Coyle's Cottage

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

The building is sited about four miles east of the village of Coagh and less than half a mile from the western shore of Lough Neagh.
It occupies a corner position at the point where the Anneeter Road leads off to the east from the Annaghmore Road that in turn travels north from the Coagh / Newport Trench Road. Coyle’s Cottage stands about half a mile from the latter location.
The house faces slightly north of west.
The roof is thatched between plastered skews, and the scallops at the ridge form a herringbone pattern. A corbelled chimneystack rises on the right hand gable.
The entrance, with a mock sheeted half door, is protected by a windbreak porch under an extension of the thatch covering. There is a vertically sliding window on either side of the entrance with single vertical division of the sashes, exposed framing and with moulded sash stops.
There are two similar windows on the rear elevation.
The wall finishes inside and outside are of whitened plaster
A small corrugated iron clad shed is set beside the left-hand (north) gable of the house.

Historical information

This property is believed to have been built originally as a fisherman’s dwelling. A building is shown on this site on the OS map of 1832, however it has an odd parallelogram-like plan form which does not appear to match what we see today. A structure which does match the present, however, is shown on the revised OS map of 1858-59. When dealing with small buildings such as this it is, (in certain instances), difficult to reconcile their profile to the early OS maps; that said, there is a possibility that this difference in shape means the building we see today is pre 1858, rather than pre 1832.

The fact that the 1830s property is not recorded in the contemporary valuation does not help matters, but the 1858-59 house is recorded in the near contemporary second valuation, with the occupant noted as John Muldoon, the lessor as Archbishop Stuart and the rateable value a very modest 5/-.

The building was acquired by the Muintirevlin Historical Society and restored in 1993 to accommodate a small museum and meeting place. At that time it was rethatched with reed from the Lough Neagh shore. However , apparantly because of the sulphate content of the reed, it proved to have a short life and had to be rethatched with imported material.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI VAL/1A/6/31 OS map, County Tyrone sheet 31, with valuation
references, (1832-c.38)
2 PRONI VAL/2A/6/31A Revised OS map, County Tyrone sheet 31, with valuation references, (1858 / 59)
3 PRONI VAL/2B/6/18E Second valuation, Arboe (1859)

Secondary sources
1 Information on a commemorative plaque next to the entrance of the building (installed c.1993)
2 EHS file.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
F. Structural System
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

W. Northern Ireland/International Interest
Z. Rarity

Evaluation

This single storey, two-bay, direct entry thatched house is located in the heart of the rural community of Ardboe and not far from the western shore of Lough Neagh.
The building is important not only as a tourist attraction, but also as a virtually unaltered example of a two-room cottage that retains the original roof timberwork.

General comments

Part of Thatch Survey.