Survey Data
Reg No
40909922
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical
Previous Name
Drumhome Church of Ireland Rectory
Original Use
School
Historical Use
Gate lodge
In Use As
House
Date
1810 - 1870
Coordinates
190777, 372296
Date Recorded
05/11/2007
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached three-bay single-storey with attic level gate lodge and former schoolhouse associated with Murvagh House (see 40909921), built c. 1820 and altered c. 1870, having continuous open veranda to the main elevation (west) supported on four decorative timber columns set on moulded stone pedestals. Now in use as a private house with modern single-storey extension to the rear (east). Pitched natural slate roof having terracotta ridge cresting, and with central red brick chimneystack with stepped coping and crowned terracotta chimneypots over. Some surviving cast-iron rainwater goods including decorative cast-iron hopper to the north gable. Mono-pitched natural slate roof over veranda; flagstones to veranda area. Squared and randomly coursed sandstone rubble walls, formerly roughcast rendered. Two tripartite/triple pointed-arch window openings to front elevation (west), one to either side of central doorway, each having continuous ashlar sandstone lintels, cut stone sills, and timber casement windows with intersecting tracery to heads. Central tripartite/triple pointed-arch doorway to the main elevation having continuous ashlar sandstone lintel over with pointed-arch overlights, and with timber panelled door. Set back from road adjacent to the north-east of the main entrance to Murvagh House comprising a pair of squared rubble stone gate piers with capstones over, and flanked to either side by sections of rubble stone walling. Located in mature landscaped and wooded grounds to the south-east of main building at start of long approach avenue to house. Sited adjacent to east of the Ballintra River and to the south of Donegal Town. Shores of Donegal Bay a short distance to the north.
Appraisal
This charming former gate lodge, serving the main entrance to Murvagh House (see 40909921), retains its early character and form, and is a structure of some picturesque appeal in the rural landscape to the south of Donegal Town. Its visual expression and architectural integrity is enhanced by the retention of much of its early fabric including natural slate roofs and timber casement windows. This small-scale building is distinguished by the open veranda to the front elevation, which is supported on decorative columns set on moulded sandstone pedestals, and by the distinctive tripartite pointed-arch openings with ashlar lintels to the main elevation. These lintels are similar in style to those found at a gate lodge (see 40909215) at the former Church of Ireland rectory at Inver, near Mountcharles, to the north-west, which hints that these two buildings may have been built as part of a common programme or, perhaps, that one of these buildings influenced the style of the other. These pointed-arch openings lend this building a muted Gothic theme that contrasts with the more classical/theme of the main building to the north-west. This building appears to originally date to the early-nineteenth century and is indicated as a ‘school house’ on the 1837 Ordnance Survey first edition six-inch map of the area. Evidence from the now exposed stonework to the side elevations suggests that it was later raised in height to provide an attic storey. The style of the terracotta ridge cresting and the red brick chimneystack suggests that this happened c. 1870. The pretty open veranda was probably added to the entrance front at this time too. This highly appealing structure forms part of a group of related structures with the associated former rectory to the north-west (see 40909921) and its ancillary structures, and is an important element of the built heritage of the local area in its own right.