Stone-built estate worker’s cottage shows the fruits of its labour

IRONICALLY, the big house is gone, but the ‘little one’ given to an estate worker back in the 1880s is back in rude, good health – and twice its original size.

This stone-built cottage near Gort in Co Galway was, reportedly, gifted to a labourer in return for his work breaking stones for an approach road to the once-grand house and demesne.

That now-departed south Galway house is recalled only in place name and local history, while the lodge where visitors might have once announced their arrival now commemorates its demise, standing right by the original stone entrance pillars.