Wonderful Barn

2006 World Monuments Watch

One of only a few buildings of its kind to survive in Ireland, the Wonderful Barn was built in 1743 as part of a famine-relief project, and was intended to serve as both a functioning grain barn and as an English garden-type folly for nearby Castletown House. Rising 21 meters, the conical-shaped barn is not only a prominent feature in the rural landscape, but considered a technical and engineering achievement for the period in which it was built. Now separated from its original estate, the barn is threatened by urban encroachment and neglect.