52 Boleran Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

An asymmetrical two-storey three-bay vacant farmhouse with thatch and slated roof; predating 1830 and located to the west side of Boleran Road northwest of Garvagh. Rectangular plan with two-storey gabled extension to south (taller); north gable abutted by perpendicular single-storey rendered outbuilding.

Pitched roof, partially thatched, having raised masonry verges and rendered chimneystacks to gables; natural slates to extension. Plastic rainwater goods on timber eaves. Walling is smooth painted lime render to front and cement render to rear. Windows are small replacement 1/1 timber sash (diminished at first floor) with horns, exposed boxes and projecting concrete sills.

The principal elevation faces east; two widely spaced windows at first floor over three ground floor windows and an off-centre replacement timber-sheeted half-door accessed by a single concrete step. Extension at left having central gablet over has a window at each floor.
A water pump is located to the left of the front door, this is a cowtail handled pump with spiral incised column and acorn top; plumber D. CHRISTIE, COLERAINE

The south gable has two 1/1 windows at first floor.

The west (rear) elevation has two widely spaced windows at first floor over three ground floor windows (one diminutive) and a replacement timber-sheeted half-door to left of centre.

The north gable is abutted by the perpendicular single-storey slated outbuilding.

Setting:

Situated on a large plot with views over surrounding farmland; set back from the road and accessed via a long tarmacadamed avenue lined by modern timber fences. Avenue leads to yard at front of house with single-storey replacement dwelling to east. Agricultural buildings to south side of yard. Attached rendered outbuilding is modified with replacement timber windows and doors. Front of house is laid with concrete.

Roof: PParartially thatch and natural slate
Walling: S Smooth render
Windows: Replacement 1/1 timber sash with horns and exposed boxes
RWG: Pplastic

Historical information

The current dwelling house pre-dates the first Ordnance Survey of 1830 and is shown, together with a dwelling house to the south and an outbuilding to the east on the first edition. The slated portion of the house is not present on the second edition of 1849-53, suggesting that this part of the dwelling dates from the second half of the nineteenth century.

The building does not reach the threshold for inclusion in the Townland Valuation (1828-40) and is first recorded in Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64) as a house valued at £1.12s and situated on a plot of over 7 acres. The farm was leased from the Marquess of Waterford. The farm passed down through the O’Kane family and at the time of the 1901 census the occupier was farmer, Jeremiah O’Kane, who lived with his school teacher wife and four young daughters. The three-room house with three windows to the front elevation was thatched at this time. By the 1911 census there were five windows to the front elevation, suggesting that the house was raised in the early twentieth century.

Valuer’s notes of the 1930s give the accommodation as three receptions and a kitchen on the ground floor and three bedrooms on the upper floor. Dimensions are given for thatched and slated portions of the house. A replacement dwelling has been built on the farm in recent years and the current building lies empty.

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/5/18/1 First Edition OS Map 1832
2. PRONI OS/6/5/18/2 Second Edition OS map 1849-53
3. PRONI OS/6/5/18/3 Third Edition OS Map 1904-5
4. PRONI OS/6/5/18/4 Fourth Edition OS Map 1924-33
5. PRONI VAL/1/B/56 Townland Valuation (1828-40)
6. PRONI Griffiths Valuation (1856-64)
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/30/13A-F Annual Revisions (1864-1929)
8. PRONI VAL/3/C/6/2 First General Revaluation 1933-57
9. PRONI VAL/3/D/6/3/L/4 First General Revaluation 1933-57
10. 1901/1911 census online

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
Z. Rarity

Evaluation

An asymmetrical two-storey three-bay farmhouse with thatch and slated roof; predating 1830 and located to the west side of Boleran Road northwest of Garvagh. Some alterations and loss of detailing but otherwise retaining a wealth of nineteenth-century fabric, and its original proportions. This is an increasingly rare example of a two-storey nineteenth-century farmhouse in a rural landscape that would have once been characterised by buildings of this type. As such, the dwelling is of local interest.

General comments

Listing Criterion R - Age also applies to this building