectural methods.

Firstly, the site and building were drawn in detail as a way of understanding how its physical form related to how the building was required to perform. It was important to be forensic, and to record accurately the material and texture, and each eccentricity such as a filled in window or collapsing wall. (Fig.09). Collectively these things told the story of the building’s morphology (as described earlier), and specifically how the building could be viewed as a machine with components being added or taken away as required. The act of drawing was quite revealing, and drawing in tandem with desktop historical research highlighted the connections between the building’s performance, and the wider networks it was part of.

Correlations could be drawn between industry, population and unemployment, highlighting the socioeconomic value of the Maltings through time.

Following this, a series of diagrams were made in an attempt to visualise this value, describing the building as a machine, with inputs and outputs which changed over time. (Fig.08). These diagrams then provided a base from which a contemporary industrial network could be explored, and how this network might inform a new use for the building today.

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Methodology

(Fig.08). Diagram exploring historical networks - Author

(Fig.09). Elevation drawing, showing each eccentricity - Author 15

Invisible Value

The resulting project, a biogas production plant, attempted to restore an industrial use to the Maltings while generating employment and prosperity for Mountmellick. Expanding on the existing pattern of morphology (making the required additions and subtractions to accommodate machinery), the scheme involved a series of structural interventions. Firstly the existing roofs were removed. Some of these contained asbestos, while others were just simply dilapidated. (Hammond, F. 2017) Following this a series of steel buttresses were added externally, these were to remedy the effects of removing the floors, which would have tied the external walls together. The removal of the floors created a large internal volume in which an anaerobic digestion tank could be inserted. Following this, a new steel roof structure which connected back into the buttresses was added. The new roof would oversail the existing stone walls, protecting them from the weather and preserving them into the future. (Fig.10) The architecture tried to value an otherwise mundane industrial process. Gothic images came to mind: People moving high above through an intricate structure while looking inwards towards the nave where a process is being celebrated. (Fig. 11)

(Fig.10). Drawing exploring new strcutural additions - Author 16

Methodology

Although this project did consider value, it was on reflection, quite a singular approach. I had limited the focus of the research to the quantitative alone and, in some ways, conformed with the stringent legislation I was attempting to be critical of. I made claims about value which I didn’t truly understand, and I assumed that as an architect I was correct. With the exception of a visit to Mountmellick at the beginning of the project, I had failed to properly engage with the people of the town.

(Fig.11). Pencil drawing of section showing anerobic digestion tank and new structure - Author 17

Invisible Value

To remedy this, the research required a different question, a more holistic one which would recognise the qualitative measures of value as an equal to the quantitative: How can the bringing together of different values pertaining to Physical and Emotional Heritage inform a more democratic approach to architectural reuse?

In their 2023 exhibition at the Venice Biennale, Ricardo Flores and Eva Prats describe Emotional Heritage as “[...] the stories of the people who have occupied (a) place over the years. These occupations have created an invisible constellation of social relationships that expand the influence of this construction to a universe around it.”. (Flores, R, Pratts, E. 2023).

What they are describing here is a sort of social network. One which connects the stories and memories embedded within a building to its wider context, giving that building an intangible value to the people who know it well. This value, when placed alongside the value generated by a building’s physical heritage, may help us to understand Heritage in a more nuanced way.

When approaching a restoration project, Flores and Prats have a very diverse set of

18

methods, some of which might be useful

(Fig.12). Methodology

to consider here.

diagram - Author

INVISIBL

LE VALUE

Methodology

In their 2016 film ‘Taking care of Ghosts’, the duo present footage of the new Sala Beckett, overlaid with audio of locals describing their memories of the building prior to its restoration.

While working on the project, they conversed with the local community, and collected stories to develop an understanding of the intangible value embedded within the building.

(Flores, R. 2022). The film then becomes a useful tool in communicating this value. As a viewer, we see the physical building before us, the cracked walls and the doors and windows, and the beauty of these things is augmented by listening to people describe the memories associated with them.

In order to address the above question , and to begin developing an understanding of Emotional Heritage, it was necessary to supplement conventional architectural methods with some ethnographic methods, similar to those used by Flores and Prats. I began by organising interviews with people who live in Mountmellick, with the aim of gathering stories, memories, and current sentiments relating to the Maltings.

This ‘constellation of social relationships’ could then be connected back into information already gathered about the building’s physical heritage to augment its meaning and present new value.

(Fig. 04).

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Invisible Value

Conversations with Mountmellick .

In the days leading up to the interviews, I attempted to clarify what exactly I hoped to learn, and drafted questions which would help to reveal value, and gain an understanding of emotional heritage. I also spent time preparing a pamphlet to give to interviewees as a visual aid. The pamphlet was designed in a very particular way. On the front cover there was a prompt question “What can the Maltings be”. On the inside cover, a short project description and existing elevation drawing. When flipped over, the Pamphlet contained a timeline describing morphology over time, and when opened out, displayed a full spread existing site plan. (Fig. 13)

(Fig.13). Pamphlets for interviews - Author 20

Methodology

It was the first frosty morning of October. Driving into the town I passed the Maltings on my left, as large and imposing as ever. The building seemed different today, shrouded in a tangle of autumnal foliage. Almost suggestive of a change to come. (Fig.23) I had arranged to meet Paddy Buggy, local councilor and the chairperson of the Mountmellick Development Association (MDA). Paddy, had kindly agreed to organise some interviews, and was interested in discussing the potential of the Maltings in Mountmellick today. We met at the MDA building, a converted mill building of a similar vintage to the Maltings just a couple of hundred meters further up the road. It felt like a fitting location for our interviews.

Perhaps due to a lack of clarity in my correspondence with Paddy, he assumed that I only wished to speak with him, instead of a variety of different people. I found myself adapting to a more informal style of conversation, and rather than a clear cut structure of questions and answers, I had to knit my questions into the conversation when the opportunity allowed. It wasn’t long before the conversation arrived at the council’s proposal for social housing on the site, and how the town have an alternative proposal to create an educational facility for textiles. (Town Team, 2024) They [the Council] are going to come under pressure to put social housing there.

