50 Farlough Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Single storey, four structural bay, lobby entry, thatched house facing east with harled and whitened walls and block cut ridge with attched renovated outbuildings and a perpendicular thatched barn.

The buildings are set behind a picket fence to the north of a secondary road that travels alongside the M1 Motorway in an eastwards and then southwards direction to reach Portadown after a distance of about five miles. They are visible from the motorway. The house faces east with the south gable to the road and a storehouse set at right angles to the house faces south.

The dwelling is single storey with a whitened plaster wall finish and a thatched roof covering between raised gables. The front of the house differs from the simplicity of the rear in that the ridge is of the raised block variety and in that the eaves is square cut below layered decoration. The roadside (south) gable rises to a corbelled chimneystack with one pot. Another stack of similar construction, but without a pot, serves the kitchen hearth. There are no openings in the gable.

The entrance by means of a timber sheeted half door is protected by a shallow windbreak porch roofed by an extension of the thatch covering. There are two windows to the left (south) of the porch and three to the right. They are vertically sliding with sashes divided into two panes vertically and with small sash stops. The depths of the sills are not consistent at the leading faces.

At the rear starting from the right (south) gable the fenestration is made up of five windows of various sizes. The first is vertically sliding with the upper sash divided into two horizontally and with the lower sash consisting of a single horizontal pane. This is followed by a window similar to those already described at the front then a window of similar style, but of reduced dimensions, then another window similar to those at the front and lastly a window with small panes above a large plain sash. Again the depths of sills vary at the leading faces. There is a projection with doorway between openings four and five.

An extension to the north that is set back at the front, projects slightly at the rear, and is roofed with corrugated iron. Large double timber sheeted doors are now non-functional.

The outbuilding, set at right angles after a pair of flat iron gates hung on large square pillars, is thatched in simple form between raised gables. The wall finish is similar to the main house and the entrance door is sheeted. The main elevation faces south.

Historical information

A house is first shown on this site on the revised OS map of 1860, from which we can deduce that the property was built some time between 1835 and that year. The valuation of 1862 records the occupant as James Litter, with Dawson Tate the immediate lessor, and the rateable value calculated at 10/-. The outbuilding appears to have been added to the site some time after this point.

Work carried out to the house in 1982 and 1983 included some thatching undertaken by R. Stevenson of Yew Cottage, Dungannon, using straw. Further work to the roof was carried out in 1985, with Gerald Agnew responsible for a scheme in 1987, again using straw; he undertook further work in 1991. George Topping, thatcher, acquired the property [?in 1992] and completed a scheme in 1993. In 1997 Master Thatchers quoted for work involving combed reed. The roof was last worked upon in June 2003, with Gerry Agnew Agnew using wheat straw to effect repairs. The cut ridge was applied by Mr Topping and is not consistent with the historical style of thatch used on this building.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI VAL/2A/2/5B OS map, County Armagh sheet 5, with valuation
references (1860-c.62)
2 PRONI VAL/2B/2/24A Second valuation, Drumcree (1862)

Secondary sources
1 Pierce, Richard, Cooey, Alistair and Oram, Richard, ‘Taken for Granted…’ (Belfast, 1984), p.68
2 Brett, C.E.B., ‘The Buildings of County Armagh’ (Belfast, 1999)

Other references
1 EHS Files

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
F. Structural System
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Z. Rarity
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A single storey, four structural bay, lobby entry, thatched house facing east with harled and whitened walls and block cut ridge with attched renovated outbuildings and a perpendicular thatched barn. Of interest for its style, proportion, detail, surviving historic plan form its historic roof structure and interior character. It is well situated on an isolated self contained plot parallel to the adjacent road. The block cut ridge detracts from the historic appearance of the main house. The building is of local interest as a picturesque and rare example of a once common type.