98 Glenhoy Rd Ballygawley Co. Tyrone BT70 2AY

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

One and a half-storey formalized vernacular house of pre-1854 construction, which appears to have assumed its present form in 1880 when the roof what was originally a lower - probably thatched - dwelling, was raised and slated and the façade remodeled. The property originally served as the miller’s residence for the corn mill on the opposite side of the road (HB13 03 018).

SETTING Rural
setting. The house faces directly on to the roadside at the eastern end of Glenhoy Road, close to the junction with Feddan and Ballynasaggart Roads, 3.3km W of Ballygawley. Directly opposite is Cleanally corn mill. The house backs on to gently sloping ground upon which there once stood (to the immediate NW) a single-storey outbuilding, but this was demolished recently.

GENERAL The house consists of a three openings wide one and a half-storey gabled block with a full-width single-storey c.1970s lean-to to the rear and a single-storey corrugated-iron shed to the E gable. The building is largely finished in roughcast with areas (notably the W gable) having the rubble construction exposed; brick eaves course.

The main gabled roof is now devoid of slates and the timber structure is exposed to the elements. There are two c.1950s replacement rustic brick chimneystacks. Corrugated-iron roof to the lean-to. The openings are regular with a mixture of stone and what appear to be concrete sills, all are now devoid of frames or doors.

FRONT (S) ELEVATION Symmetrical. Central entrance with window opening either side. Above the doorway ius a small, gabled half-dormer with semicircular arched window opening. The shed to the right side has a plain sheeted door.

W ELEVATION Two upper level windows to main gable. Large rectangular window to lean-to.

E ELEVATION Two upper level windows to main gable. This side of the lean-to and the shed appear to be both blank.

N ELEVATION The lean-to has a window to far left and a doorway to centre-left.

Historical information

A building is shown on this site on the OS map of 1834, along with what would appear to have been the former outbuilding to the north-west and another structure to the immediate east (roughly where the corrugated-iron shed now partly stands). In the first valuation of c.1836 two ‘old’ single-storey thatched houses - the ‘miller’s house’ and the ‘kilnman’s dwelling’ - are mentioned in connection with the mill, the former measuring 22½ft x 19½ x 6 and the latter 26 x 14 x 7. Neither of these appears to match the length of the original section of the present building, however, which amounts to about 32ft.

On the revised OS map of 1854, the present arrangement is shown, and only one dwelling is mentioned in the second valuation of 1858. Unfortunately, no dimensions are supplied at this date, but seeing as the valuation records, (which are continuous from this time onwards), make no reference to subsequent demolition, then we can assume that the present dwelling is that shown in 1854. This suggests either that the two houses noted in the 1830s were both demolished in the interim and the present one built in their place, or – and less likely - that the current house represents a modification of one of the earlier structures.

In both of the above valuation books, Patrick Martin is named as holding the lease of the mill and house(s) from John Spear of nearby Cleanally (present 94 Glenhoy Rd). Sometime around 1862 the lease passed to James Martin and from him to Owen Lynch in 1879, with Patrick Early of Cleanally succeeding as lessor around this date also. In 1880 the valuers note the house as having been ‘raised and slated’, so presumably it took on its current appearance at that date.

William Booth became leaseholder in 1895. In the 1901 census, Mr.Booth (‘miller’) was living here with his wife, Margaret, their four young children, and James Robinson, who is noted as a ‘corn drier’ (i.e. he worked the corn kiln). The house itself is noted as a ‘2nd class’ dwelling with three windows in front and five rooms in use.

On the 1906 OS map the property is marked as a ‘post office’. There is no mention of this role in the 1911 census and no obvious signs (letter box etc.) that the house ever acted as such, unless the actual office was located in the now demolished neighbouring outbuilding, or perhaps the corrugated-iron addition to the east (though the latter was built after 1906.) The building is unmarked on the - next available - OS map of 1936, although a letter box stood a short distance to the east by this time and a telephone kiosk (many of which were sited close to post offices) was later placed next to the adjacent mill buildings.

In 1929 John McKeown took over the lease. The precise sequence of occupation after this is not known. The corrugated-iron section to the east was added at some point before 1936 and the lean-to extension after 1974 (it does not appear on the map of that year, though it looks earlier.) The mill (which was built in 1828 on the site of an earlier mill, and which became electrically-powered in the mid-20th century) was worked until the 1970s, and the house itself appears to have remained occupied, by the widow of the last miller, into the 1980s.

References – Primary sources
1 OS maps 6inch County Series, Tyrone sheet 59 – 1834, 1854, 1906, 1936; IG Series – 1974
2 PRONI VAL1B/64A-B First valuation, Errigal Keerogue parish – c.1836
3 PRONI VAL2B/6/4A Second valuation, Errigal Keerogue parish – 1858
4 PRONI VAL12B/36/12A-F Annual valuation revision books, Errigal ED – 1860-1929

Secondary sources
5 HED HB13 03 018 First survey reports on Cleanally corn mill – 1989-91
6 Information from owner – August 2023

Evaluation

One and a half-storey formalized vernacular house of pre-1854 construction, which appears to have assumed its present form in 1880 when the roof what was originally a lower - probably thatched - dwelling, was raised and slated and the façade remodeled. The property originally served as the miller’s residence for the corn mill on the opposite side of the road (HB13 03 018). It is now practically roofless and has lost its window frames, and as such does not meet the criteria for listing.

General comments

Previous LQ HB13/LQ078