103 Newpark Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Small single storey thatched (‘direct entry’) vernacular house of probable pre 1830 origin, sympathetically refurbished and extended (lengthways) in recent years. The property is set on a rise to the N of Newpark Road, roughly three miles W of the small village of Dromore, about 10 miles SW of Omagh.

The front elevation faces roughly S and is asymmetrical. Roughly to the centre is a timber sheeted ‘stable’ door set within a small shallow ‘lean-to’ porch whose thatched roof merges with the main roof. To left of the porch is a square window with 8/8 timber sash frame, concrete sill and timber lintel. To the right of the porch (and closer to it) is a similar window.

The W gable is blank. The E gable has a centrally positioned window, as front but with 2/2 sash frame and a sill created from two flat stones. The rear elevation is blank but has a shallow ‘bed-outshoot’ to the left (E) side.

The façade is of whitewashed rubble stone with portions of the W gable in whitewashed brick (this gable was raised slightly recently). The very eastern end of the building (i.e. beyond the eastern chimneystack) is a recent extension and the size and coursing of the rubble is somewhat different (overall the stones are larger to this section).

The gabled roof is thatched and has cement rendered parapets and two cement rendered chimneystacks (one to W gable the other to E of centre).

The property is approached by a long, straight, gently rising well-maintained lane opening off Newpark Road. A small area of ground around the house is enclosed by a recent-looking low dry stone wall with vehicle gateway to W side with timber gate and conical-capped round gate piers.

Historical information

A building is shown on this site on the OS map of 1834, but it is not recorded in the contemporary valuation returns (undoubtedly because of its modest proportions). The property is recorded in the second valuation of 1858 as occupied by a Patrick McQuaid and rated at 15 shillings, but no other details are provided. The late 19th / early 20th century valuation revision notebooks indicate that no noteworthy alterations were made to the property after 1866 (at least).

The McQuaid family and their descendants remained in possession of the house until the second half of the 20th century. After lying vacant for some years the property was acquired by the present owner. Recently the building was extended and refurbished, with a completely new roof and new window frames added in the process.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI OS/6/6/49/1 OS map, Tyrone 49, 1834
2 PRONI VAL/1B/629 First valuation, Dromore parish, c.1834
3 PRONI OS/6/6/49/2 OS map, Tyrone 49, 1858
4 PRONI VAL/2B/6/33B Second valuation, Dromore parish, 1858
5 PRONI VAL/12B/40/4a-f Annual valuation revision notebooks, Moorfield ED, 1866-1929

Secondary sources
1 Information supplied by the present owner

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
Z. Rarity

Evaluation

A now rare example of a small single storey thatched (‘direct entry’) vernacular house of probable pre 1830 origin, sympathetically refurbished and extended (lengthways) in recent years.