Breen’s Cottage

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A one and a half storey, originally lobby entry, thatched house. The house is set back behind a lawn facing the Derrylin/Kinawley road as it proceeds in a north-westerly direction about a mile and three-quarters from the centre of the former town. The house is identified usually by the presence of a thatched umbrella type shelter supported by a central tree trunk positioned close to the south-west corner of the dwelling.

Built of rubble stone with a wall finish of whitened plaster that retains the effect of stonework. There is no base to the front elevation. The entrance protected by a square jambed windbreak porch contains a timber-sheeted door with a pair of glazed panels in the upper part. Access is by means of a projecting step and then by another step on the plane of the door.

The roof is thatched between skews constructed of concrete slab. There are three corbelled-topped chimneystacks, two rise from the gables and the third serves the kitchen hearth. These features are without pots.

To the left (north-west) of the porch there are two window openings and to the right there is one. They are of the vertically sliding variety with sashes divided into two vertically. Small sash stops have been provided and the sills are of traditional depths.

There is a flat roofed annex on the south-east gable of the house lighted at the front by a window similar to the main frontage. This roof is finished by means of a timber fascia.

At the rear the fenestration is composed of three pairs of double vertically sliding windows of similar construction to those at the front, but with plain sashes, and complete with sash stops and deep sills.

The north west side of the house and the rear elevation have black plinths that at the rear stepping down to take account of the fall in the ground.

A small three-light horizontal widow set above and to the right of the central double window provides light to the first floor landing.

Each gable has a window similar to those at the front.

The rear wall of the annex is punctuated by a vertically sliding double window of reduced size and a timber sheeted door with a pair of vertical glazed panels in the upper part. The black plinth continues across this part of the building.

Historical information

A building is shown on this site on the OS map of 1834 / 35, but not recorded in the first valuation of 1836. On the revised map of 1857 outbuildings to the northwest are present. The house is recorded in the second valuation of 1862 as a ‘very neat concern’, with Thomas Moffet snr. listed as the occupant, the Earl of Erne the lessor, and the rateable value calculated at a relatively respectable £5. A Thomas Moffet is listed in the 1836 valuation, but the reference on the accompanying map appears to relate to a house a short distance to the northwest of this one. Interestingly, however, the house recorded in 1836 is given the relatively high rateable value of £4-3-0, suggesting, perhaps, that the valuers’ reference may be incorrect and that this entry relates to the present building.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI VAL/1A/4/38 OS map, County Fermanagh sheet 38, with valuation
references (1834 / 35-c.38)
2 PRONI VAL/1B/413 First valuation, Kinawley, 1836
3 PRONI VAL/2A/4/38B Revised OS map, County Fermanagh sheet 38, with valuation references (1857-c.62)
4 PRONI VAL/2B/4/8C Second valuation, Kinawley (1862)

Secondary Sources
1. Monitoring of Thatch, report by Michele McFaul to EHS dated April 1994

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
F. Structural System
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
Z. Rarity

Evaluation

A one and a half storey, originally lobby entry, thatched house. The house is in a prominent location and its setting is enhanced by the lawn to the front. This exteranal appearance is largely unaltered, and although the interior layout has been modified, the distinctive intentions of the original builder remain distinct.