Survey Data
Reg No
13402401
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural
Original Use
House
In Use As
House
Date
1760 - 1800
Coordinates
227142, 264038
Date Recorded
17/08/2005
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached four-bay two-storey house, built c. 1780 and altered c. 1860, having recessed bay (c. 1860) to the north end of the front elevation (east), recent single-storey glazed porch to the front elevation, and two-bay two-storey return to the rear (west). Pitched natural slate roof with two rendered chimneystacks (one to south gable end and one to the former north gable end) having terracotta pots over and having cast-iron rainwater goods. Hipped artificial slate roof to modern porch. Lined-and-ruled rendered walls. Square-headed window openings with painted stone sills and diminishing one-over-one pane timber sliding sash windows. Square-headed door opening to entrance porch having half-glazed timber panelled door, square-headed door opening to interior of porch with overlight and early timber panelled door. Timber shutters visible to window interiors. Set back from road in own grounds to the east of Legan. Two detached single-storey outbuildings and stables (c. 1880) to the rear (west) having pitched natural slate roofs (one having sheet metal vent supporting metal weather vane over), painted roughly coursed painted limestone walls, square-headed window openings with multiple-pane metal-framed casement windows and limestone sills, and square-headed door openings having cut limestone plinth blocks and timber battened doors or half-doors. Single-storey barn (13402408) adjacent to the north. Rendered boundary walls with crenellated limestone coping over to road-frontage to the east. Pedestrian gateway to the east comprising a pair of rendered gate piers (on square-plan) having recessed rectangular panels and having a decorative wrought-iron gate. Section of rubble stone wall to the southwest of house having hooped wrought-iron flat bar gate. Other rubble limestone walls to site.
Appraisal
This substantial house/farmhouse retains its early character and form. Much of its early fabric survives including timber sash windows, stone sills, natural slate roof, and a timber panelled door to the main entrance. The form of this building, with pitched natural slate roof, narrow plan, diminishing window openings with first floor windows set at eaves level, and the large space between the end walls of the original building and the window openings, all suggest that this building is quite early, probably dating to the second half of the eighteenth century. The position of the chimneystacks and the form of the bay to the north end of the front elevation indicates that this building was extended to the north, probably at the same time the return to the rear was built. The attractive series of outbuildings to the rear, which also survive in good condition and retain their early fabric, adds substantially to the setting. The simple boundary walls, the attractive wrought-iron gate to the road-frontage and the other wrought-iron gates to site complete add further to the setting and complete this appealing composition. This complex forms a pair of related structures along with the unusual barn (13402408) located adjacent to the north. Farmhouse complexes such as this were a regular feature of the Irish countryside but they are gradually disappearing from the landscape, which makes this example an interesting survival. This building makes a positive contribution to the landscape to the east of Legan, and is an integral element of the built heritage of the local area. This house is built on land owned by the Fox family (O’Donovan Letters 1835) of Fox Hall, which was sited to the west of this site (now demolished).