Survey Data

Reg No

40810002


Rating

Regional


Categories of Special Interest

Architectural, Technical


Original Use

House


In Use As

House


Date

1780 - 1820


Coordinates

263864, 440030


Date Recorded

18/09/2008


Date Updated

--/--/--


Description

Detached six-bay single-storey vernacular house, built c. 1800 and extended c. 1860, having single-bay brick windbreak porch to the front elevation (south), and with single-bay single-storey entrance porch to the rear (north). Pitched/domed reed thatched roof having ropes and wire mesh over secured on metal bar below eaves level, and with two rendered chimneystacks (one to the west gable end and one to the west side of the gable ends). Roughcast walls over rubble stone construction with smooth rendered plinth to base. Square-headed window openings with no sills and with replacement fittings. Square-headed door opening to front face of porch having battened timber door and batten timber gate to exterior. Road-fronted at corner site to the west of Greencastle.

Appraisal

This charming and well-maintained thatched vernacular house retains its early form and character, and is an appealing feature in the landscape to the west\south-west of Greencastle. The irregularly-spaced small window openings help to create an appealing composition with a strong vernacular character. This building is notable for its unusual length, which suggests that this building was originally two attached dwellings that were later combined, that the section to the east end with no chimneystacks was originally an attached outbuilding, or that this building was extended along its length on at least one occasion. It probably originally dates to the first decades of the nineteenth-century (depicted on Ordnance Survey first edition six-inch map of c. 1837). Modest in scale, it exhibits the simple and functional form of vernacular building in Ireland. Of particular interest in the survival of the reed thatch roof, although recently renewed, which is now sadly becoming increasingly rare in Donegal. The rounded roof is a typical feature of thatched houses located close to the sea in exposed areas in the north-west of Ireland, while the metal bar to the eaves were used to tie ropes (and sometimes nets) over the roof to secure it against the prevailing winds, as is the case here at Drumaweer. The loss of the original fabric to the openings fails to detract from its integrity and visual appeal. The windbreak porch is probably a relatively modern addition but is a feature of many vernacular dwellings in Donegal. The form of this building and location of the chimneystacks suggests that this building is of the ‘direct entry’ type that is characteristic of the vernacular tradition in north-west Ireland. This house represents a notable surviving example of a once ubiquitous building type in the rural Irish countryside, and is an integral element of the built heritage of the local area, creating a landmark feature along the roadscape of the main approach road into the town from the south-west.