House - 17th century

The National Monuments Service's description

Located on a level landscape with a small SW-NE stream c. 70m to the NW. Traditionally, this is the house occupied by Esther Johnson, known as 'Stella' and the life-long friend of Jonathan Swift, when she first came to Ireland in 1701 and wanted to live close to Swift while he was rector of Laracor church (ME036-044----), c. 1.2km to the S. After her death in 1728 the house was occupied by two families and continued to be occupied until c. 1960 when a local committee purchased it. Unfortunately, only the base of the walls could be preserved and built up. It is a rectangular structure (ext. dims 10.1m NW-SE; 6.1m NW-SW; int. dims 9.15m NW-SE; 4.15m NE-SW) with conserved and reconstructed walls (Wth 0.5m; H 1.1m). There is a doorway (Wth 0.9m) in the centre of the NE wall and a recess (Wth 1.35m; D 0.2m) on the SW wall opposite, which might be a fireplace. (Reynolds 1967, 53, fn 19; Haworth 2009, 21-3)

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload: 20 February, 2015

References

Haworth, R. 2009 Jonathan Swift and the Geography of Laracor. Swift Studies, No. 24, 7-26.

Reynolds, J. 1967 Jonathan Swift – Vicar of Laraor. Ríocht na Mídhe, 4, 1, 41-54.