Survey Data
Reg No
40900602
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural
Original Use
Lighthouse keeper's house
In Use As
Building misc
Date
1880 - 1890
Coordinates
184235, 447323
Date Recorded
25/09/2016
Date Updated
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Description
Pair of semi-detached three-bay two-storey former lighthouse keepers' houses associated with Tory Island Lighthouse, built c.1885-8, having attached single-bay flat-roofed porches to centre of front (west) elevation. Now in use as accommodation or outbuildings since automation of lighthouse in 1990. Flat (felt?) roofs, having moulded eaves course, raised smooth rendered parapets, and three smooth rendered chimneystacks (one to centre and one to each end), and some surviving sections of metal rainwater goods. Smooth rendered walls over smooth rendered plinth course; smooth rendered walls and eaves to porches. Square-headed window openings with stone sills and some surviving two-over-two pane timber sliding sash windows. Square-headed doorways to south sides of porches, with timber doors and overlights. Smooth rendered and rubble stone boundary walls to site. Single-storey outbuilding to rear with mono-pitched roof, smooth rendered walls and square-headed openings with timber fittings.
Appraisal
These simple, well-built and well-maintained former lighthouses keepers' houses retain their early form and character, despite some modern alterations. Their flat roofs and general detailing are very similar to other late nineteenth and early twentieth-century keepers' houses built at various sites around the coast. They are robustly built to provide shelter from the ravages of Atlantic storms, while the moulding to the eaves adds the bare minimum of detailing to these otherwise plain, utilitarian structures. The retention of historic fabric, such as timber sliding sash windows, contributes to their integrity. The buildings act as historical reminders of the dedication and harsh existence endured by the men who worked here throughout the twentieth century. The buildings form part of a group of related structures, along with the associated lighthouse and are a significant part of the maritime history of Dún na nGall [County Donegal].