A gate lodge at the entrance to the historic Lough Muckno estate in Castleblayney is beginning a new chapter as the town's library.
The lodge, which is one of two, was built more than 150 years ago at the gates to Hope Castle.
The listed building has been vacant for decades and had fallen into a state of disrepair and dereliction.
Now, after undergoing a two year €5 million conservation, restoration and extension upgrade, the gate lodge was officially opened this week as the new Castleblayney library.
The building and the estate have a long history and connection with the town, dating back hundreds of years.
The land was originally named after Sir Edward Blayney who was granted land here in the 1600s.
The town of Castleblayney eventually built up around the estate, which was later bought by the Hope family in the mid 1800s, after whom Hope Castle is now now named.
The castle shares its name and one-time owner with the world famous "Hope diamond" and is said to be one of the largest blue diamonds in the world.
While the Hope diamond is currently on display in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, the Gate Lodge at the entrance to Hope Castle is now also shining brightly after it’s restoration.
The building is providing a permanent home for the town library after several moves over the years.
"It has to be the most moved library possibly in the country, maybe the world!", said Monaghan County Librarian Deirdriú McQuaid.
"This is our final home after five moves. We were in the Market House for 70 years, we then went to the Enterprise Centre, the other gate lodge, the Iontas Centre and now, very proudly, we’re back here", she said.
Ms McQuaid said it was a very proud day for the area of Castleblayney, bringing the building back to life.
The project received 3.4 million euro from the Department of Rural and Community Development and a further 1.38 million from Monaghan County Council.
Robert Burns, Chief Executive of Monaghan County Council, said there was a "sharp focus" on vacancy and dereliction and the need to bring old buildings back into use.
"We’ve dealt with vacancy and derliction in a very prominent part of Castleblayney. And also an area that stradles the beautiful Lough Muckno estate. So it’s dealt with vacancy and dereliction, improved public services and protected our built heritage which is really important to us", he said.
Minister Heather Humphrey’s officially opened the project which she said was a "perfect example of how to repurpose the wonderful assets that we have".
A fresh round of funding under the Rural Regeneration and Development fund has been announced and is now open for applications for large scale projects with minimum funding requests of €500,000.
"I’m opening it again today for new applications to identify old buildings, to repurpose them and use them within the town for whatever purpose they’re needed by the community, whether that’s remote working, libraries or whatever communiites need. They need to identify the properties and get their applications in and we’ll support them", said Minister Humphreys.
