The Ghost House

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Substantial 3-bay, 1¾ storey stone built vernacular dwelling apparently built for a gentleman. The approach is by a straight metalled driveway from the country road aligned on the front door. Near the far end of the drive is a covered stone well head and at the dwelling end it opens out into a semi-circle opening against the front of the building. The whole length including the semi-circle is lined by stone ditches, now overgrown.

The building is rubble stone throughout including two chimneys. All lintels in every opening are single spanning stones in pairs, ie, outside and inside stones. Some openings have been blocked but no new ones have been broken out.

The roof is now tin on a modern timber frame. Tradition has it that it had been thatched until c. 1950 and one early half-dressed timber truss remains on the lower room floor in support of this.

The front door is in the central bay. There are distinct signs of the previous existence of a shallow projecting dressed stone encasement or porch but this has been taken away leaving the ragged backing stones.

There is a front window into each of the three bays at ground and first floor level although the window into the upper room at first floor has been blocked with rubble stonework. The corner stones and the stepped gable skew stones are of regular size and roughly dressed. At the upper gable there is a door into the first floor possibly approached by an earthen ramp, most of which has gone.

At the rear there are two ground floor doors, one into the main room and one into the upper room. There is also a window into the central room. At the lower gable there is a window to the first floor only. No joinery of any kind remains.

Site and Setting – The garden enclosure may have been circular but it is difficult to be sure now.

Historical information

It appears on the 1834 OS map and the first Valuation. Families occupying the house through history have been Burnside, Corrigan, Murphy, Montgomery and Warnock. It was then purchased by the Department of Agriculture. It is not possible to date the house but due to its size and configuration it may represent a blend between a standard single storey vernacular house and a larger more formal 2 storey house of a wealthier farmer and could have been built during the eighteenth century.

Local legend, tells of a poltergeist that appeared to the female members of the Warnock family between 1900 and 1930 when the Warnock's emigrated to America. The ghost is purported to have emigrated with them.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Pre-1830 one and a half storey house in a semi derelict condition, of a basically vernacular lobby entry plan which is reported to have been thatched until the 1950s. It is a robust house of stone construction with a narrow formal approach framed by stone ditches. The Ghost house has some fame due to local stories about an alleged poltergeist which appeared to the female members of the resident family in the early years of the twentieth century. Unfortunately due to the loss of the original roof construction and other details including, windows, doors and staircase, it has insufficient architectural and historic interest to warrant listing.