Culcrow Post Office

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A detached symmetrical one-and-a-half storey three bay house and single storey shop predating 1832 sitting at the junction of Bann Road, Curragh Road and facing down Glenkeen Road. Sitting perpendicular to the northwest is a single storey outbuilding.

Natural slate roof with a modern rooflight to each slope, terracotta ridge tiles, replacement round metal gutters and downpipes; rendered chimney to each gable of house, brick chimney to SE gable; timber fascia board and boarded eaves. Walls primarily lined render with rusticated quoins. Attic window, set to central gablet, has segmental arch with moulded architrave; ground floor windows are square-headed with moulded architraves with exaggerated keystone, those to the house incorporate a bolection mould and pediment over. Square-headed doorcase with architrave of fluted pilasters, panelled frieze and moulded cornice; the shop door has a plain architrave with exaggerated keystone. The windows are generally replacement timber with top hung lights. The door screen and doors are uPVC.

The front southwest elevation of the house is symmetrical with a window either side of the central door with dormer over. The roof steps down over the shop which sits to the southeast; the door is central with a single window to each side, that adjacent to the house is enlarged.

The side northwest elevation is symmetrical with two uPVC windows to each floor.

To the northwest is a blank gable of a single storey outbuilding which sits perpendicular to the main building: mainly corrugated iron roof (some corrugated asbestos and a section with no roof); pebble dashed rendered rubble and brick walling. Between the two buildings are a pair of wrought iron gates on timber gateposts.

The rear northeast elevation projects in the centre with a 2 storey gabled extension, all walls are pebble dashed render. A uPVC window is set in the ground floor of this extension and blocked up windows are located in the two storey and single storey sections to the south. The set back rear extension is pebble dashed render; it has two windows to the first floor, a flat roofed extension to the ground floor which forms a porch over a recessed glazed door.

The side southeast elevation steps down between the house and the shop, this wall has two arched windows to the attic which are original 2 paned timber. The single storey gable is blank.

Setting:
The buildings sit at the busy junction of Bann Road, Curragh Road and facing down Glenkeen Road over open countryside. To the rear is a car parking area bounded on the northwest by the single storey outbuilding with corrugated metal roof (collapsed to the NE), pebbledash rendered walls, 4 plank and one corrugated metal clad doors on the SE elevation.

Schedule:
Roof: fibre cement slates
Walls: lined render
Windows: replacement timber
RWGs: metal.

Historical information

Culcrow Post Office, a one-and-a-half-storey building with a single-storey extension abutting its eastern elevation, was constructed prior to 1832 when it was first recorded in the Ordnance Survey map for the townland of Lissaghmore. The map depicted the building as a T-shaped structure (possessing the current rear return) and occupying the same layout as the current building; although the single-storey extension had not been erected at that time, the map notes that the outbuilding to the west of the property also dates from at least 1832. The contemporary Townland Valuations (c. 1830) record that the building was valued at £3 8s. and was occupied by a Mr. George Hunter.

George Hunter still resided at the site by Griffith’s Valuation (1858) which recorded that Hunter leased the property, which had been increased in value to £4 10s, from the Worshipful Company of Ironmongers. George Hunter died in 1863; in his will Hunter was described as a local farmer and left his property, and effects of almost £600, to his son (also named George Hunter) (PRONI Wills). George Hunter Jnr. purchased his property outright in 1891 when the Worshipful Company of Ironmongers began to sell sections of its estate; thereafter Hunter converted the building into a licenced house, decreasing the value of the site to £4 8s.

The 1901 Census records that Hunter (50, Presbyterian) resided at the public house with his sister Sarah (55) and a single domestic servant; the census building return described Hunter’s property as a 2nd class ‘public house,’ noting that the building originally possessed a thatched roof and consisted of six rooms. The pub possessed a number of out offices, most of which were located in the outbuilding to the west of the property; these included a stable, two cow houses, a piggery, potato house and a barn.

The third edition of the Ordnance Survey maps was the first to depict the single-storey extension abutting the eastern elevation of the public house; the extension was most likely constructed in 1891 as part of the work that converted Hunter’s dwelling into a public house. It is possible that the one-and-a-half-storey building was refaced into its current appearance around that time, although no dating evidence exists. George Hunter vacated the property in 1909 (presumably upon his death), when his sister took over operation of the public house; the 1911 Census notes that Sarah Hunter lived alone and notes that the building retained its thatched roof until at least 1911.

Sarah Hunter continued to operate the public house until 1915 at which time ownership of the site was acquired by the Stronge family of Lizard Manor (see HB03/03/017). In the same year the public house was greatly increased in value to £12 when a Mr. Thomas Henry occupied the site; the Annual Revisions note that the formerly licensed house also included a shop in 1915. Thomas Henry only briefly resided at the public house and shop until 1922 when a Mr. David Torrens purchased the building outright from the Stronge estate.

David Torrens continued to reside at the site for almost fifty years; by the First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland (1935) the value of the building (no longer a licenced premises but solely described as a house and shop) had been increased to £15 10s. There was no further revaluation of the site carried out for over two decades due to the disruption caused by the outbreak of the Second World War, however under the Second Revaluation (1956-72) the value of the house had been further increased to £31; by the 1950s the building was utilised as a local Post Office for Royal Mail. David Torrens, having resided at the site for 47 years, vacated the property in 1969 at which time his relative, Robert Torrens, took possession of the house and shop, remaining there by the end of the Second Revaluation in 1972.

No. 190 Curragh Road continues to be utilsied as a private dwelling and post office. Field inspection finds that the building’s original thatch has been replaced with a slate roof whilst the outbuilding to the west side of the property has also survived but is in a poor state of repair, a portion of its roof having collapsed.

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/5/12/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey map 1832
2. PRONI OS/6/5/12/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey map 1849-53
3. PRONI OS/6/5/12/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey map 1904
4. PRONI OS/6/5/12/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey map 1923
5. PRONI VAL/1/A/5/12 – Townland Valuation map c. 1830
6. PRONI VAL/1/B/52 – Townland Valuation c. 1830
7. PRONI VAL/2/B/5/2 – Griffith’s Valuation 1858
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/30/2A-F – Annual Revisions 1862-1929
9. PRONI VAL/3/B/6/1 – First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland 1935
10. PRONI VAL/4/B/5/4 – Second General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland 1956-1972
11. PRONI Wills Catalogue (29 Aug 1863)
12. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
13. Ulster Town Directories (1861-1918)
14. Ordnance Survey map – 31-7SW (1984

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

A detached one and a half storey house and single storey shop predating 1832 sitting at the junction of Bann Road, Curragh Road and facing down Glenkeen Road with an outbuilding running perpendicular to the northwest. The house's external appearance dates from the late-19th century. It is not of sufficient interest to consider listing.