141 Glenelly Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A three-bay two-storey house formalised vernacular house, possibly originating from the early nineteenth century, and located on the south side of Glenelly Road, Plumbridge. Rectangular on plan, facing north, with central porch and attached outbuilding to east.

Roof is pitched natural slate with black clay ridge tiles, saddleback cement skews, a lime rendered chimneystack to right gable and a modern cement rendered stack to left gable. No rainwater goods. Walling is lime wash over rubble stone, with a smooth rendered plinth course. Windows are 2/2 timber sashes with ogee horns and concrete sills (uPVC replacement windows to ground floor front elevation).

Principal elevation faces north. There is an opening to each floor at each bay, symmetrically arranged about a gabled windbreak porch, detailed as house with timber sheeted apex and entrance door.

East gable is abutted by a single storey outbuilding and is otherwise blank. The outbuilding is detailed as house but with pitched corrugated metal roof, a window opening to north and a timber sheeted door to gable.

South elevation has irregular openings, three to ground floor (at different heights, one 1/1 diminished sash, one boarded), and two to first floor with stone sills.

The west gable is blank.

The house is sheltered from the road and surrounded by mature trees; it is accessed from north by a grassed lane, and is set in a yard which is now grassed over. To the rear are a pair of roughly coursed random rubble stone outbuildings bounding a field lane, wih corrugated iron roofs partially in tact, doors and windows are missing; the openings are formed with stone lintels. That to west is split level, with central raised section accessed externally by a set of stone steps containing store to lower level. That to east is single storey. There are concrete block outbuildings to north.

Roof: Pitched natural slate
Walling: Lime washed rubble stone
Windows: 2/2 timber sashes (two uPVC replacements)
RWG: None

Historical information

Buildings are shown on the site on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1832 and these appear to have survived to the present day. Additional buildings appear to the west on the third edition (1905-6) and to the east on the fourth edition (1953).

The buildings are not listed 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 buildings are listed as two separate entries - houses, offices and land, valued at 10s each and leased from Major Humphreys. The occupiers are Michael Gormley and Michael Carr. The houses remain in the Gormley and Carr families throughout the period of Revisions (1864-1924). After 1908, they become the owners in fee (undated change).

In 1933 Neal Gormley is the owner in fee of the present two-storey house. The valuation is subsequently revised to £1.15s and 5s for outbuildings (undated change). The house comprises a kitchen and room on the ground floor and a bedroom on the first floor. The house is of rubble masonry and slated and the attached outbuilding is thatched. The second dwelling on the plot is a single-storey thatched house but by 1943 it is ‘in ruins’ and has been deleted.

The valuation of the property only shows one significant rise, after 1933. Physical inspection of the house, together with map evidence, suggests that it has been extended and perhaps raised. There is a difference in the roofing materials to the rear pitch and a visible seam in the rear elevation which may indicate the enlargement of a smaller structure during the late nineteenth or early twentieth century.

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/6/12/1 – First Edition OS Map (1832)
2. PRONI OS/6/6/12/2 – Second Edition OS Map (1853)
3. PRONI OS/6/6/12/3 – Third Edition OS Map (1905-6)
4. PRONI OS/6/6/12/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map (1953)
5. PRONI VAL/1/A/6/12 – Townland Valuation Map
6. PRONI VAL/1/B/644B – Townland Valuation (1828-40)
7. PRONI VAL/2/A/6/12 – Griffiths’ Valuation Map
8. PRONI VAL/2/B/6/46A – Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64)
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/39/5A-F – Annual Revision Records (1864-1924)
10. PRONI VAL/3/D/7/10L/2 – Valuers’ RV Binder (1933-57)

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A two storey three-bay house, probably dating from the early nineteenth century and later raised and formalised during the late nineteenth or early twentieth centuries, located on the south side of Glenelly Road, Plumbridge. Retaining its simple detailing and having symmetrical openings to the front elevation and good proportions, the house represents a type of farmhouse once common in rural locations. It has traditional lime-washed rubble stone construction and retains most of its original sash windows and other detailing both externally and internally. A rural setting and well proportioned and detailed outbuildings to the rear enhance the character of the house and contribute to its interest.