Droagh Cottage

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A one and a half storey three-bay cottage built of stone and finished in roughcast, with a two-storey L-shaped extension to the rear, the small courtyard between the cottage and the end return of the extension being entered through a pair of square gate piers surmounted by urn finials.

Main entrance faces west.

Elevations are informal in arrangement except for the entrance front of the cottage which is symmetrical with a window to each side of the central entrance and a chimney to each gable. Roofs are slated and gabled with overhanging eaves except for an asphalt covering to the flat roof of the porch. Rain-water goods are cast-iron except for a plastic gutter to the porch, while windows are small-paned wooden sashes throughout except for modern roof-vents to a rear return within the courtyard.

Windows to the front cottage are set in rectangular stucco architraves while those of the two-storey extension are set in plain reveals. Painted stone quoins to all external corners except one rounded corner to the return wing at ground floor level. There is a single-storey canted bay to the north gable of the cottage and two-storey canted bays to the long side and rear elevations of the extension. The main architectural feature of the exterior is the projecting pilastered entrance porch which has small-paned French windows and fanlights, all of Georgian glazing pattern, to each end, but has had some mouldings cut off in order to make it open-fronted. The floor of the porch is entirely laid with an original panel of coloured tiles of geometrical pattern, but the front door and glazed side-lights are modern.

SETTING: The house stands on a coastal site in attractive and well-kept grounds which are approached through a pair of plain panelled roughcast and rendered gate piers surmounted by urn finials.

Historical information

The date of original construction is not known but the front cottage with a return to the rear appears for the first time on the second OS map, of 1857. The return was extended and given an upper storey in 1867 to the design of the architect William Hastings of Belfast, for Sir Edward Coey.

References - Primary

1. OS map of 1857;

Secondary

1. C.E.B. Brett, Buildings of County Antrim (Belfast, 1996) p 235 (although this source is unreliable in regard to dating and to the first appearance on an OS map).

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

This is a very attractive and conspicuous house set in well-kept grounds on an open coastal site and presents elevations of almost entirely unspoilt 19th century appearance on all sides but which lacks sufficient overall formality of arrangement or sufficient interior features of interest to merit listing.