20 Ranaghan Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

The house is sited along a short lane that proceeds in a south-westerly direction off Ranaghan Road about a mile and a quarter from the centre of Maghera.

A dwarf wall with coping and entrance gate stands before the exposed part of the front elevation and a wall of increased height, minus a coping, appears in front of the second and last outbuilding on the north-west side.

The house faces north-east and is by-passed on the left (south-east) side to give access to a range of plastic-covered outbuildings.

The house is single storey, five-bay, direct entry with a plastered and whitened wall finish above a coloured base that is a feature at the front only. Abutting the right (north-west) gable a store has been incorporated within the dwelling transforming it from four to five bays. The walls of this bay and of an adjoining annex are of whitened stone without contrasting bases.

The roof is covered with corrugated iron and terminates at the gables by means of concrete copings. Corbelled chimney stacks, each with one clay pot, rise from either gable and there is a further stack positioned left of centre to serve the kitchen fireplace. The former store has a pitched corrugated iron roof with a timber bargeboard and the adjoining annex is lean-to roofed.

The entrance is within a projecting feature contains a scullery and a bathroom under an extension of the main roof. This unit is lighted by two metal-framed windows and has a sheeted door.

The widows lighting the front of the building are all metal framed. There are three to the left (south-east) of the kitchen / bathroom projection, one to the right and another lighting the former store now part of the dwelling. This unit is provided with a timber ledged and sheeted external door. The adjoining annex has a timber sheeted door and a timber window made up of two vertical panes.

The left-hand gable is pierced by an entrance containing a flush door.

The rear of the house is lighted by four smaller windows.
Starting from the south-east corner there is a vertical window, partially blocked, then a small plain square opening, followed by a window comprising two horizontal panes.
Between this and the end window, of the top-hung variety, there occurs a boiler house projection under an extension of the main roof and with a timber sheeted door.

Historical information

The house appears on the 1832 OS map and on the revision of 1854. The scullery / bathroom extension and the small annex on the north-west gable are later.

References – Primary Sources

1. OS map, 1st edition 1834, Co. Londonderry sheet 36
2. OS map, 1st revision 1854, Co. Londonderry sheet 36

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
D. Plan Form
F. Structural System
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Z. Rarity
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

The house faces NE and is sited up a short lane off the Ranaghan Road about a mile and a quarter from Maghera. T is a single storey, five-bay, direct entry house. The layout remains intact and the early roof structure is unaltered. Although the window openings at the front have been altered and the scullery / bathroom unit has been added the building retains a cohesion that makes a positive contribution to the immediate landscape.