Survey Data
Reg No
40805029
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural
Original Use
House
In Use As
House
Date
1860 - 1900
Coordinates
247045, 445138
Date Recorded
08/10/2008
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Attached two-bay two-storey house, built c. 1880, having public house at ground floor level. One of a pair with the building adjoining to the east (see 40805029). Two-storey return to the rear (south). Pitched artificial slate roof having slightly overhanging eaves supported on moulded corbels, modern rooflights, and with smooth rendered chimneystacks to either end (east and west). Smooth rendered walls over projecting smooth rendered plinth with raised rendered block strip quoins to the corners of the front elevation. Square-headed window openings at first floor level having rendered architrave surrounds with vermiculated keystones, stone sills, and with replacement windows. Square-headed window openings to pubfront having rendered architraved surround and fixed-pane display windows. Square-headed door openings having rendered architraved surrounds, timber panelled doors and plain overlights. Road-fronted to the centre of Carndonagh, facing unto the north side of the Diamond. Two-storey outbuilding to the rear (south) having pitched corrugated-metal roof with raised rendered verges to the gable ends (north and south), partially rendered rubble stone walls, and square-headed openings to timber fittings.
Appraisal
This simple but appealing building, of late nineteenth-century appearance, retains much of its original character and form despite some alterations at ground floor level. Its visual expression and integrity is slightly diminished by the loss of original fittings to the openings and the replacement of the roof covering. The front elevation is enlivened by the architraved surrounds with vermiculated keystone detailing to the window openings at first floor level, the corbelled eaves course, and by the block quoins to the corners, which all help to give this building a strong presence in the streetscape to the centre of Carndonagh. The building (see 40805028) adjacent to the west is similarly detailed, which strongly suggests that they were built at the same time as part of a common programme. This building is of a type that was, until recently, a ubiquitous feature of the streetscapes of small Irish towns and villages but is now becoming increasingly rare due to insensitive alteration and\or demolition. This building is one of the better surviving traditional buildings in the centre of Carndonagh, and makes a positive contribution to the streetscape. The simple but robust two-storey outbuilding to the rear adds to the setting and context, and completes this composition, which is an addition to the built heritage of the town.