Survey Data
Reg No
22803066
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social
Original Use
Manse
In Use As
House
Date
1840 - 1887
Coordinates
246807, 114974
Date Recorded
23/07/2003
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached three-bay two-storey over basement Presbyterian manse, extant 1887, on a rectangular plan. Occupied, 1901; 1911. Pitched slate roof with clay ridge tiles, cement rendered chimney stacks having concrete capping supporting yellow terracotta octagonal pots, timber bargeboards to gables, and cast-iron rainwater goods on timber eaves boards retaining cast-iron downpipes. Part creeper- or ivy-covered roughcast walls bellcast over rendered plinth with rendered strips to corners supporting rendered band to eaves. Square-headed central door opening approached by two cut-limestone steps with concealed dressings framing timber panelled having overlight. Square-headed flanking window openings in bipartite arrangement with cut-limestone sills, timber mullions, and concealed dressings framing two-over-two timber sash windows having horizontal glazing bars. Square-headed window openings (first floor) with cut-limestone sills, and concealed dressings framing two-over-two timber sash windows. Interior including (ground floor): central vestibule; square-headed door opening into hall with glazed timber panelled door having sidelights on panelled risers below overlight; 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 back from line of road.
Appraisal
A manse representing an integral component of the mid nineteenth-century built heritage of Portlaw with the architectural value of the composition suggested by such attributes as the compact plan form centred on a restrained doorcase; and the diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor producing a graduated tiered visual effect with the principal "apartments" or reception rooms defined by bipartite glazing patterns. 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 a manse forming part of a self-contained group alongside an adjacent church (see 22803065) with the resulting ecclesiastical ensemble making a pleasing visual statement overlooking the River Clodiagh. NOTE: Occupied (----) by Reverend David Ferguson (1843-87) 'for 32 years Presbyterian Minister in Portlaw' (cf. 22900807) and subsequently occupied (1901) by David Faris Walker (1870-1938), 'General Medical Practitioner' (NA 1901; cf. 22803033); and (1911) by Martin Power (----), 'Farmer' (NA 1911).