[4] The building, then referred to as the "Main Guard", was used by the loyalist forces as their headquarters for their successful defence of the town against an attack by 3,000 rebels during the Battle of New Ross in June 1798 during the Irish Rebellion.

[1] Following subsidence associated with the close proximity of the building to the River Barrow, it was substantially rebuilt to a design by John Robinson in 1806.

[10] A plaque to commemorate the life of the Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin, James Warren Doyle, was installed above the front door and unveiled on the centenary of his death by the Provincial of the Order of Saint Augustine, Father Joseph Hennessy, on 16 June 1934.

[2] Following the death of the founder of the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association, the Reverend James Cullen, in 1921, another plaque was unveiled in his memory, in the spandrel above the windows on the right-hand side of the building.

[2] A further plaque, intended to commemorate the life of the rebel leader, Michael O'Hanrahan, who took part in the Easter Rising, was installed in the spandrel above the windows on the left-hand side of the building in the 1940s.