71 Kilmore Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached three-bay single-storey direct-entry vernacular dwelling with attic, built c.1820, located to the east side of Kilmore Road. Direct-entry rectangular plan with windbreak porch to east; gabled retunn and lean-to extension to west.

Roof is pitched corrugated asbestos sheeted with concrete verges; rendered chimneys. Walls are lime-rendered over rubble construction. Windows are timber-framed 2/2 and 6/6 sliding sashes with exposed sash boxes; all have stone sills.

Principal elevation faces east; left and right bays each contain single window; central bay contains single window at left flanked at right by windbreak porch with concrete roof containing vertically-sheeted timber door.

South gable is blank (exposed rubble).

West elevation is abutted at centre by gabled return containing vertically-sheeted timber door; abutted at right by lean-to extension; exposed section at left contains single window.

North gable is blank (exposed rubble).

Set within farmyard with single-storey outbuilding to west and north; each have corrugated metal roof and rubble walling and are abutted at gable-ends by further byres and sheds. Directly to south, multi-bay stable-block abutted to east by higher shed; further pair of rubble sheds to south with barrell-roofed shed to south-west. To east, one-and-a-half-storey rubble barn with fieldstone quoins; corrugated metal roof; openings are supported by timber lintels. Single-storey replacement dwelling to east of range.

Roof Corrugated asbestos sheeting
Walling Lime-rendered rubble
Windows Timber-framed 2/2 and 6/6 sliding sash
Rainwater goods Cast-iron half-round gutters and round downpipes

Historical information

This group of buildings forms what might be described as a ‘clachan’, a term signifying a group of houses where no formal building, such as a shop or post office, is present and where the occupiers are tied by bonds of kinship. There are buildings present on the site on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1833 and the current house appears to be one of these.

The buildings do not appear in the Townland Valuation (1828-40), most likely because they were not deemed to be of sufficient value. In Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64) the plot is divided into three, but appears to be occupied by members of the Irwin family and leased from Henry Echlin. The present house is occupied by William Irwin and valued at £1.15s, later revised to £2. In 1910 Charles Irwin becomes the owner in fee under land purchase legislation of the early twentieth century.

Post 1933, Robert Irwin is the owner and the value of the house is revised to £2.10s and 10s for outbuildings (undated change). The house comprises a kitchen, two rooms, two small rooms, a loft and one attic bedroom. The valuer comments that, ‘Drinking water a long way off. Attic only used for lumber.’ The house is of rubble masonry and thatch with two small returns, one roofed with corrugated iron and the other with slate.

The building is distinctly vernacular in style and materials, and plan form. The presence of an attic indicates that the eaves height of the building may have been raised to accommodate this, perhaps in the early twentieth century.

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/6/24/1 – First Edition OS Map (1833)
2. PRONI OS/6/6/24/2 – Second Edition OS Map (1855)
3. PRONI OS/6/6/24/3 – Third Edition OS Map (1905)
4. PRONI OS/6/6/24/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map (1939-50)
5. PRONI VAL/1/A/6/24 – Townland Valuation Map
6. PRONI VAL/1/B/635A – Townland Valuation (1828-40)
7. PRONI VAL/2/A/6/24 – Griffiths’ Valuation Map
8. PRONI VAL/2/B/6/37B – Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64)
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/35/4A-F – Annual Revision Records (1860-1923)
10. PRONI VAL/3/D/7/1F/2 – Valuers’ RV Binder (1933-57)

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

A detached three-bay single-storey direct-entry vernacular dwelling with attic, built c.1820, located to the east side of Kilmore Road. This simple vernacular building retains much of its original character and fabric and retains a stone staircase internally; typically, internal stairs were constructed of timber. The site has a range of outbuildings surrounding the house. Although of some interest, loss of the original roof covering and deterioration of the original fabric, undermines the character of the building and it does not merit listing.