Survey Data
Reg No
15403902
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Technical
Original Use
House
In Use As
House
Date
1780 - 1820
Coordinates
241811, 232979
Date Recorded
03/11/2004
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached four-bay single-storey vernacular house, built c.1800 with attached single-storey byre/outbuilding to east, built c.1830, and a (later) projecting flat-roofed single-bay single-storey porch to the centre of the entrance façade (south). Direct-entry plan, originally lobby-entry. Pitched corrugated-iron roof with raised rendered verges to gable ends, two rendered chimneystacks to the centre and cast-iron rainwater goods. Roughcast rendered walls over smooth rendered plinth course with raised and fielded quoins to the corners of the main body of building and to projecting porch. Square-headed window openings with two-over-two pane timber sliding sash windows, rendered reveals and cut-stone sills. Square-headed doorway to front face of porch with glazed timber door. Set back from road at right angle to road alignment. Bounded on road-frontage by a roughcast rendered boundary wall. Main entrance gate to the southwest of house, comprising a pair of rendered gate piers (on circular-plan) having a replacement gate. Located to the south of Tyrrellspass adjacent to the border with Co. Offaly.
Appraisal
An attractive vernacular dwelling, formerly thatched, that nestles comfortably into the landscape of south Westmeath. This modest building retains its original form and much of its early fabric. This building is aligned at a right-angle to the road alignment, which is a typical feature of vernacular dwellings in the midlands. The position of the doorway and the chimneystacks suggests that this was originally built on a lobby-entry plan. The attached byre (east) and the vernacular gate piers are also typical features of vernacular dwellings in the midlands and add to the group and setting qualities of the site. This building is a worthy addition to the vernacular heritage of Westmeath and is a good example of a building type that was once very common but is now becoming increasingly rare.