92 Battery Road,

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

This is a detached two-storey vernacular-style farm building, built c.1838. It is rectangular in plan.

External walls are whitewashed roughcast render. The roof is pitched with natural slate. There is a plain rendered chimney to the South gable and a bellcote to the North gable. The rendered bellcote has a round-headed opening, the bell of which has been removed. Rainwater goods are cast-iron.

The front South elevation faces onto the Road, and is gable-ended. It has a round-headed window to the first floor with a roundel and datestone over. The windows is 1/1 timber sliding sash frame set on a painted cut-stone sill. The roundel is open to the interior, having no glazing. It is surmounted by a datestone inscribed ‘E.D. 1838’. There is a plain rendered chimney to the apex of the gable.

The side West elevation has segmental-headed windows to the ground and first floor. Windows are 1/1, as previous.

The rear North elevation is gable-ended. It is obscured at ground level by a single-storey outhouse addition. There is a square-headed opening at first floor level. There is a bellcote to the apex of the gable.

The side East elevation has two segmental-headed doors to the ground floor with painted timber sheeted doors. The first floor has a further segmental-headed opening, smaller in size, perhaps a former access door.

Setting:

The building is on the North side of Battery Road within the Drumenny (Conyngham) townland. It is accessed via a gateway immediately to the Southwest. The entrance gateway curves inwards. There are two rounded pillars surmounted by smooth conical cappings. The gate is wrought-iron and opens onto a grazed area; this is now in use as a garden for the adjoining house. There are further modern rendered pillars to the Southeast, leading to a tarmac entrance drive. It is located to the East of Cookstown near the shores of Lough Neagh to the East.

Historical information

The date stone indicates that this structure was built in 1838, however the identity of the builder ‘E.D.’ is a mystery. The accompanying house it was built to serve is shown on the OS map 1833-34, and marked ‘Ivy Vale’ on that of 1853. The occupant of Ivy Vale is recorded in the 1859 valuation as a Catherine Costello, but unfortunately no details of the buildings themselves are supplied.

The property came into the hands of the Rodgers family in 1875, who retained it until 1951, when a Gerald Tennyson is noted as the householder.

The current owner stated that the building may have been used as a soup kitchen during the Great famine of 1846 - 53, but had no documentary evidence to support this.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI OS/6/6/31/1 OS map, Co Tyrone sheet 31, 1833-34
2 PRONI VAL/2A/6/31B OS map, Co Tyrone sheet 31, with valuation
references, 1853-57(-59)
3 PRONI VAL/2B/6/18C Second valuation, Arboe parish, 1859
4 PRONI VAL/12B/37/13A Annual valuation revision book, Munterelvin ED, 1860-63
5 PRONI VAL/12B/37/13B Annual valuation revision book, Munterelvin ED, 1864-80
6 PRONI VAL/12B/37/13C Annual valuation revision book, Munterelvin ED, 1881
7 PRONI VAL/12B/37/13D Annual valuation revision book, Munterelvin ED, 1882-96
8 PRONI VAL/12B/37/13E Annual valuation revision book, Munterelvin ED, 1897-1912
9 PRONI VAL/12B/37/13A Annual valuation revision book, Munterelvin ED, 1912-29
10 PRONI VAL/3C/7/6 First general revaluation of Northern Ireland, Munterelvin ED, 1936-57

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
Z. Rarity

Evaluation

This is a detached two-storey vernacular-style farm building, built c.1838. Its robust proportions and unusual details suggest that it was more than a utilitarian structure. It is a most unusual form and a rare survival of a small two-storey road fronting vernacular farm building.