We know that. But we think a different use can be made. A more sustainable use [...]. If you have R & D [Research and Development] going on in Mountmellick, you have high paying jobs in the town straight away. [...] If we don’t have highly educated, highly paid people in the town, the town is going to always be a social welfare town. (Paddy, B. 2024).

Paddy explained decline and unemployment as a systemic issue within the town, one which would not be solved by building more social housing. He, and his colleagues in the MDA are more concerned with addressing the root causes of the issue rather than simply addressing the symptoms. It also became very clear how they understood the value of the Maltings as a symbol of prosperity and industry in Mountmellick.

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Invisible Value

The vast majority of people don’t want to see social housing there. They want to see something else there. Something progressive. And your first impressions of a town are usually your only impression of the town [...] (Paddy, B. 2024).

Despite this in depth understanding of value, there still remained a disconnect between the town and the local authority. My earlier assumptions about poor public participation on the Council’s part were disproven. Paddy then informed me how he is of the opinion they as a town were to blame. [...] when it came to drawing up the Local Area Plan , they’d hold a public meeting in the library, and they’d have very good people from the planning department willing to sit down and talk to you. But we as a community have gone sure it’ll be grand… and then what? [...]

I don’t consider this lack of engagement to be the fault of the town. Instead, I believe it is a symptom of a deeply ingrained disenfranchisement resulting from our planning legislation. The intellectualisation of what gives a building value has made non-professionals,

the

people

who

understand the emotional heritage of these buildings best, feel as if their contributions are less valid. Rather than laziness, there is a reluctance towards participation which needs to be addressed.

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Methodology

Following a spontaneous phone call, we were then joined by Fran, one of Paddy’s colleagues from the MDA. Fran recounts how he used to collect waste grain from the Maltings, and take it home to feed his cows. (F, Fennelly. 2024) Using my drawings, he was able to recount his memories of the people who worked there, and how they interacted with the buildings.

In the days after the interviews, I set about transcribing the audio into written form. While this was useful in that I can include transcripts in this paper (Appendix A), it also helped me to digest the vast quantity of information shared with me. As I was listening, writing, and reflecting on Paddy and Fran’s memories, the value they associate with the Maltings became strikingly apparent, and the physical building is imbued with an additional layer of meaning.

(Fig.14). Methodology diagram - Author 23

Invisible Value

I began to visualise the people, and the machines, and to refer to Flores and Prats once again, the “invisible constellation” which connects the building to those who once used it. (Flores, R, Prats, E. 2023). This value, however, while apparent to those who understand it, still remains invisible to those who don’t. Considering the objective of this research, which is to communicate value to others, I began to consider how conventional architectural methods might be used to represent value visually.

Drawing Memories.

The first objective was to draw these ‘invisible constellations’ in a way which showed the connections between the building, the people and the processes. Diagramming became a suitable tool for this. Starting by drawing the malting process as a system of inputs and outputs, I then began to overlay the people who had been mentioned in the interviews. They were then connected to the processes, to each other and to the wider context, showing how the physical and emotional heritage are in fact deeply intertwined. (Fig. 14).

From this, I began to consider how I might represent these stories and memories spatially.

Again referring to a method of Flores and Prats, drawing by hand allowed me to be selective about the information I wished to show, and in some cases represent space, inhabitation, exterior and interior simultaneously in an X-ray type manner. At a glance the drawing might represent information about the malting process, but upon closer inspection, it might describe the detail of the building’s construction. (Fig. 15). The below drawing was a first attempt at this, but upon reflection I believe it is still quite singular, and lacking a required layer of the emotional. I had fallen into the typical architectural trap of reducing a highly complex, multi dimensional layering of things (a building) into a static object. (Latour, B. Yaneva, A. 2008) To remedy this, I set about making a new drawing. My intention this time was to represent the building in a state of flux, and use the stories and memories gathered from the interviews to speculate about the future. Sticking with the cast concrete 1940’s extension explored in

24

Methodology

(Fig.15). Pencil drawing recording the ‘mash process’. Malted barley was milled, and fed into the Mash Tun, where it was cooked at high temperatures. It was then reduced down to a syrup like substance in the calandria evaporator. This substance was known as ‘Malt Extract’. - Author

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Invisible Value

the previous drawing, I began to imagine how that space (in the absence of machines) might be occupied in the building’s next use. The drawing explores the possibility of weaving a series of new stairs through the existing structure, ultimately leading people to the anaerobic digestion tank designed in the previous semester. On top of this, text from the interview with Fran (along with text from other sources) is overlaid describing memories of those same spaces . An observer of the drawing could then (in theory) read the past, present, and potential future simultaneously. As with Flores and Prat’s ‘Taking care of Ghosts’, the hope is that by placing the physical and emotional next to each other, new meaning can be generated, and invisible value revealed. Referring back to the previous design project was a deliberate move. It freed me of the obligation to design something entirely new, while also allowing for reflection on my earlier decision making. (Fig.16) While I believe this drawing was successful in capturing part of the complexity of the Maltings, it was still quite lacking in that it represented everything at the same scale. It became clear that another drawing was required, one which would capture memories and stories at a variety of different scales, combining a more eclectic mix of drawing elements (Section, isometric, mapping, scenes and text.) Carlo Scarpa’s drawing method became a useful reference at this point. For Scarpa, drawing, and drawing over those drawings was a way for him to bring together a project’s ‘conceptual elements’ and ‘tangible elements’ so that he (and others) might understand that project as a whole. (Asar, H. 2023. pg. 146). His ability to combine precise hardline drawings and atmospheric freehand sketches, some of which are at different scales, result in beautifully rich tapestries which synthesise his ideas.

