Linenhall Arch

The building was commissioned by Charles Bingham, 1st Earl of Lucan, whose seat was at Castlebar House, as a trading house for merchants buying and selling local linen goods. Some 200 looms were in use in the town when the linen industry was at its peak. It was designed in the Italianate style, built in ashlar stone and was completed in 1790. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of three bays facing onto the street. The central bay featured a doorway flanked by Doric order columns supporting a pediment; on the first floor there was a round headed window with a window sill, an architrave and a double keystone, while the outer bays were fenestrated by sash windows with window sills…