Survey Data
Reg No
15401225
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Social
Original Use
Worker's house
In Use As
Worker's house
Date
1820 - 1860
Coordinates
245467, 258581
Date Recorded
20/11/2004
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Pair of semi-detached two-storey worker's houses, built c.1840, now in use as private dwellings. Comprises one gable-fronted two-bay two-storey house and one three-bay two-storey house, both with projecting gable-fronted porches to centres (timber porch to gable-fronted house, rubble stone to other). Houses set at right angles to each other with a chamfered/splayed corner at intersection. Pitched slate roofs with overhanging eaves to gable ends and rendered chimneystacks. Constructed of coursed rubble limestone with brick trim to windows. Pointed-arched window openings to front of gable-fronted house with timber Y- tracery, square-headed window openings with casement windows elsewhere. Pointed segmental-headed window to front of stone porch on three-bay building with Perpendicular style Gothic tracery. Modern square-headed doorcases to both structures. Located in outbuilding complex to rear (northeast) of Knockdrin Castle (15401222).
Appraisal
An interesting pair of worker's houses with a rather eclectic and eccentric character and charm. The unusual layout and styling suggests that these buildings may have been constructed using fabric from other buildings on site. The pointed-arched windows with the Y-tracery and Perpendicular tracery mirrors the style of the windows found on the main castle/house itself, Knockdrin Castle (15401222). The lead 'insurance badge' is an unusual item of artistic merit and may be connected to the military. These semi-detached houses were built by the Levinge Family of Knockdrin Castle to provide accommodation for workers and their families and remain integral elements of this important demesne.