66 Drumhubbert Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

The house is sited about 3 miles east of Stewartstown. Shortly after leaving the town a turn is made to the right (east), then by turning south in about three quarters of a mile and skirting the south side of Drumcairne Forest the building is seen standing a little distance to the north-east. The house faces west and overlooks a small topiary garden

The dwelling is single-storey with a roughcast and whitened external. The roof is thatched between skews composed of pre-cast concrete flags. The eaves are square cut.

There are three corbelled chimneystacks, two on the gables above the skews, and one over the position of the kitchen hearth. Each stack is provided with one chimney pot. The entrance, protected by a square-jambed windbreak porch under an extension of thatched roof, contains a timber-sheeted door.

There are five 6/6 vertically sliding sashed windows lighting this part of the front elevation, two to the left (north) of the entrance and three to the right (south)

The building extends in natural slated roofed construction in two planes. First slightly recessed from the main house and containing two 6/6 vertically sliding sashed windows. This is followed by a projecting section that also presents a bay roofed by a lean-to extension of the main roof and containing a single vertically sliding sashed window. This roof is delineated by concrete skews. Rainwater good are of metal.

At the rear of the thatched part there is a kitchen extension with precast concrete flagged skews. There are three 6/6 vertically sliding sashed windows of reduced size and the timber sheeted half door incorporates a viewing panel. The rear wall of the thatched house has one 3/6 vertically sliding sashed window on the wall face at the left-hand side of the kitchen. This is followed by a recessed portion matching the front and containing two similar windows. Finally a projection matching the front has one vertically sliding window of the usual type

The window frames in the house are not provided with sash stops and sills are of traditional depths at the leading faces.

Historical information

The present owner states that this house was built around 1760, but as yet no evidence has been produced to confirm this. A building matching the location and plan of the present is shown on OS map of 1834. The contemporary valuation ‘officially’ records none of the houses within this townland as none were ‘worth £5 (per annum)’, however a earlier draft of the townland within the same valuation book supplies the details of one property, an old thatched dwelling in good condition (quality letter 2C+), occupied by an Isaac Bell and measuring 43½ft x 18 x 7. We can be in no way certain to which building this refers, however.

The house is recorded in the second valuation, when it was occupied by a James Abernethy, who leased it from a William McGaw. The rateable value is given as £1-10-0. A descendant of James Abernethy continues to live in the property.

Work that was implemented in 1980 involved attention to various elements including the thatch covering, by Irish Thatchers Ltd., Dungannon.The chimney, wall finishes and windows also had work done.
The major scheme that was carried out during 1999-2000 included re-thatching by Kit Davis, thatcher, using water reed.This work included extensive reconstructoin of the property including the entire southern end and rear return. (The southern gable fell down at the beginning of the work.)

References-

Primary sources
1 PRONI VAL/1A/6/47 OS map, County Tyrone sheet 47, with valuation
references, (1833 / 34-c.38)
2 PRONI VAL/1B/618 First valuation, Arboe (1834)
3 PRONI VAL/2A/6/47A Revised OS map, County Tyrone sheet 47, with valuation references, (1858 / 59)
4 PRONI VAL/2B/6/18C Second valuation, Ardtrea (1859)

Secondary sources
1 Pierce, Richard, Cooey, Alistair and Oram, Richard, ‘Taken for Granted…’ (Belfast, 1984), p.81
2 Information from owner, 3 January 2001

Other references
1 EHS Monitoring of Thatched Buildings, report by Colin Hatrick to EHS, 27 May 1994

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Z. Rarity
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

The house which is located about three miles east of Stewartstown has been the subject of a major overhaul. This has resulted in a reasonable appearance externally. It is considered that the extensions blend well with the old structure. Internally the original layout remains, apart from the insertion of the bathroom, and new materials have been used in a traditional manner.