28A Strabane Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

The house faces south overlooking the main road from Castlederg to Strabane about three quarters of a mile from the centre of the former town.

Visited in 2000 and described as:

A single storey, two structural bay, direct entry, thatched house with gables. The construction is of stone with a harled and whitened finish and the roof is thatched between cement skews. Each gable rises to a chimneystack with projecting flaunched top. The left-hand (west) stack is provided with a projecting flue liner.

The timber sheeted entrance door with upper part glazed is protected by a square jambed windbreak porch with projecting black base and a lean-to concrete slab roof with a gutter on the front face. The porch is flanked on either side by a vertically sliding window with sashes divided into two vertically. The frames are exposed, sash stops are curved and sills are of intermediate depths at the leading faces. These openings have been sealed. The extremities of the house terminate in shallow pilasters. Two windows at the rear modern in form have been sealed also.

There are three lean-to annexes one at the right hand (west) end of the rear elevation of concrete construction with a corrugated iron roof. A second of similar construction abuts the right hand (east) gable of the house and in its turn the third annex is placed to the rear of the second unit with a corrugated iron roof falling the opposite way to its neighbour.

Roof of building collapsed in 2005 destroying much internal fabric and the external walls.

Historical information

A building which appears to (largely) match the present is shown on the OS map of 1833 / 34, but is not noted in the contemporary valuation, as it was presumably below rateable value. It is noted in the second valuation of 1858, however, with the occupant recorded as a Charles McMullan, the lessor Sir Robert Ferguson, and the rateable value a modest £1.

The roof was in fair condition when surveyed in 1992 and also when visited in 1994, however by this time patching was required. The roof had competly fallen in in 2005 when revisted destroying much of the historic fabric and supporting walls

Planning permission for and extension and alterations was granted on 20 July 1990, but in a letter of 18 March 1992 the owner stated that she was not proceeding with the scheme.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI VAL/1A/6/16 OS map, County Tyrone sheet 16, with valuation
references, (1833 / 34-c.38)
2 PRONI VAL/2A/6/16B Revised OS map, County Tyrone sheet 16, with valuation references, (1858 / 59)
3 PRONI VAL/2B/6/39 Second valuation, Urney (1859)

Sercondary sources
1 EHS files

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed
Not listed

Evaluation

This was a single storey, two structural bay, direct entry, whitened thatched house with gables, with its original layout. The provision of a proper staircase, the existence of the hearth and the purlin roof construction were also items of interest. However the roof and walls have now collapsed in on the building destroying much of the historic fabric.
The site was cleared in mid-summer 2006.