The Irish Times

A Wexford farmer who chose to live without electricity and running water has left a precious legacy to students of history, folklore and architecture. Mr Seamus Kirwan of Mayglass, two miles from Bridgetown, died six years ago aged 85 having lived since childhood in a two-storey, mud-walled thatched house built in the early 18th century. During the electrification of rural Ireland in the 1940s and 1950s, Mr Kirwan opted to maintain the lifestyle to which he was accustomed. Members of the UCD Folklore Department were aware of its significance before Mr Kirwan's death; and when funds became available in 1997, Dúchas, the Heritage Council, took on the task of restoring and maintaining it.