GREENAGHAN COTTAGE

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached symmetrical three-bay single-storey with attic pebble dashed house, built c.1832, with flat-roofed extension to rear. Rectangular on plan facing northwest located on the south east side of Glen Road.

Pitched natural slate roof with black clay ridge tiles and sandstone ashlar coping to either gable end surmounted by a rendered chimneystack with a single octagonal clay pot to the southwest. uPVC rainwater goods. Flint dash rendered walling to the front elevation, ruled-and-lined cement render to southwest side elevation and whitewashed rough-cast lime rendered walling to remaining elevations. Square-headed window openings with original timber sliding sash windows without horns (unless otherwise stated) and painted masonry sills.

Symmetrical three-bay single-storey front elevation with central square-headed door opening having original frame, door and fanlight. Eight-panelled timber door with decoratively raised-and-fielded panels, the lower panels being flush. Original brass door furniture with cable-moulded lintel and tear-drop fanlight over, all set in a chamfered frame. Door opens onto small front area enclosed to the road.

Gable northeast side elevation has a pair of diminutive square-headed window openings to the attic floor only. Replacement timber casement window to the left and replacement steel casement window to the right.

Two-storey rear elevation with an off-centre flat-roofed extension. Single central window opening to the attic storey with replacement timber casement window and further square-headed window opening to the right of the extension with an original 8/8 timber sash window with ogee horns, exposed sash box and flush sill.

Gabled southwest side elevation has two diminutive attic storey windows with replacement steel casement windows.

Roof Natural slate
RWG Replacement uPVC
Walling Flint dash/ cement render / rough-cast lime render
Windows Original timber sliding sash / replacement timber or steel casement

Setting:
Located on the south east side of Glen Road enclosed by a low rendered plinth wall supporting embedded cast-iron railing with matching pedestrian gate hung on two painted stop-chamfered stone piers with capstones. Concrete paved rear area.

Historical information

Greenaghan Cottage, a one-and-a-half-storey late-Georgian farmhouse located in the townland of Greenaghan, was constructed immediately prior to 1832 for the O’Neill family. The farmhouse was first recorded on the first edition Ordnance Survey map (1832) which depicted the structure along its current layout and noted that it originally possessed two small outbuildings. In addition the map depicted a second dwelling to the east side of Greenaghan Cottage which was also occupied by the O’Neill family from at least the 1850s (both the outbuildings and this second dwelling have now been demolished). The contemporary Townland Valuations (c. 1834) described Greenaghan Cottage as a 1A class dwelling (that is a new or nearly new slated building) which measured 37.6ft in length by 22.6ft in depth and 13.6ft in height. The outbuildings were constructed at the same time as the farmhouse and the total rateable value of the site was set at £5 and 12 shillings. In the 1830s Greenaghan Cottage was occupied by Daniel O’Neill who was a local farmer.

The farmhouse was first captioned as ‘Greenaghan Cottage’ on the second edition Ordnance Survey map (1857) which continued to depict the site along its previous layout. The contemporary Griffith’s Valuation (c. 1859) recorded a Mr. Edmund O’Neill as occupant of the farm in the mid-19th century and noted that his relative (most likely his brother) Daniel O’Neill resided at the smaller house to the east. The valuer noted that the O’Neill family leased the site from Conway Richard Dobbs (1795-1886), former M.P. for Carrickfergus (1832) and High Sheriff of Co. Antrim (1841), who lived at Castle Dobbs near Carrickfergus and possessed over 5,000 acres of land in County Antrim. The total rateable value of Greenaghan Cottage and its outbuildings were raised to £8 and 15 shillings under Griffith’s Valuation. Edmund O’Neill continued to reside at Greenaghan Cottage until his death in 1881. In his Will O’Neill bequeathed Greenaghan Cottage to his son Edmund Patrick O’ Neill who purchased the site outright from the Dobbs estate in c. 1885 (PRONI Wills).

The Annual Revisions suggest that O’Neill did not remain at Greenaghan Cottage but leased the site out to a Mr. Thomas Patrick Moorehead; the O’Neill family continued to reside at the dwelling to the east side of Greenaghan Cottage. The 1901 census records that Moorehead was employed as a National School Teacher and lived at Greenaghan with his wife and daughter. The accompanying census building return described Greenaghan Cottage as a 2nd class dwelling that consisted of nine rooms and possessed a turf house as its sole out office. The remainder of the site’s outbuildings were recorded as part of the eastern dwelling and included a stable, cow house, dairy and two barns. Moorehead had vacated Greenaghan Cottage by 1911 when the census recorded the building as vacant. Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) Greenaghan Cottage was occupied by Patrick O’Neill and had been increased in value to £10. O’Neill continued to reside at the farmhouse until his death in 1945 at which time his widow Margaret O’Neill took possession. The O’Neill family remained at Greenaghan Cottage until at least the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) at which time the value of the site stood at £12.

In 1972 the UAHS Guide for the Glens of Antrim described Greenaghan Cottage in the following terms: ‘A pretty cottage of c. 1830, single-storey with attic, whitewashed, original glazing bars intact, unusual rectangular patterned fanlight’ (UAHS guide, p. 28). Greenaghan Cottage was subsequently listed in 1980. The building’s original glazing bars and rectangular fanlight remained intact during the Second Survey.

References

Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/1/20/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1832)
2. PRONI OS/6/1/20/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1857)
3. PRONI OS/6/1/20/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1903)
4. PRONI OS/6/1/20/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1921)
5. PRONI VAL/1/A/1/20 – Townland Valuation Map (c. 1830)
6. PRONI VAL/1/B/147A-B – Townland Valuations (c. 1834)
7. PRONI VAL/2/B/1/38 – Griffith’s Valuation (c. 1859)
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/7/1A-E – Annual Revisions (1863-1929)
9. PRONI VAL/3/C/1/21 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57)
10. PRONI VAL/4/B/1/35 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
11. Ulster Town Directories (1861-1918)
12. PRONI Wills Catalogue (1 Aug 1881; 21 Aug 1945)
13. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
14. First Survey Record – HB05/01/010 (1970)
15. NIEA HB Record – HB05/01/010

Secondary Sources
1. Brett, C. E. B., ‘List of historic buildings, groups of buildings and areas of architectural importance in the Glens of Antrim’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1972.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance
Z. Rarity

Evaluation

Detached symmetrical three-bay single-storey with attic rendered house, built c.1832, with flat-roofed extension to rear. This modest house retains a collection of original features to the exterior typical of the mid nineteenth-century and is important as it represents a typology that is rapidly disappearing.