Ireland’s oddest building

This odd-looking structure is The Wonderful Barn. It was commissioned as a famine relief project by Katherine Conolly in the years immediately after the much-forgotten famine’ of 1740-41. The Irish described this event as  ‘The Year of the Slaughter’ and recent estimates have put the death toll at between 250,000 and 480,000. Katherine was the widow of William ‘Speaker’ Conolly of the Castletown Estate and was the richest man in Ireland. The building rises to a height of 73 feet in the shape of a tapering cone and is encircled by a cantilevered staircase. It is sometimes described as a ‘folly’ which is a term used for ornamental structures. The building however was designed as a ‘multipurpose famine relief project’ and was used for storing grain, shooting game, and possibly as a domestic residence.