Survey Data
Reg No
15700712
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social
Original Use
Farm house
In Use As
Farm house
Date
1800 - 1810
Coordinates
316200, 161422
Date Recorded
27/09/2007
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached three-bay single-storey farmhouse with half-dormer attic, built 1805, on an L-shaped plan centred on single-bay single-storey gabled projecting glazed porch to ground floor; single-bay (north) or two-bay (south) full-height side elevations. "Improved", 1880, producing present composition. Occupied, 1901; 1911. Hipped slate roof on an L-shaped plan including gablets to window openings to half-dormer attic with clay ridge tiles, raised red brick Running bond chimney stacks having stringcourses below capping supporting terracotta pots, timber bargeboards to gables, and cast-iron rainwater goods on roughcast eaves retaining cast-iron downpipes. Roughcast walls. Square-headed central door opening into farmhouse with concealed dressings framing glazed timber panelled door. Square-headed window openings with cut-granite sills, and concealed dressings framing two-over-two timber sash windows. Interior including (ground floor): central hall retaining timber surrounds to door openings framing timber panelled doors; and timber surrounds to door openings to remainder framing timber panelled doors with timber panelled shutters to window openings. Set in landscaped grounds with rendered piers to perimeter having overgrown capping.
Appraisal
A farmhouse erected by Thomas Cooke (1787-1821) representing an integral component of the early nineteenth-century domestic built heritage of the outskirts of Gorey with the architectural value of the composition, one recalling the contemporary Dúnart (extant 1840), Ballymoney Crossroads (see 15700733), suggested by such attributes as the compact plan form centred on a featureless doorcase; the disproportionate bias of solid to void in the massing compounded by the diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor producing a graduated visual impression; and the miniature gablets embellishing a high pitched roofline. Having been well maintained, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with substantial quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior, thus upholding the character or integrity of the composition. Furthermore, adjacent outbuildings (extant 1840) continue to contribute positively to the group and setting values of a self-contained ensemble having historic connections with the Cooke family including Thomas Cooke (d. 1901) and Susan Cooke (d. 1933) 'of Ballytegan Gorey County Wexford' (Calendars of Wills and Administrations 1901, 84).