Colour is then used to draw attention to particularly important elements of the drawing, aiding with its overall legibility. (Fig.17) While for Scarpa this method was used as a design tool, in my case it was more useful as a tool for communicating value. Rather than bringing together ideas about a form or detail, my aim was to bring together memories, draw connections between them, and relate them back to the Maltings and its wider context. I attempted to capture a variety of moments: Fran collecting the waste barley and using it to feed his cows, Paddy’s memories of the buildings

26

Methodology

(Fig.16). Pencil drawing investigating a potential future use. Stairs weave through the existing structure. Text describing past uses is overlaid on top. Drawing by hand allows me to be selective about the information I wish to show. - Author

27

Invisible Value

since demolished, and their accounts of the work involved in malting barley. As with the previous attempt, writing the interviews alongside the drawing added an additional layer of meaning, and helped to graphically tie disparate drawing elements together. (Fig.18) Colour is used (although not as successfully as Scarpa) to pull focus towards what I believe to be important.

(Fig.17). Drawing of Brion Tomb. Scarpa combines a range of drawing types, both hard line and freehand.

Collectively, the drawing communicates a coherent idea about detail and form. - Carlo Scarpa (1968 -1978)

28

Methodology

(Fig.18). Pencil drawing of stories and memories combining multiple drawing types at a variety of scales. -Author

29

Invisible Value

Dissemination.

Having considered both the physical and emotional heritage, and having tested ways of representing value visually, the next step involved communicating and disseminating the research findings to others. An opportunity for this arose earlier than expected, where in a bizarre coincidence I learned that the architecture practice I am affiliated with (having worked there part time as a student) are in fact one of the two firms appointed to provide social housing on the site. When I informed them of this project, they expressed great interest, and promptly invited me back to present my findings. As their project is still in the early stages, I had to carefully curate my presentation to only include information that would genuinely be useful to them.

Additionally, to avoid any potential confidentiality issues, I abstained from presenting the information gathered through interviewing Paddy and Fran. They had shared personal stories and memories with me in the knowledge that they would be used only for academic purposes. I made the decision to only divulge research pertaining to physical heritage, which was primarily work from the previous semester.

(Fig.19). Overall network diagram (above) -Author 30

Dissemination

Similarly to the interviews with Paddy and Fran, the presentation was eye opening in that I was made aware of the practical implications of my research. In some ways, it was a platform to present a counter argument to the council’s desire to fit housing into the existing buildings. To begin, I described the correlations between the industrial performance of the Maltings, and the economic prosperity of the wider town, and strongly encouraged the architects to consider alternative programmes.

To further dissuade them, I presented dimensioned drawings highlighting narrow widths, and low floor to floor heights. The architects agreed that fitting housing into the existing was probably not work.

Following

this

exercise

in

dissemination, I realised that in a very small way, This project (and I) had become part of the story of the Maltings.

My mind returned to the earlier diagrams made to explore the networks surrounding the building, and I began to imagine a new diagram which could encompass the entire story of the Maltings through time. The intention was to graphically represent value through the richness and complexity of its history, while also representing the networks through which ideas about value can be communicated. This included tracing the genealogy of our heritage legislation (as discussed earlier) and how this has 31

Invisible Value

influenced the Council’s ambitions for the building today. The morphology of the Maltings is also described, as well as its potential future uses. Intertwined is the network surrounding this research project, and how the different connections have been used to record and communicate alternative ideas of value. (Fig. 19) The project will also be disseminated in the form of an exhibition. This requires me to consider how I might communicate my work to non architects, and to curate it in such a way to make it enticing and digestible to the general public. With this in mind, I decided to centre the exhibition around the three main hand drawings completed during the semester. As described above, these drawings show the development of my methodology, and collectively they communicate the stories, memories, and future potential which give the Maltings value.

In order to democratise the information, it is important for the work to be displayed in a slightly unconventional manner. The image of an easel came to mind, as rather than a finished piece of work being displayed on a wall, easels are suggestive of a work in progress, and might make the drawings more accessible to viewers. Below the main drawings, shelves will be included to hold

644

additional drawings, booklets, and other pieces of printed media, all of which can be picked up and interacted with by the viewer. The three easels can be arranged in the spatial limitations of the exhibition.

The design is intended to be simple, with

1754

a variety of permutations, depending on

timber lengths) acting as a tripod. The two

876

three legs (made from 35mm x 50mm front legs will contain a shelf, on which a mounting board for A1 drawings can sit.

The shelf is deep enough for an A5 sheet, 644

516

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Dissemination

so as to fit the format of my additional booklets and drawings. The back leg, and the shelf both fold inwards using piano hinges. This is for ease of storage, travel, and setting up.

(Fig. 20 -22)

(Fig. 20-22). Photos of Easel (Above), and design drawings (Below). -Author

644

644

445,5

445,5

1309

80

°

°

80

°

891

891

°

80

1782

1 181

1782

1309

445,5

1 181

0

80

644

723

891

891 445,5

0

644

723

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Invisible Value

Reflections.

This project has endeavoured to understand the spectrum of ways in which value can be placed upon heritage buildings. Historically, ideas of value have been gatekept by intellectuals and by those in positions of power, and the aftershocks of this dynamic can still be felt in our heritage legislation today. Value is considered in terms of a building’s physical and stylistic qualities, and, as this research has shown, is highly influenced by external political and financial pressures.

How can the bringing together of different values pertaining to Physical and Emotional Heritage inform a more democratic approach to architectural reuse?

Returning to the above question, I expected the outcome of this research to be a new set of rules, or guidelines which architects could follow to approach restoration projects in a more careful and democratic way. This is not the case. Buildings, as we have seen with the Maltings, are highly complex and nuanced things, and their value is not always apparent at first glance.

Using rules and legislation to determine the value of these buildings is therefore a futile endeavour. Regardless of physical qualities, buildings, like people, are unique, and will have impacted the lives of those who encounter them in different, and often unexpected ways.

So, rather than a set of guidelines, this research suggests that architects adopt a new, open methodology, one which is malleable enough to fit the individuality of each project. This might involve any combination of the methods discussed here: interviewing, writing, diagramming networks, drawing memories, and communicating this knowledge to others. Depending on the building, it might even require different methods that haven’t been explored here.

