9 Mullawinny Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

The building faces south-east beside a narrow roadway that widens to form an area in front of the house. Mullawinney Road travels in a westerly direction off the road from Fintona to the Dromore/Omagh road about three miles from the former town. The house is located half a mile from the intersection.

A direct entry, 3 structural bay, thatched house of stone with a whitened finish. The roof of the dwelling is thatched between a cement skew at the left (south-west) and a stone coping at the right (north-east). The corbelled chimneystacks are plastered and whitened, one rises above the right hand (north-east) gable and the other serve the kitchen hearth. There are no pots. Rushes had formed the roof covering for a number of years.

The entrance with timber sheeted door is protected by a square jambed windbreak porch that is finished smooth in plaster and whitened to match the house. The lean-to roof is of corrugated iron.

The porch is flanked to the right (north-east) by one and to the left (south-west) by two vertically sliding windows with sashes divided horizontally into two panes. That on the right has the topmost glazing bar missing, sash stops are splayed and the sill is of intermediate depth at the face. The openings to the left of the porch are not provided with sills, that nearest to the porch is without sash stops and the other has moulded sash stops. There are three windows at the rear, a modern timber window lights the kitchen and the rooms at the rear of the parlour each has a small plain-glazed window.

The building extends to the left (south-west) first as a barn and then as a byre. The walls are of stone with a whitened finish, the roofs are of corrugated iron and the entrance doors are of timber sheeting. The byre has horizontal-shaped window in both the front and the rear walls, blocked with corrugated iron at the rear.

The barn has a plastic skylight set into the front slope of the roof.

A further lean-to corrugated iron roofed concrete block annex is set against the gable of the byre. It is entered by a framed and corrugated iron door and is lighted by a small top-hung window.

At the rear of the barn there is a concrete block structure with lean-to corrugated iron roof. Only the upper part of the entrance door is in place and there are two foursquare metal framed windows in the back wall.

A stable of stone construction with brick dressings attached to the right hand (north-east) gable of the house has a pitched corrugated iron roof. The timber sheeted stable door has metal sheet added over the top leaf and it is flanked by a small foursquare timber window. Above this structure the gable contains a top-hung metal window, without sill, lighting the accommodation in the roofspace.

Historical information

A building which appears to match the present is shown on this site on the OS map of 1833, but not noted in the contemporary valuation. It is noted in the second valuation of 1859, with the occupant recorded as James Orr, the immediate lessor as Alexander Warnock, and the rateable value calculated at £1.

When surveyed in 1992 the thatch was in fair condition, but had deteriorated to poor at the front and very bad at the rear by the time of the 1994 survey. In 1996 the roof over the parlour and the two small bedrooms was re-thatched, with the entire roof re-thatched in 2001, by Gerry Agnew, using a layer of flax below a covering of wheat straw.

References- Primary sources
1 OS map, 1st edition 1833, Co. Tyrone sheet 42
2. PRONI VAL/1A/6/42 OS map, County Tyrone sheet 42, with valuation
references, (1833-c.38)
3. OS map, 1st revision 1853, Co. Tyrone sheet 42
4. PRONI VAL/2A/6/42A Revised OS map, County Tyrone sheet 56, with valuation references, (1858)
5. PRONI VAL/2B/6/30 Second valuation, Donacavey (1858)

Secondary sources

1. EHS files
2. Information from owner, May 1994, May 2003

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
Z. Rarity

Evaluation

A single storey 3 bay, direct entry, whitened stone house with thatched roof is located about three and a half miles from the town of Dromore.It dates from at least the early 19th.C. A windbreak porch, with lean-to corrugated iron roof, is flanked to the right by one and to the left by two vertically sliding windows with sashes divided into two horizontally. Accommodation in the right hand bay of the roofspace is lighted by a metal-framed window to the left of centre on the gable.

The building extends to the left first as a barn and then as a byre. At the rear the barn is extended by a lean-to structure and there is a further annex set against the gable of the byre. A stable is attached to the right hand gable of the house.