While the spread of holiday homes are said to be "sounding the death knell for Donegal's rural communities" - according to Sinn Fein Senator Pearse Doherty - traditional buildings are about to get a boost with a seminar this weekend aimed at "raising awareness and appreciation of the regional vernacular architecture of County Donegal".

While the Sinn Fein representative maintains that with 8,000 current holiday homes in the county and a further 1,000 currently in the process of planning, there is no need to increase the quota, as suggested in the Donegal County Development Plan, architectural heritage is also being underlined too.

The County Donegal Heritage Office, part of Donegal County Council, will be hosting a free one-day seminar on 'Traditional Buildings of County Donegal' on Saturday, June 21, 2008 in McGrory's Hotel, Culdaff and at The Mill House, Culdaff, Inishowen.

According to the organisers, the aims of this seminar are to raise awareness and appreciation of the regional vernacular architecture of County Donegal, encourage research on this aspect of the built heritage and advocate the conservation of traditional buildings.

Some of the issues to be addressed include traditional buildings in the rural landscape, the maintenance of thatch roofs, the schist slate roofs of north Donegal, traditional farm buildings, restoring and enjoying the Welsh vernacular, and conservation advice and grant assistance available for traditional buildings.

Guest speakers include Fred Aalen, a geographer and co-author of 'Atlas of the Irish Rural Landscape'; Fidelma Mullane, geographer who is surveying thatched structures in County Donegal; Sarah Halpin, Conservation Research Officer with Dublin City Council; Colm Murray, Architecture Officer with The Heritage Council and Greg Stevenson, who runs 'Under The Thatch', a traditional building conservation and restoration company in Wales and advisor on the BBC 'Restoration' series.

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The morning seminar will consist of short presentations from each of the speakers with a questions-and-answers session just before lunch.

The organisers feel that traditional buildings "lend character to the cultural landscape and contribute to the variety of the built heritage".

They said there is a need to provide better advice to the owners and occupiers of traditional buildings in order to encourage their conservation.

Traditional building skills need to be fostered as well through training programmes which employ the use of local materials and traditional building techniques.

The limited availability of traditional building skills is an obstacle to the conservation of our built heritage.

Therefore, in the afternoon, seminar participants will have the opportunity to view and discuss traditional building conservation methods with local craftsmen in the yard of The Mill House, less than a five-minute walk from the seminar venue.

Ivor Kilpatrick, a thatcher from Raphoe, will be demonstrating the skill of rope thatching. County Donegal is one of the few areas in Ireland where rope thatching is still practiced.

Seán Brogan and Eamon McGill will be providing advice and demonstrating the use of lime mortar so important to the repair and conservation of traditional buildings and will be demonstrating the repair of slate roofs.

John Griffin will be demonstrating the skills involved in the making and repair of sash windows.

At present, there are only about 20 vernacular cottages on the Record of Protected Structures in County Donegal.

The purpose of the Record of Protected Structures is to protect structures, or parts of structures "which form part of the architectural heritage and which are of special architectural, historical, archaeological, artistic, cultural, scientific, social or technical interest."

Traditional buildings on the Record of Protected Structures also have greater access to funding available for the conservation of vernacular architecture.

The free seminar, which is being funded by Donegal County Council, will be opened by Cllr. Rena Donaghey and participants will also receive a free pack with useful information on the conservation of traditional buildings.

Although the seminar is free, booking is required and early booking is strongly recommended.

Seminar brochures and booking forms can be downloaded from the Donegal County Council website and are available from all public service centres, libraries, heritage centres and museums in County Donegal and by contacting the County Library Administrative Centre on (074) 912 1968 or by e-mail at [email protected]

(BMcC)