Regardless, as exemplified by the practice of Flores and Prats, it is the responsibility of the architect to develop an understanding of a building’s emotional heritage, and through doing so, challenge the legislative context in which they operate. Then, and only then, can invisible value be truly understood.

34

Reflections

(Fig.23). The Maltings. Photo of dilapidated 1940’s extension. Taken 11th October 2024 - Author

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Invisible Value

Bibliography.

Asar, H. (2023). Poetic Emergence and Insight from the Trace of the “Line”: A Reading on Carlo Scarpa’s Castelvecchio Museum Drawings. ICONARP. International Journal of Architecture and Planning. 11(1), 138-154.

Council of Europe. ( 1985). Convention for the Protection of the Architectural Heritage of Europe. Accessed from: https://www.coe.int/en/web/conventions/full-list?module=treatydetail&treatynum=121 (Retrieved 01.10.24) Council of Europe. ( 2005). Council of Europe Framework Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society. Accessed from: https://www.coe.int/en/web/culture-andheritage/faro-convention (Retrieved 01.10.24) Flores, R. (Guest). (2022, August 11). Scaffold. [Podcast]. Spotify. https://open.spotify. com/episode/6ElW22t7KtMExMcGsZHGoX (Retrieved 29.10.23) Flores, R. Prats, E. (Directors). (2016). Taking Care of Ghosts. [Film]. 15-L-films.

Flores, R. Prats, E. (2023). Venice 2023 - Emotional Heritage. Accessed from: Floresprats.com https://floresprats.com/archive/venice-2023-emotional-heritage/ (Retrieved 29.10.23) Gazzola. (1961). The Venice Charter. Venice.

Government of Ireland. (2000). Planning and Development Act 2000. Accessed from: https://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2000/act/30/enacted/en/html (Retrieved 29.10.23) Kiernan, L. (2024). Derelict Laois Factory moves to next stage of conversion to social housing.

Laois Live. Accessed from: https://www.leinsterexpress.ie/news/mountmellick-/1638499/

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Bibliography

derelict-laois-factory-moves-to-next-stage-of-conversion-to-social-housing.html (Retrieved 06.11.24) Latour, B, Yanevam A. (2008). Give Me a Gun and I Will Make All Buildings Move. An ANT’s View of Architecture. Ardeth 01(08). 80-89.

Markeviciene, J. (2011) From Physical to Virtual Authenticity, and Whither: are Answers of the Venice Charter still Relevant?. Hardy, M (Ed), The Venice Charter Revisited: Modernism, Conservation and Tradition in the 21st Century. Cambridge Scholars Publishing: United Kingdom.

Miller, S. (2021). Historic Mountmellick building labelled an ‘eyesore’ as no plans currently in place for its future use. Laois Today. Accessed from: https://www.laoistoday.ie/2021/12/12/ historic-mountmellick-building-labelled-an-eyesore-as-no-plans-currently-in-place-for-itsfuture-use/ (Retrieved 04.10.24) Ruskin, J. (1849). The Seven Lamps of Architecture. London: Smith, Elder, and Co. Scott, F. (2008). On Altering Architecture. London. Routledge.

Stumm A. (2022). A short genealogy of authenticity. Tracing concepts of the real in the preservation discourse from the 19th centuary to today. Authenticity Studies. International Journal of Archaeology and Art. 1(1), 123-129.

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Appendix A.

walking through the fields with them because… a stallion or whatever could attack someone, you know? So we have to be mindful of that.

I begin by speaking to Paddy whose words will be

But I think most people in Mountmellick want something done with it, but they want something done that enhances the look of the town but also gives a future to the town if you know what I mean. The rising from the ashes, the Phoenix coming back…

shown in blue, like this. Paddy is the chairperson of the Mountmellick Development Association (MDA), and very kindly agreed to chat to me.

My questions, and responses to what Paddy says will be shown in red, like this. I try to say as little as possible.

We are later joined by Fran, who’s words will be shown in green. Fran used to work in the Maltings and very generously shares his memories with us. [...] Unfortunately at the moment it sets a bad tone for the town… in the sense that it’s derelict, it’s overgrown with tress and bushes and weeds … and the first impression you get of a town is when you drive into the town. You live in Abbeyleix?

Yes-You come in the Abbeyleix road and you see this lovely stone wall on Willie Aird’s farm. Okay, I know Willie got a bit of a rubbing over it, but its a lovely wall, and it gives this impression of Portlaoise being… a well-to-do town, and a nice town.

Mountmellick when you’re coming in, is a lovely town, don’t get me wrong, and there’s a great community spirit here, but the impression people get is - ‘derelict building’ on the way into it. When you get into the town itself, it’s a Georgian town but unfortunately could do with a lick of paint here and there, so it is a little bit run down from that perspective, but a great community.

There’s not a lot of money in Mountmellick unfortunately now. Historically there was, but not at the moment, and that’s why we have such buildings here. Because there was money here. [...] But theres also an impression locally that we don’t want more Social Housing put on it. It’s really the last of the ‘Manchester of Ireland’ heritage, the factories, the Industrial Revolution that was here in Mountmellick.

And, also the fact that when you look at the site, it is a relatively small site, so, to put residential onto it … I don’t think it would be of benefit to the people living there.

But also the surrounding land owners may have a problem with more housing going there too. We have a stud farm beside it, and lovely family, but at the end of the day they have a business to run, and horses are funny creaturesyou can’t mess with them, or you can’t have people out

38

There’s an awful lot of work done, it’s not that we’re reinventing the wheel here. It’s already been done in some respects, but if you take the example of Letterfrack… had a brutal reputation, and rightly so for what went on there, okay? But, that has now been transformed into a center of excellence for woodwork.

We think a similar approach could be taken here in Mountmellick to modify that building… okay there’s a lot of work that will have to be done with it, don’t get me wrong, and it’s not cheap… but if we could build on the heritage of Mountmellick which is textiles… and bring a modern kind of research and design and even a small level of manufacture here, it would safeguard the town.

