Survey Data
Reg No
15702710
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social
Original Use
Farm house
Date
1842 - 1903
Coordinates
306740, 136596
Date Recorded
08/01/2008
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached three-bay two-storey farmhouse, extant 1903, on a T-shaped plan centred on single-bay single-storey flat-roofed projecting glazed porch to ground floor; single-bay two-storey side elevations. "Improved", pre-1911, producing present composition. Now disused. Hipped fibre-cement slate roof with lichen-covered ridge tiles centred on paired red brick Running bond chimney stacks having stringcourses below stepped capping supporting terracotta octagonal pots, and cast-iron rainwater goods on rendered slate flagged eaves retaining cast-iron downpipes. Part creeper- or ivy-covered roughcast walls bellcast over rendered plinth. Segmental-headed central door opening into farmhouse. Square-headed window openings with cut-granite sills, and concealed dressings framing six-over-six (ground floor) or three-over-six (first floor) 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 unkempt grounds with roughcast-panelled piers to perimeter having stepped capping.
Appraisal
A farmhouse representing an integral component of the nineteenth-century domestic built heritage of the rural environs of Ballaghkeen with the architectural value of the composition, one rooted firmly in the prevailing late Georgian fashion, suggested by such attributes as the compact plan form centred on a restrained doorcase, albeit one largely concealed behind a later porch; and the somewhat 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. Having been reasonably 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 "tin roofed" outbuildings (extant 1903) continue to contribute positively to the group and setting values of a self-contained ensemble having historic connections with the Colfer family (NA 1911).