Survey Data
Reg No
40910755
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Technical
Original Use
House
In Use As
House
Date
1837 - 1857
Coordinates
187908, 363449
Date Recorded
07/11/2007
Date Updated
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Description
Detached three-bay single-storey vernacular house, built c. 1850, having with single-bay single-storey extension to north-east gable end, added c. 1910, and with single-storey extension to the rear (south-east). Currently out of use. Pitched reed thatched roof (recently renewed) having smooth rendered eaves courses, and with raised rendered verges and smooth rendered chimneystacks to either gable end (north-east and south-west); pitched natural slate roof to single-bay extension to the north-east gable end. Roughcast rendered walls with raised render block-and-start quoins to either end of front elevation. Smooth rendered ruled-and-lined walls to extension to the rear (south-east). Square-headed window openings with plain raised rendered surrounds having pointed heads, painted sills, and with two-over-two pane timber sliding sash windows. Central square-headed door opening plain raised rendered surrounds having pointed head, painted plinth blocks to base, and with battened timber door. Set slightly back from road with short gravel forecourt to the north. Complex of single-storey outbuildings to the rear (south-east) and to the west having rubble stone walls, pitched corrugated-metal roofs, and square-headed openings with timber fittings. Located in the rural countryside to the north/north-east of Ballyshannon.
Appraisal
This appealing mid nineteenth-century vernacular house retains much of its early character and form. Although now out of use, it is well-maintained by its owners and retains its integrity. Of particular interest in the survival of the thatch roof, recently renewed, which is now sadly becoming increasingly rare in Donegal. Modest in scale and architectural ambition, it exhibits the simple and functional form of vernacular building in Ireland. Its visual expression is enhanced by the retention of the timber sliding sash windows, while the simple raised rendered surrounds to the openings with pointed heads (a common motif found on vernacular houses in the Ballyshannon area) and the raised block quoins to the corners add the bare minimum of decorative interest to the main elevation. The form of this building, having chimneystacks to the gable ends and central doorway to the original building, suggests that this building is of the ‘direct entry’ type that is characteristic of the vernacular tradition in north-west Ireland. This building is an example of a vernacular house that has been extended along its length, which is a characteristic feature of many buildings of its type. 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 vernacular heritage of the local area. It is one of a number of thatched dwellings surviving in the rural landscape to the north of Ballyshannon, and makes a positive contribution to its pleasant rural location. The simple rubble stone outbuildings to site add to the setting and completes this composition.