24 Meenablagh Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

The building faces south-east and is sited a field’s length away from the road at the end of a lane.. This road travels south-west from the T junction it forms with the road from Castlederg to Donegal Town.Donegal Town is about nine miles away. The house is seen about 300 yards from the T junction. On the lane approach to the house a new ( NIHE) provided" replacement " dwelling has been built.
A two structural bay direct entry thatched house with harled and painted stone walls. The roof is thatched between concrete parapets and each gable rises to a chimneystack with a narrow corbelled capping. The timber sheeted entrance door is protected by a square jambed windbreak porch, with flat concrete roof.The entrance is flanked on either side by a vertically sliding window with sashes divided into two vertically.

An outbuilding abutting the left (south-west) gable is roofed with corrugated iron terminated by a concrete parapet. The door is timber sheeted. On the opposite gable there are the remains of another corrugated iron roofed structure this time with a timber plank entrance door.

At the rear there are two window openings. That towards the north-east end is vertically sliding with plain sashes and chamfered sash stops. The other window, positioned almost half way along the elevation, is plain.

Historical information

A building is shown on this site on the OS map of 1833 / 34, but it is not noted in the contemporary valuation. The second valuation of 1858 tells us that the house was then occupied by a Neil McFergus, with Sir Robert Ferguson the immediate lessor. The rateable value is recorded as a modest 10/-.

A survey of this building carried out in 1992 by Colin Hatrick of EHS reported that the layout and roof structure were original and that the roof was in a fair condition. In 1994 Michele McFaul reported to EHS that re-thatching was required; since then the thatched covering has deteriorated, but a restoration scheme is contemplated.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI VAL/1A/6/14 OS map, County Tyrone sheet 14, with valuation
references, (1833 / 34-c.38)
2 PRONI VAL/2A/6/14A Revised OS map, County Tyrone sheet 14, with valuation references, (1858 / 59)
3 PRONI VAL/2B/6/38A Second valuation, Termonamongan (1858)

Other references
1 EHS file

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
F. Structural System
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
Z. Rarity

Evaluation

A two structural bay direct entry thatched house with harled and painted stone walls. The roof is thatched between concrete parapets and each gable rises to a chimneystack with a narrow corbelled capping.
The house remains in the original state and exhibits a type of construction of which only a few examples remain in this part of North Tyrone.