Irish Georgian Society & Kilkenny County & City Councils in association with the Office of Public Works presents the Traditional Building & Conservation Skills in Action Exhibition, an exhibition for owners of period buildings & those interested in architectural conservation & traditional building skills on Saturday 13th & Sunday 14th October at Kilkenny Castle (10am to 5pm daily).

Over the course of the weekend craftspeople will actively demonstrate traditional building skills used in the conservation of old buildings. Accompanying the exhibition will be two days of traditional building and conservation talks.

There will be opportunities to see Thatching; Stone carving; Brick pointing; Restoration of timber sash windows; Traditional ironwork restoration; Traditional slate dressing; Decorative plasterwork conservation; Use of lime-based mortars and renders; Building of traditional stone walls; Historic paint effects & gilding; Pole lath turning; Furniture restoration; Stained glass & fanlight conservation; Hemp & lime floor construction, and many other traditional building skills.

For more information contact: Irish Georgian Society, Tel 01 676053, email: emmeline.henderson@igs.ie or visit www.igs.ie or Kilkenny County Council, Tel 056-7794925 email: dearbhala.ledwidge@kilkennycoco.ie or visit www.kilkennycoco.ie

CONSERVATION TALKS

A series of conservation talks will run throughout the weekend at Kilkenny Castle’s Parade Tower. Admission to the lectures is free of charge and no booking is necessary.

SATURDAY 13th October
11am A Little Goes a long way: Looking After your Protected Structure, Evelyn Graham, Conservation Officer, the Councils of the City and County of Kilkenny

12pm The Continued Use & Re-Use of Old Buildings
Michael O’Boyle, Bluett & O’Donoghue, Grade I RIAI Conservation Architects

1pm Traditional Slate Dressing: A practical demonstration
Jim O’Donoughue, Blue Bangor Company

2pm Stone Walls & other Masonry Structures: their care & conservation
Pat McAfee, stonemason and author of ‘Irish Stone Walls’, ‘Stone Buildings’ and the Building Limes Forum Ireland’s ‘Lime Works’

3pm Sustainability & Heritage in Urban Historic Centres: Kilkenny City, a case study
Denis Malone, Senior Planner, the Councils of the City and County of Kilkenny & Cllr Malcolm Noonan, Green Party Spokesperson on Environment

4pm Traditional Farm Buildings & Conservation Skills
Anna Meenan, Project Manager, REPS 4 Traditional Farm Buildings Grants Scheme & Colm Murray, Architecture Officer, The Heritage Council

SUNDAY 14th OCTOBER
11am The Do’s and Don’ts of Plasterwork Conservation
Andrew Smith, historic plasterwork conservation consultant

12pm Keeping your Old Building Warm: energy efficiency in traditional buildings by Jacqui Donnelly, Architect, Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht

1pm, Hemp & Lime: A Practical Demonstration
Henry Thompson, Old Builders Company

2pm The Importance & Care of Thatched Roofs in Kilkenny & the Surrounding Counties
Dr Fidelma Mullan, vernacular architecture specialists and council member of The Heritage Council

3pm Peeling Back the Years – a Look at Historic House Wallpapers
David Skinner, historic wallpaper consultant

4pm The Why, When & What of the Kilkenny & the surrounding Counties Traditional Buildings Materials
Edward Byrne, The Traditional Lime Company