It would safeguard and build a new future for the town of Mountmellick Now that’s not to say it’s the only thing it can be used for… It’s something that we particularly like.. No sorry, a group of us like. I suppose that the vast majority of people don’t want to see social housing there. They want to see something else there. Something progressive. And your first impressions of the town are usually your only impression of the town, you know what I mean?

And if we could have something like that… Ohh God, it would transform even the way that people think about the town themselves, you know? But anyway… Your next question, maybe I rambled on…

Now the County Council actually own it. They bought it from NAMA for ten thousand euros.

-Ten thousand? That was recently enough wasn’t it?

Yeah, around 2011... 2012, 13 that time frame… And they got a Town and Village Grant of eighty thousand euro to build that wall thats in front. And the Council… listen, the Council’s hands are tied in some respects, and the Central Government wants them to provide social housing.

And the Council happens to own that site, so I mean they are going to come under pressure to put social housing there, we know that. But we think a different use can be made, a more sustainable use of it can be made in the

Appendix A

sense, like, if you have R & D going on in Mountmellick you have high paying jobs in the town straight away, you have a university connection with the town, and, that’s all important, because education is vital.

If we don’t have highly educated, highly paid people in the town, the town is going to always be a social welfare town.

It has a knock on effect for agriculture as well, because if you take the price of barley this year… one hundred and eighty euros a ton. Barely washing its face. Farmers are not gonna stay at that.

Where if you have… If we can grow industrial hemp now I’m not talking about the funny stuff - Industrial hemp, that gives farmers another crop to grow, it also gives raw materials for the textiles industry, or a paper substitution industry as well. And here in the midlands, we’ve got lots of farmers… crying out for alternatives to make a living, to stay farming. Because most farmers want to stay farming, its just the economics are against them a bit at the moment. And not everyone can go into dairy cows and we don’t want everyone going into dairy cows to be honest with you because I don’t believe that would be good for the environment, and it also means you’re putting all your eggs in one basket.

We cant afford to do that as a country. We need to have a broad spread of different agricultural activity going on, because I’m old enough to remember when every farm had a few hens, a few pigs a few cattle, a bit of tillage, and when one element of that had a poor price, the others bailed it out. Family farms were able to stay going because overall they were working out… and its the same when you take it on the macro level. Agriculture can’t be dependant on one particular element. And this is a way of doing that. But anyway, I’m going off on a tangent…

See technically Mountmellick is under the population size to statutory require one. But we do want one. But we want one that’s going to be progressive for Mountmellick, and to take into account we’re living in a changed world.

In fairness, most people have never engaged with Laois County Council when it came to drawing up the area plans. They’d hold a public meeting at the Library, and they’d have very good people from the planning department out there willing to sit down and talk to you but we as a community have gone ‘Sure it’ll be grand’.

And then what?

People have to build up a report, so they’ve put generic stuff into their plan. And you can’t blame them, because we didn’t engage with them. We now have a town team in place, we’re very much hoping to engage with that and

drive that.

And in fairness to Laois County Council. They’ve always held open days where people can go in and sit down with the planning department and give their opinions. But unfortunately, we have never really engaged properly with them, and as a result you get a kind of generic local area plan. And that’s our fault. We have to put our hand up and say that’s our fault.

And funny enough, we had a public meeting , a talk actually, a few weeks ago there. There was a Nazi connection to this building, well, in the sense that a Jewish family had to leave Germany under Nazi rule and come to work here in the Maltings. Back in the 40’s…

Theres a journalist, he lives up the road here, I’m not sure if hes home or not… he found papers when he was renovating his house. From the family who used to live there. And it was the most interesting though, I have to say.

The beauty of this building at the moment is that nothing has been done to it. So its not like here, thats been modified and how do you turn it back to what it was, or whatever the case. This is now a blank canvas... a fairly rough canvas around the edges, but still a blank canvas.

The fact that we haven’t done anything with it is actually a positive. The fact that we haven’t done enough about our heritage in the town is also a positive because we haven’t gone in the wrong direction. Do you know where I’m coming from?

There’s a group who have come together now to try and turn things around for the town. We have the Town Team, Fran will be in now in a minute ... He’s the chairman of it.

See now, Fran’s Family are steeped in Mountmellick.

They have some property in the town, they own land in the town that can be developed and he’s in farming.

He’s retired from the prison service, he’s a well educated man and he’s able to look at things from a helicopter view and see what needs to happen for the town.

Like we want to develop the square, but there’s mixed ideas. Some people want it to go back to what it was like in the 1800’s, when it was just cobble stones, and other people want to make it more modern…

I remember seeing one very old map which showed a

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Market House in the square, was there ever one?

I don’t think that ever got built… If it did it got burnt down… yeah, it may have been burnt down. Stradbally has one at the moment, now that’s a modern one, but it’s based on the original… and you have the library there, and it looks lovely by the way. We’re always envious of Abbeyleix to be honest with you, because we’ve everything that you guys have, only we probably haven’t packaged it properly. You know what I mean?

Part of what the town team would like to see is kind of a softening of the architectural landscape as well, with more trees and things like that in the town.

Our biggest problem at the moment of course is the fact that so much traffic comes through the center of the town everyday, between lorries and cars I mean you’re looking at probably fifteen thousand vehicles a day come through. Between five in the morning till maybe five the next morning, you know? So there’s this continuous rolling of traffic and that’s taking a toll… See Mountmellick is built on sand Literally?

Yes. You don’t have to go too far down and you’re hitting sand. And… Its good and bad, but because of all the heavier traffic now going its very hard to keep roads maintained. It’s also affecting those older buildings on the main street. Really what we need is a bypass of Mountmellick. And then you can start doing wonderful things with the architecture that we have here in the town, and make it a destination town for people to come and visit… you take… Where’s the place in Mayo that everyone goes to?

Westport?

Westport. Like they don’t have heavy traffic going through the town but they’ve transformed it, like the old buildings and the bridge and the river and all of that kind of thing. We could do that if we had our bypass, now the bypass is costed at sixty million…

Where exactly would that bypass go?

