Cloonty Cottage,

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A one-and-a-half storey two-bay estate cottage, built c.1850, located on the east side of the Cloonty Road. Rectangular on plan with gabled projecting porch rising above eaves and kitchen extension to rear.

Roof is pitched local slate (laid in diminishing courses) with dormers, angled ridge tiles and cement rendered skews carrying ashlar sandstone gable chimneystacks. Brick eaves carry half-round cast-iron rainwater goods. Walling is random rubble laid to courses with dressed and tooled stone quoins. Windows to principal elevation are bi-partite timber casements with timber mullions, having brick dressings and without cills. Remainder are replacement timber sashes with concrete cills.

Principal elevation faces north and is symmetrically arranged with a window to either side of the porch. Two dormers have herringbone timber apexes and cheeks, and timber bargeboards. The porch has a replacement glazed and sheeted timber door with brass furniture, set in stepped brick reveals and accessed by a stone step.

Left gable is blank.

Rear elevation is abutted at centre by the extension, which is detailed as house but with exposed rafter ends. There is a 2/2 sash window to right bay only. Extension has a timber sheeted door and 1/1 sash with horns to gable; 3/6 sash to each cheek (all openings formed in brick).

Right gable has a window (as principal elevation) to left.

Setting:
The house is set on estate land in close proximity to the eastern boundary of Baronscourt demesne. It occupies a corner site at a Y-junction, and is surrounded by a small grass garden bounded by hedges. An axial gravel path from the principal entrance leads to a wrought-iron pedestrian gate. To rear (south) is an outbuilding with monopitched roof and random rubble stone walls, comprising a garage with square-headed opening flanked by t&g sheeted doors accessing sheds. All entrances are formed in brick and set on large stone plinth blocks; due to the slight slope that to west is accessed by two concrete steps.

Roof: Pitched local slate, diminishing courses
Walling: Random rubble stone
Windows: Bi-partite timber casements, sliding sashes to extension
RWG: Half-round cast-iron

Historical information

Cloonty Cottage, thought to date to c.1850, first appears in the 1854 OS map as a small rectangular building, almost square. It is shown on the 1907 OS map possibly slightly enlarged and by 1947 the porch is shown. The building is not labelled on any of the OS maps. The kitchen appears to have been built in the late twentieth century.

The building does not appear on the Townland Valuations Records (1828-1840), which state that there are no buildings in Cloonty townland worth more than five pounds a year. Griffith’s Valuation (c.1859) records that the property is leased from the Marquis of Abercorn by Jane Fyffe and is valued at £1. The valuations remain unchanged throughout the first three Annual Revision Records (1860-1881), The properties were renumbered in subsequent revisions so it was not possible to establish a value after this date.

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/6/17/1 -First Edition OS Map (1833)
2. PRONI OS/6/6/17/2 -Second Edition OS Map (1854)
3. PRONI OS/6/6/17/3 -Third Edition OS Map (1907)
4. PRONI VAL/1B/637A -Townland Valuation Map (1828-40)
5. PRONI VAL/2/A/6/17A -Griffith’s Valuation Map (1856-64)
6. PRONI VAL/2/B/6/17 -Griffith’s Valuation (1856-1925)
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/42/7A-F -Annual Revision Records (1860-1925)

Secondary Sources

1. Bence-Jones, M. “A Guide to Irish Country Houses.” Second Revised Edition. London: Constable and Robinson, 1990.
2. Day, A. and P. McWilliams, eds. “OS Memoirs of Ireland, Parishes of County Tyrone I, 1821, 1823, 1833-36, Vol. 5.” Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, 1990.
3. Dean, J. A. K. “The Gate Lodges of Ulster.” Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1994.
4. Lewis, S. “A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, Vol. I.” London: S. Lewis & Co., 1837.
5. O’Brien, J. and D. Guinness. “Great Irish Houses and Castles.” London: George Weidenfield & Nicolson Ltd., 1992.
6. Rowan, A. “North West Ulster: Londonderry, Donegal, Fermanagh, and Tyrone.” Dublin: Penguin Books, 1979.
7. The Irish Architectural Archive Dublin. [Internet Source]. Available from: (Accessed 22/04/09)
8. Young, R.M. “Belfast and the Province of Ulster in the Twentieth Century.” Brighton” W. T. Pike, 1909

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

V. Authorship
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Cloonty Cottage is an attractive one-and-a-half storey two-bay estate cottage, built c.1850, located along Cloonty Road, Newtownstewart, in close proximity to Baronscourt demesne. The house is arranged symmetrically, with dormers, about a gabled porch which rises above eaves, enhancing its diminutive proportions. Materials have a strong local character, with local slate laid in diminishing courses, and good stonework construction. The extension has been sympathetically handled and the setting remains unspoiled. Along with Rock Cottage (HB10/04/001H), this is an important part of the historic Baronscourt group.

General comments

Renumbered as part of a group-previously HB10/04/049