47 Tirnony Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A one and a half storey, four bay direct entry thatched house with whitened roughcast finish above a black base at the front.
The house faces south-east with the gable overlooking Tirnony Road that travels in a north-westerly direction from Grillagh Road that intersects with the Maghera/Swatragh road just south of Grillagh Bridge about a mile and a half north of Maghera. The house is positioned three-quarters of a mile along Tirnony Road.

The thatch covering is contained within raised parapet gables that each rise to a chimney stack with projecting flaunched capping. There is a similar feature above the position of the main hearth. The stacks are not provided with pots.

Originally two dwellings the building has been converted to a single occupancy taking care to retain as much as possible of the layouts, roof structures and detailing.

The larger unit to the right (north-east) is entered by means of a timber sheeted half door that is flanked to the right by two and to the left by one vertically sliding window with sashes divided into two horizontally. The frames are exposed, sash stops are moulded and sills are of intermediate depths at the leading faces. The gable to the roadside is without fenestration.

The kitchen at the rear has been has been restored to complement the house by providing a pitched natural slate roof in place of the existing lean-to construction. The verges and the eaves are finished with brickwork as is the corbelled chimney. The entrance door is timber sheeted and the window matches the other types used throughout. Rainwater goods are of metal with the gutter on rise and fall brackets. There is pair of conservation type rooflights and the space between this unit and the main house is roofed with butyl

The smaller left-hand unit has a timber ledged, braced and sheeted entrance door and a window to the left is of similar construction to those already described but is of increased width. A window of the usual type lights the upper bedroom in the left-hand gable and there is a small plain sashed window either side of the kitchen extension at the rear to light the shower room off the main bedroom in the right-hand part of the building and the bathroom in the left-hand part of the house.

Historical information

A building is shown on this site on the OS map of 1831-32, but not recorded in the (near) contemporary valuation. The present Tirnony Road had not been cut by this date, however it is shown on the revised OS map of 1856-57. The valuation of 1856 records the occupant of the house as a David Kissick, with James Clarke [Clark] the immediate lessor, and the rateable value calculated at £1. At some point after this the property appears to have divided into two dwellings, but is now a single property once again.

When surveyed in the early 1990s the thatch was covered by corrugated iron, but the layout was intact and the roof timbers in place, prompting every effort to be made towards restoration. In 1998-99 the roof was re-thatched using flax over a bed of straw and the kitchen annex to the rear altered in order to allow it to successfully blend in with the rest of the building.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI VAL/1A/5/2 OS map, County Londonderry sheet 32, with valuation
references, (1831-32)
2 PRONI VAL/2A/5/32 Revised OS map, County Londonderry sheet 32, with valuation references, (1856 / 57)
3 PRONI VAL/2B/5/34 Second valuation, Killelagh, (1856)

Other references
1 EHS Report by Colin Hatrick, September 1993
2 EHS Report by Colin Hatrick, 29 November 1998
3 EHS Report by Colin Hatrick, 29 November 1998

Although the thatched roof covering was not exposed, but was covered with corrugated iron an inspection in 1993 revealed that the layout was intact and that the roof timbers remained undisturbed prompting every effort to be made towards restoration.
The roof was re-thatched using flax over a bed of straw in 1998 and the overall scheme was completed in mid 1999. The kitchen annex was finished to EHS/PHB recommendations.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
F. Structural System

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
Z. Rarity

Evaluation

The house faces south east and is located just over two miles from Maghera along the Tirnony Road a short distance from the main Maghera / Swatragh road. It is a one and a half storey, four bay direct entry thatched house with whitened roughcast wall finish above a black base at the front.
This is an excellent example of the restoration of a thatch under tin building (TUT). The work has been carried out to a high standard and the layout of the former two dwellings has been retained as much as possible in the process of forming a single occupancy. Insertion of modern facilities has been achieved successfully and the original roof construction has been strengthened as necessary. The addition of a pitched roof and use of appropriate detailing has ensured that the restoration of the kitchen annex complements the house.