It would probably start out there, out the road, and come across to the Clonaslee road, and then go across to Tullamore. Now, in fairness to the council they have a draft drawing of it, but its not on the national programme, and until it gets on that its going nowhere.

You wouldn’t even get money now, and Eamon Ryan has been blocking new roads anyway… But in another couple of weeks Eamon will no longer be there.

We don’t want to just be a sleeping town. Like Portlaoise

40

is booming, Portlaoise is almost a city now. And most people want to be based in Portlaoise, because you have that critical mass of services and facilities… Now having said that, we have a sports complex that the Portlaoise Panthers would give their left arm for… We have an Arts Centre here that leaves the Dunamaise in… the dustbin.

But they’re not utilised, and if we had a better impression then people would come and use these things, you know what I mean?

So we have a lot going for the town, It’s just getting that perception out there… but if we can get higher paying jobs coming into Mountmellick as opposed to being in Portlaoise and people commuting over and back. It would transform the town, because a lot of the businesses have closed down. Traditional businesses like.

We have an excellent shop on the Main Street up for sale, and they cant get anyone to buy it. You know? And they’re there for donkeys years. Second generation there, and it’s a growing concern, it was making money, the people have just gotten old and they want to retire, you know what I mean? So… It’s a sad reflection really when you think about it. But anyway, that’s where we are.

From a textiles industry point of view, at the moment the textiles industry is probably the most environmentally unfriendly for the simple reason which is we’re importing everything from China and India. And we’ve got this throw away mentality as well. Where if we were making a better quality product, a more modern product that meets modern needs - whether that’s modern swimsuits so that you can knock .000 of a second off your world record, or whatever the case may be.

Sports gear is completely different now than it was when I was a child, like I can assure you. Whether it’s in mountaineering and hiking and all that kind of stuff, even in normal clothes like… When I was a child, you got a new coat every year, and it had to do you for the year.

Now people buy a new coat every few weeks, and we can’t sustain that. And if we can use locally sourced materials, develop new products, it’s a win-win situation for us.

And that’s why we’re anxious about this, we have this wonderful site and it’s a throwback…

Oh here’s Fran now… [...] It’s probably the last piece of architectural Heritage left in the town. I mean like we’ve lost the canal stores, We’ve lost the flaxyard, most of the buildings at the back of the town where it would have been the tan yard and all of that are gone, like in at the back of what’s now the Community Centre or the Arts Centre.

Appendix A

All of those buildings are gone. So it’s like probably the last remaining link. Here is to a certain extent, but the fact they took two stories off the top of it…

Did they?

Oh yeah, this was a five story buildingThe reason for that, I’ll interject there, was that the floors… there was about six or seven foot between them… It was really for storing grain. They didn’t want height they just wanted floor space-Yeah, floor space.

But at the time this place was derelict, I don’t know if it was as bad as it was out there-Not at all, no no no. Here was very good in comparison to out there…

Yeah, it had been in use up until the 70’s I think-Ohh no up until the 80’s Then they didn’t have the money to do-They didn’t have the money. It probably needed to be re roofed Which it was-Which it was, with galvanised, so they took the slates off it. Dropped it two stories and re roofed it. It probably made it more manageable for the MDA at the time. But this building here is only a very small part of what was a huge mill complex here. There was another building over in the back corner there, where the backyard of the next door neighbours is now, and there was a mill wheel over there, and the whole mill complex, and the weir here in the river as well to run the mill…

So huge cut stone buildings… when you’re talking to Fran I’m going to see if I can dig up a picture of that. It all got leveled in the 1970’s was it?

Leveled in the 1970’s, another “great move” by Laois County Council. They had rates obviously on the buildings, and Odlum’s, they had taken over this here.

This was Irish Grain, Odlum’s had taken it over, and to reduce the rates bill then, they bulldozed all the topsoil out of the field out here where the industrial units are now, dug a hole, and knocked the mill, and buried it the hole, and covered it back over.

They knocked the wall all along there, and all those buildings that were there. Like, I drew grain out of it

when it was a working Maltings, like I used to draw the grain out, the wash afterwards…

So these would be looking from the back, the N80 is there, would that be familiar to you?

Yeah, all of these buildings, all along here, they’re only knocked in the last… Laois County Council knocked them…

Was that for the housing development?

Well first and foremost, they gave planning permission for… that was bought by a developer…

George-George Delaney, and he looked for planning permission on it, I think he got planning permission on it. And he was in the process of demolishing the whole building, and then the economic crash came and that stopped, and it was left in a semi derelict state. And Laois county council as far as I’m aware took it over then, and they continued with the demolition to make it safe I suppose in their terms, and that involved removing all of this building here.

This building here, is gone a long time, and the stack is at the end here now. Yeah, 1940. This was built by Donath I’d say, or the Germans that came over. They took it over…

That’s the Nazi connection I was telling you about earlier… He wasn’t a Nazi now, but…

Some of our local politicians were worried about the Germans taking over… It doesn’t make any difference anyways, but thats where that was built on there, and the stack and all is at the end of that.

So I don’t remember this building, but I’d remember that, and all of those… They were actually Malting on the floors over there in the 1970’s. They bought in the barley from the farmers, and it was spread out on the floors and they malted it themselves.

And then as time went on the stopped malting themselves and they used to buy in the barley already malted. And thats when they were making the home brew kits, and then they done… Seaweed extract, the brought seaweed into it and they made seaweed extract…

Was that some sort of Pharmaceutical-But sure they were ahead of their time, with the seaweed extract, Mr. Sweetman was ahead of his time, he had a market for it obviously, but they had the methodology,

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I suppose, with the mash tuns, that they used to make… make the mash for the extract… the basic ingredients for making beer and whatever else…

But nothing has happened, only the first public consultation.

Yeah Paddy was telling me about that one.

A lot of… Poitin makers, from the west of Ireland, they came up there and bought the malt off them. It saved…

It cut down on one of the processes that they had to do.

