Survey Data
Reg No
40906311
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural
Original Use
Country house
In Use As
House
Date
1850 - 1880
Coordinates
235530, 403527
Date Recorded
30/09/2010
Date Updated
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Description
Detached five-bay two-storey country house, built c. 1860, having single-bay single-storey entrance porch to the centre of the front elevation (east), central two-storey return to the rear (west) and with two-storey return to the rear at the north-west corner. Possibly incorporating fabric from an earlier house to site. Hipped natural slate roof behind raised smooth rendered parapet with cornice at eaves level, central pair of smooth rendered chimneystacks, and with cast-iron rainwater goods. Smooth rendered walls with smooth rendered stringcourse. Square-headed window openings with stone sills, and timber sliding sash windows. Set back from road in own grounds overlooking the River Foyle to the east. Located in the rural countryside to the south of Saint Johnstown and to the north of Lifford. Complex of single- and two-storey outbuildings to the rear (west) having pitched natural slate roofs, rendered rubble stone walls, and square-headed openings with timber fittings. Formal lawned area to the east of house. Modern cattle sheds to the west. Rubble stone boundary walls to road-frontage to the north. Gateway to the north-west comprising a pair of rubble stone (on circular-plan) having wrought-iron flat bar gates.
Appraisal
This fine and well-proportioned middle-sized county house, of mid-nineteenth century appearance, retains its early form and character despite some alterations. Its visual appeal and integrity are enhanced by the retention of salient fabric such as the natural slate roof and the timber sliding sash windows. Its symmetrical classical form with central entrance and regular window openings, and a shallow hipped roof hidden behind a raised parapet, is a feature of many contemporary houses in Ireland. The surviving outbuildings to the rear add to the setting and context, and provide an interesting historical insight into the resources required to run and maintain a modest estate in Ireland during the nineteenth century. This fine house may incorporate the fabric of an earlier house to site, which was in existence in c. 1837 (Ordnance Survey first edition six-inch map). This building is an interesting feature in the rural landscape to the north of Lifford, and is an integral element of the built heritage of the local area.