House - 17th century

The National Monuments Service's description

On a gentle E-facing slope in undulating terrain, in pasture. Ballyduagh church (TS061-095002-) and graveyard (TS061-095008-) are located c. 160m to the N, there are earthworks possibly associated with settlement (TS061-095001-) 250m to the N and 170m to the NE and there is a moated site (TS061-095005-) c. 140m to the E. According to the Civil Survey (1654-56) in 1640 the land was owned by 'Donogh Kearney of Bally Dwagh Irish Papist' and 'There is on the sayd lands a thatcht house' (Simington 1931, vol. 1, 204). The house faces E, which affords the best view, the land rising up to the rear. It is enclosed by a circular bawn (TS061-095004-). A two-storey house with an attic (ext. dims. 15.25m N–S; 6.14m E–W; H c. 5.2m) and a T-projection (ext. dims. 3.93m N–S; 3.24m E–W; H c. 6.2m) to the rear, built mainly of roughly coursed limestone rubble, with some sandstone. Though the front façade has largely gone, there is enough masonry to suggest that this was a five-bay house (wall T 0.6-0.65m), with large, flat-headed windows. The rear projection is higher than the main block by c. 1m and has a gable roof surmounted by a tall, slim, dummy chimney stack. The house had a steep-pitched roof and each gable of the main block is surmounted by a high, substantial, rectangular chimney stack. The quoins are quite crudely cut blocks of limestone arranged in block and start fashion. Some evidence of harling survives, especially to the rear. The ground floor was entered from a doorway, now completely gone, in the centre of the E façade. This gave access to a hall (Wth 2.75m; L c. 4.8m), the walls of which only partially survive at the W end, presumably with a doorway giving access to a chamber to the S (int. dims. 5.08m N–S; 4.76m E–W) and another smaller chamber to the N (int. dims. 3.23m N–S; 4.85m E–W). The stairs was located in the projection (int. dims. 2.75m N–S; 3.2m E–W) at the rear of the hall which was lit by by three large windows and a smaller window at attic level. The surviving plaster gives an indication that the ground floor chambers were 2.8m high. The S chamber has a large internally projecting fireplace (Wth of opening 2.1m; D 1.23m) with two flues, suggesting that one may have served a wall oven, of which there is no surviving trace. There is a small wall cupboard in the W wall of this fireplace. It seems likely that this chamber was lit by two large windows in the E wall, of which there are only the partial remains of the southernmost window, and another large window in the W wall, though this is completely broken out. The N chamber would have been similarly lit, though in this case the northernmost window and the N side of the next window survive in the E wall. It also has an internally projecting fireplace (Wth of opening 1.18m; D 0.65m) with the unusual feature of a deep hole (D 1.2m; dims. 0.08m x 0.08m) running though the side wall on each side of the fireplace, back into the gable wall, these may have housed a timber or metal pole which could be brought forward and together supported a frame for drying items near the fire. The first floor was carried on a wooden floor, the beam-holes for which are in the centre of the W wall of the N and S chamber, with joist holes in the N and S walls. It appears to have been arranged as per the ground floor, with a N and S chamber accessed from the stairs and entered from doorways, only the W jambs of which survive, at the W end of the first-floor hall. These chambers were only lit by windows in the front façade. The attic level also rested on a wooden floor, the main support beams for which appear to have rested on the side walls of the house. The attic itself may have been lit by dormer windows in the roof.

Compiled by: Jean Farrelly

Date of upload: 25 August 2014

References

Simington, R.C. (ed.) 1931 The Civil survey, AD 1654-1656. Vol I: county of Tipperary: eastern and southern baronies. Dublin. Irish Manuscripts Commission.