They didn’t have mash, and the rest of it. They could get straight to making the poitin.

Ohh they would’ve had yeah…

And that’s when they used the canal?

And at the meeting when they came over Paddy, I think they said that technically, Mountmellick, because the population was under five thousand, they weren’t statutory obliged to have a Local Area Plan. So they kind of stepped it. So I don’t think… thats where I say the local area plan is, at the minute. So it ain’t going to happen this year anyway. So there is time, to alter what they’re thinking on it.

The Canal down there?

Yeah The Guinness Barges? Ohh yeah, big time. They’d come down along the canal here… Darcey’s, Paddy, They were Draymen. That’s what their business was.

Really?

John Darcey, yeah. They had three or four horses and carts, and they were collecting it from the canal and distributing it around the town, and drawing in grain and drawing coal and that sort of stuff from the canal.

Like when you’re looking out the window here…

See this? I suppose that’s another bit of built heritage left in Mountmellick. That little building over here is the remainder of the Gasworks. Thats where the Gasworks was. Mountmellick was one of the first towns in Ireland to have public light and public gas lighting.

So they cooked the coal over there. Cooking coal to make gas, and that supplied the town. And there was pipework from there to all around the town. And the river bank along there is known as the ‘black path’. Because they brought the cinders out from there, after burning the coal. They were left with black cinders and they’d just wheel them in the wheelbarrows all along the river bank there.

The timeline for the Local Area Plan is way behind.

There wont be a local area plan in Mountmellick this year. I don’t think theres time for it, because the timeline the Council set themselves was… Public submissions in February, then two months to allow the council officials to draw up the plan, and then, there was to be further consultations then, when they had that done. That would’ve been a May or June deadline. And it would then have to go to the County Manager, and eventually end up in front of the County Council for their September meeting to be signed off on.

42

Now, I’m not saying that they’re obsessed, but Laois County Council have very much publicised the fact that they are best in class in regards to providing social housing, of all our local authorities around the country.

I’d say, they were looking at this as an easy win. There was already planning permission on it for an apartment development, so why not just carry on with the apartments, with some bit of modification.

This end of the site had become fairly derelict. The buildings all along here, were more or less for storage.

Here was where the main Maltings went on, and the Mash Tun was here. And the building here was where you got the grain, there was a little bit of a galvanised bit, and thats where the wash would come out there, the bags of grain…

And Jim Delaney up in Derryguile, he’d fill it into manure bags, and I’d collect the manure bags and bring them home and feed them to the cows.

I can’t remember the buildings here, believe it or not, and I should…

You should know, but you see Paddy it was only a wall, It looked like only a wall. There was no windows in the front of it. I can’t remember any windows. Or they were very small, that faced out onto the road. So like it was a long low building. For storage. They had bags in it and they used to store the boxes of boxes, you know what I mean, for packaging and that kind of stuff.

I’m glad you’ve come in now because I wouldn’t have been able to tell David.

But the offices and that were involved in this building, the office was just in the middle of it, on the second floor. The laboratory was up there in the office. Jenny Lynch would’ve worked in the laboratory, and she was everything, the secretary, the laboratory tech, the tea maker… Everything.

Appendix A

Ahh it was a small operation, with Sweetman sure, I’d say even in my time, probably only 15 or 16 was the maximum to work there. And then it kind of whittled down.

Dontah kept it going… Mr Donath kept it going over the years…

That’s the German fella…

that time…

I’ve never actually been in there…

It was like a drill plough. They pulled it and they turned the barley over, and you just ran it along the floor.

Because you had to turn it, to dry it at the time. Like turn it fairly often…

The Barely came in and it was brought to the top floor, and they malted it up there.

And then Sweetman…

He came in then towards the end Ohh he was there in the 60’s Was he there that long?

I’d say so yeah.

Right.

I’d say Sweetman came in at that stage, he’s related to O’Conner’s…

So would this have been a grain elevator then? It’s probably not the clearest here…

You know that little building, that little kind of hut, it looks like a hut sitting on the top of the building there now…

No, I never remember an elevator in it, like all my time in the corn… it was a chain and winch. You winched it up. So they’d tie the chain around the sack, and someone pulled the chain until it got to the top floor. They dried it on the top, and then they malted it, and then it came down to the Mash Tun, and its cooked in the Mash Tun then.

He was kind of ahead of his time…

And then it was pressed then to extract theOhh he was ahead of his time, he certainly was with the seaweed extract, and they were using it then, was it either cosmetics, or some pharmaceutical…

There was also an element of Fertilisers for Farmers, coming from that seaweed as well.

-Malt The Malt out of it, which is basically the juice that comes out of it, just like treacle, malt is Ohh it would be yeah.

For local farmers?

Yeah.

And would they have had to pay for it?

No no no, they gave you the Mash away for free, because they were glad to get rid of it. Glad to have someone to take them, you know?

Yeah, and, it was a similar process with the seaweed. You boiled it, and then he was able to extract the… whatever…

You see a small amount of barley will make an awful lot of malt for beer production. If you think about it, theres about three grains of malted barley needed to make a pint of beer Is that all?

But like the volumes were small in fairness, like it wasn’t… massive…

No it wouldn’t have been…

Like not with ten or twelve people working there. And that was reduced down to six or seven when they stopped doing their own malting, they started buying the barley already malted.

Like there was a lot of work involved in Malting Barley, like its turning it… and they had the ploughs up there at

Yeah, you’d get enough.

Yeah, I think existing wall, along by the road, thats in a heap inside the railings…

Theres a big heap of stone..

Like they didn’t do anything, they just knocked it and pushed it in, because the old wall was leaning out in fairness…

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Ahh yeah it did need something done to it.

But there was a decent lean out of it like I mean it could have been maybe four or five or maybe even six inches…

Right, precarious-It looked precarious, but it was probably going nowhere, because it was that way all of my time.

Do you think… does that edge along the road need to be restored?

