There’s history all around us in Cork.

And this year, a total of €99,000 was awarded to fund works to repair important parts of some of our historic buildings.

Arranged through Cork City Council’s Architectural Conservation Area grant scheme, which encourages best practice in building conservation, good custodianship, and the repair of Cork’s built heritage, the grant-aided works involved the repair of historic fabric, such as roofs, rainwater goods, windows, walls, railings and shopfronts and the reinstatement of missing features, such as timber sash windows.

There were 22 completed projects, which included numerous residential buildings, a church, an 18th-century ruin, an 18th-century country house, and several commercial buildings.

The projects were concentrated in the city centre but also included several structures within the extended city boundary, such as Blarney and Douglas.

“This grant scheme is particularly important as it enables Cork City to support works to a wide range of historic structures. However, we were very fortunate to be able to separately award €152,000 between 15 projects for similar works through the Built Heritage Investment Scheme, which is primarily focused on structures on the Record of Protected Structures; the BHIS scheme is 100% funded by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.” said a spokesperson for Cork City Council.

Cork City Council’s Architectural Conservation Area grant scheme will be launched again early next year.

The Department’s two grant schemes – the Built Heritage Investment Scheme and the Historic Structures Fund – are now open for applications for 2023, with details here.