Survey Data
Reg No
15700902
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social
Original Use
Farm house
Date
1800 - 1831
Coordinates
292733, 157696
Date Recorded
27/08/2007
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached four-bay single-storey farmhouse with half-dormer attic, extant 1831, on a cruciform plan originally three-bay single-storey centred on single-bay single-storey projecting open porch; single-bay (single-bay deep) single-storey central return (east). Occupied, 1901; 1911. Now disused. Pitched slate roof on a T-shaped plan including gablets to window openings to half-dormer attic; pitched (gabled) slate roof (porch), clay ridge tiles, red brick Running bond chimney stacks having stepped capping supporting terracotta tapered pots, and no rainwater goods surviving on slate flagged eaves. Part creeper- or ivy-covered lime rendered coursed rubble stone battered walls with concealed rough hewn granite flush quoins to corners. Square-headed central door opening into farmhouse with concealed red brick block-and-start surround framing timber panelled door. Square-headed window openings with cut-granite sills, and concealed red brick block-and-start surrounds framing eight-over-eight timber sash windows. Set in landscaped grounds with monolithic piers to perimeter having rough hewn granite capping supporting wrought iron gate.
Appraisal
A farmhouse representing an integral component of the domestic built heritage of the environs of Bunclody with the architectural value of the composition, one evoking comparisons with the contemporary Mill House (extant 1839) in Bunclody (see 15602072), suggested by such attributes as the compact plan form centred on an expressed porch; the diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor producing a graduated visual impression; and the miniature gablets embellishing a high pitched roofline showing a rough cut slate finish: meanwhile, a feint masonry break clearly illustrates the continued linear development of the farmhouse in the later nineteenth century. A prolonged period of unoccupancy notwithstanding, 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 1904) continue to contribute positively to the group and setting values of a self-contained ensemble having historic connections with the Deacon family including Thomas Deacon (1839-1906), 'Farmer late of Gorteen County Wexford' (Calendars of Wills and Administrations 1906, 109); and Samuel Deacon (1871-1940), 'Farmer' (NA 1911).