I would restore the wall, like you say, it needs to come back…

Like I used to clean the drain over by the stop road there… twenty years ago… and someone had dumped bags of clothes out the window, and we buried it out in the field, and they still come up when were ploughing it. And like they could’ve been fifteen or twenty years in a drain, and they’re definitely twenty or twenty five years buried out the field and they still come up, the plough would catch an odd one, pull it up by the sleeve… So do clothes ever disintegrate? I don’t know how long it takes…

The wool and cotton would…

The wool and cotton would, but thats what I mean, do we need to move away from synthetic clothes? Like make something thats probably more recyclable…

because these pieces, they’re not five euro pieces, you know? Like fifty would be a paper mat, or a tea cosy or something. Like you could talk up to five thousand euros worth of work…

Like that one woman is twenty years doing one piece…

Like that’s an heirloom like what she’s making now, not a for sale piece, but like certainly there is a possibility if there was two or three people working together they would make table cloths and stuff like that. High end stuff, because you can’t charge enough for that. And the more you charge-The more people want it And if people understand where something comes from, there will be more value placed on it…

And also because it’s unique, like imagine if you had someone walk out on the red carpet in Hollywood wearing an all white piece of Mountmellick lace… You couldn’t write it like, like its no more your one, who is she? She was wearing the Aaron jumper… sure they can’t keep them knitted now since she wore one.

Absolutely, yeah… I’d do very little with what’s not knocked. I’d restore the front wall, and weather you’d put the building inside it or not would depend on how much space you wanted… but certainly the brick chimney needs to remain as it is now. It’s 1940’s but it’s not older… the main structure of the building, this part here, which is still there isn’t it?

Well, sure listen sure…

That’s the modern bit down here…

You can’t give away wool…

That would be the modern bit…

Which is a crime, absolute crime, Like I think there is a move now, like I think Covid brought people to realise that we’ve become overly dependent on China, and that we need to start looking at the possibility of reintroducing some of the traditional skills in our own country… because there’s an awful lot of unrest in the world at the moment.

Ohh I’m looking the wrong way am I? This is the tower down here, towards the Portlaoise road, so the brick chimney is here… So to try and maintain that building as much as you could…

Yeah it’s not a million miles from what was there…

But even from the Heritage end of it though… Even with the Mountmellick work, there’s several people around here producing… fabulous stuff with Mountmellick work and I mean, super stuff. Like we’ve seen what she’s done out at the house, and she doesn’t market it, she probably doesn’t want to market it…

Now she’s flat out trying to do pieces for people…

But, there’s no doubt about it, getting back to where the quakers were even, and the cottage industry that was Mountmellick work, theres probably an opening there…

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In the sense yeah… but probably too small a site for that, like an anaerobic digester of that size would probably be-Huge -Well it wouldn’t be huge, but it would be fifty meters in diameter you know?

And you’d want access now for bigger machinery… The idea is good but I think the location is wrong.

Appendix A

Just sticking with the anaerobic digester… like, cooperative ones aren’t being considered, and I don’t know if there’s any national support being given to a co-operative anaerobic digester. Like they are all talking about the private ones, but for smaller agricultural communities there probably is scope for anaerobic digester in them…

Gone, gone-Totally gone, yeah The misconception with the rail line to Mountmellick is that it went to Portlaoise

But sure listen, Wasn’t there a gas works over there…

It didn’t?

There was and that’s what I’m saying This would be like a new modern gasworks…

Effectively it is yeah… But theres one in Ballyroan there. It’s a private one there, but he’s straight to the national grid and not particularly tied into the village of Ballyroan, but if you take even a smaller community say than Mountmellick, Mountmellick would probably have too great a need, but if you were to go to Rosenallis…

Or Clonaslee…

Or Clonaslee, Ideal. Like the pig farmers are right beside it, dairy farmers too. The town, or village of Clonaslee is relatively small. You could go heating the community centre, the school is up beside the community centre.

Theres a site somewhere in the region of the community centre, in at the back of Mahr’s shop, there has to be a place in there where you could actually put an anaerobic digester, and it would serve… with very little, in my opinion, infrastructure, like you could do ground works with relative ease. Whereas if you come into town here theres…

Well I was just saying to David there that Mountmellick is built on sand which is a huge-

Well, it did, but it went to the far side of Portlaoise, out the Mountrath side of Portlaoise. The trains from Mountmellick had to go onto the Cork line, and then reverse back into the train station at Portlaoise.

I didn’t know that…

So it wasn’t useful for passengers?

Well it was, but the fact that you couldn’t drive straight into the train station… Like you know the old railway line to Abbeyleix there? Where it goes down by Glanbia and that kind of stuff ? Well, the Mountmellick line came in…

It was that line was it?

No it wasn’t that line Paddy… You know the roundabout on the Ballyfin road? The railway line was to the left of that, if you’re driving into Portlaoise, the railway line would have been on your right hand side. Along there, and it went across the old Mountrath road, and then met the railway line up there, so you had to reverse back into the town then with the train.

So on the way into Mountmellick, from Portlaoise, theres a bridge, would that have been where the train?

-Oh thats a huge problem yeah.

The fact we haven’t done anything stupid with it means we have a blank canvas now to go forward…

We’ve done so little here… Laois County Council have done so little with Mountmellick, or we’ve done so little for ourselves that we’ve done nothing…

So we’ve done no harm, we haven’t done any good, but we’ve done no harm…

Not since the 70’s anyway…

It would have come under that, where the road is now, the train went, and it went across the bog, and you can still see the hedge… If you look closely to your right hand side when you’re driving from here to Portlaoise, and you’re on the crest of the hill, you’ll see two fairly narrow hedges, not that far apart. Thats where the rail line went, across through the bog there.

But it still exists, they use it to bring you down to Tirlan, where the Mill is. CIE use it to run trains down there, out of the sleeper plant, at Telfords there, they run down past Timmy Brown’s there...

Sure I can remember the canal store, flat to the mat with chickens. Like when they finished up being the canal stores, the reared chickens on the loft floors of it…

Do you think would there be any value to restoring say, the rail line to Mountmellick, or is that era gone?

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