Farmhouse

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Vernacular, two-storey farmhouse of c.1880 with symmetrical frontage, and attached single-storey outbuildings arranged in linear fashion. The property is set within a rural location, at the end of a lane nort-east of Movarran Road.

The front façade faces south, south-east, for ease of description this is referred to as south; orientations of all other facades are similarly ‘corrected’.

To the centre of the front south facade, there is a shallow projecting porch with a lean-to corrugated-iron roof. Windows openings are regularly arranged with one to either side of the ground floor and three to first floor; frames are 1/1 painted timber sliding sash.

The west gable is mainly obscured by the adjoining outbuilding.

The rear north façade has two irregularly arranged window openings, one to ground and one to first floor.

The roof is framed with skews; it is pitched and is covered with natural slate. The dark grey ridge tiles are fireclay. Each gable rises to a small chimneystack that is set on the line of the ridge. Walls are constructed of rubble field stone with roughly dressed granite quoins; these appear to have been originally covered with lime render, but this has mainly fallen away.

To the west side there is the remains of a single-storey, now roofless, outhouse. To the immediate east side there is a single-storey byre with a corrugated-iron roof; to the far east there is a, now roofless, byre.

Historical information

A building matching the orientation of the present house is shown on the OS maps of 1835 and 1856, but without the attached outbuildings, whilst the plan of the current configuration appears on the 1907 OS map. The property marked on the 1835 map is not recorded in the near contemporary valuation, but is recorded in that of c.1860 as the home of an Arthur Armstrong, who was a ‘tenant at will’ of the Archdall estate. Unfortunately the valuers notes relating to the dimensions of the house have not survived, however the rateable value of the house at this date, 15/-, suggests a relatively small building, probably single-storey.
There is no obvious physical evidence to suggest the present house has been raised in height, so it is likely that it is a post c.1860 replacement; the symmetry of the front façade, roof timbers and the internal detailing suggest this also. At what point this took place is difficult to say, the valuations give no indication of a rebuild (although this is frequently the norm when it comes to vernacular dwellings), merely the changes in occupation- Thomas Durnian (1865), John Durnian (1885), Thomas Glendinning (1912), Henry Humphrey (1919), William Armstrong (c.1932),and John McCutcheon (1944). The window frames to front and the staircase suggest the building of post c.1875, indicating, perhaps, that it may date from around 1885, when the lease was taken up by John Durnian.

The valuations suggest the building ceased to be used as a dwelling house in 1958.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI VAL1A/4/1 OS map, Co Fermanagh sheet 1, with valuation annotations, 1835(-38)
2 PRONI VAL2A/4/1 OS map, Co. Fermanagh sheet 1, with valuation annotations, 1856(-c.60)
3 PRONI VAL2B/4/12B Second valuation, Drumkeeran parish, c.1860
4 PRONI VAL12B/27/8A Annual valuation revision, Glenvanna ED, 1864-76
5 PRONI VAL12B/27/8B Annual valuation revision, Glenvanna ED, 1877-81
6 PRONI VAL12B/27/8C Annual valuation revision, Glenvanna ED, 1882-98
7 PRONI VAL12B/27/8D Annual valuation revision, Glenvanna ED, 1899-1914
8 PRONI OS6/4/1/3 OS map, Co. Fermanagh sheet 1, 1907
9 PRONI VAL12B/27/8E Annual valuation revision, Glenvanna ED, 1915-29
10 PRONI VAL3B/5/5 First general revaluation of Northern Ireland, Clonelly ED, 1935
11 PRONI VAL3C/5/7 First general revaluation of Northern Ireland, Clonelly ED, 1936-56
12 PRONI VAL4B/4/9 Second general revaluation of Northern Ireland, 1957-72

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

This house is a fine, largely original example of a two-storey vernacular dwelling of the latter half of the 19th century, retaining some of its internal layout and detailing as well most of its outbuildings and an unspoiled rural setting. This type of building is becoming increasingly rare and this particular house, standing in a largely unaltered state, remains a good illustration of the type.