Survey Data
Reg No
15704722
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social
Original Use
Rectory/glebe/vicarage/curate's house
In Use As
House
Date
1800 - 1805
Coordinates
298997, 110268
Date Recorded
19/09/2007
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached three-bay two-storey over basement Board of First Fruits Church of Ireland glebe house, built 1802; dated 1802, on a square plan with four-bay two-storey side elevations; three-bay full-height rear (east) elevation. Occupied, 1901; 1911. Renovated, 1985. Replacement hipped artificial slate roofs on an E-shaped plan with ridge tiles, rendered chimney stacks on gabled bases having cut-granite capping supporting terracotta or yellow terracotta octagonal pots, slightly sproketed eaves, and uPVC rainwater goods on rendered slate flagged eaves. Part creeper- or ivy-covered replacement cement rendered, ruled and lined walls bellcast over rendered plinth with rendered quoined piers to corners; fine roughcast surface finish (north). Elliptical-headed central door opening approached by flight of three cut-granite steps, timber doorcase with pilasters supporting shallow cornice on blind frieze, and concealed dressings framing timber panelled door having two-over-two timber sash sidelights below margined fanlight. Square-headed window openings including square-headed window openings to rear (east) elevation centred on square-headed window opening (half-landing), cut-granite sills, and concealed red brick block-and-start surrounds framing replacement uPVC casement windows replacing eight-over-eight timber sash windows having overlights (ground floor) or eight-over-eight timber sash windows (first floor). Interior including (ground floor): central hall retaining carved timber surrounds to door openings framing timber panelled doors; and carved 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 "Cyma Recta"- or "Cyma Reversa"-detailed shallow pyramidal capping supporting cast-iron double gates.
Appraisal
A glebe house erected with financial support from the Board of First Fruits (fl. 1711-1833), and to designs by 'William Day [1742-1827] of Gollough [Gallagh] Architect', representing an important component of the early nineteenth-century built heritage of south County Wexford with the architectural value of the composition, 'one of the largest and best [glebe houses] in the diocese [of Ferns]' (Lewis 1837 II, 413), confirmed by such attributes as the near square plan form centred on a Classically-detailed doorcase not only demonstrating good quality workmanship, but also showing a pretty "spider web" fanlight; the diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor producing a graduated visual impression; and '[the] two curious little gables topped with stacks [crowning] the façade' (Craig and Garner 1975, 11). Having been well maintained, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior where contemporary joinery; restrained chimneypieces; and plasterwork enrichments, all highlight the artistic potential of the composition: however, neither the substitution of the surface finish nor the introduction of replacement fittings to most of the openings has had a beneficial impact on the character or integrity of a glebe house having historic connections with the Mulrankin parish Church of Ireland clergy including Reverend Henry Wilson (1751-1806); Reverend Thomas Hore (1767-1834) 'who was Rector and Vicar of the United Parishes of Mulrancan [sic] and Kilturk for 27 years' (cf. 15704721); Reverend William Hickey (1787-1875), co-founder (1821) of the Bannow Agricultural School (see 15704552) and author, under the alias Martin Doyle, of "Hints originally intended for The Small Farmers of the County Wexford" (1846) and "Notes and Gleanings relating to the County of Wexford" (1868); Reverend John Alexander (1834-1908), 'Clerk formerly of Mulrankin Rectory County Wexford [and] late of Wellington House Cahir County Tipperary' (Calendars of Wills and Administrations 1909, 4; cf. 15704721); and . Reverend Herbert Lewis Scott (----), 'Rector [in] Church of Ireland' (NA 1911).