House

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Long single-storey ‘vernacular’ house with integrated ‘outbuildings’, of pre 1835 construction, which appears to have been somewhat ‘formalised’ in the early 1900s with the regularising of the window openings, the addition of a porch, the application of ‘quoins’. The property, which is now derelict, is set at the end of a long overgrown drive off a minor country road to the south of Bluestone Road, roughly one mile southwest of Craigavon.

The long asymmetrical front elevation faces W. To the left of centre is a small projecting porch. To the front face of the porch is the entrance, a flat-arch doorway with timber door. The porch roof is obscured by a moulded cornice and rendered parapet. To the left of the porch are two flat arch windows with smooth render surrounds and the remains of timber sash frames. To far left there is another doorway with a dilapidated timber sheeted door. This doorway leads into an integrated ‘outbuilding’. To the right of the porch there are three unevenly-spaced windows, as those to left of porch. To the far right there is another integrated ‘outbuilding’ (which is accessed from the E).

The E elevation has none of the pretended formality of the front. To the far left on the E elevation there is a broad flat-arch carriage doorway with timber sheeted double door. To right of this is a small flat-arch window with the remains of a timber sash frame. To right again is a small lean-to projection, with a flat-arch doorway, with dilapidated timber door, to its S face. To right of the projection is another flat-arch window, significantly broader than the previous one, with a dilapidated timber [?casement] frame. To right again are two further windows, as that to far left. To far right is a large flat-arch shed doorway, without a door.

To the N gable there is a (relatively) small, gabled shed extension, with a flat arch doorway (without door) to its E face and two small louvered ventilation openings to its W face. The S gable (of the main building) has no openings.

The whole front elevation is finished in unpainted roughcast with smooth cement render to wall edges, with the ‘limits’ of the actual house section marked with smooth cement render in-out ‘quoins’. Similar render has been employed on the porch to form ‘panels’ to each face. The rear is finished in whitewashed roughcast. Much of this roughcast has fallen away from the E face of the shed extension, revealing a brick construction.

The gabled roofs of both the main building and the extension are covered in corrugated-iron with rendered parapets and four rendered chimneystacks to the latter. The two outer stacks appear to be dummies. The lean-to has a corrugated-iron roof also. Dilapidated remains of aluminium and cast-iron rw goods.

In front of the house is a large garden with large yard to rear, both of which are overgrown. There is a well within the front garden with a concrete cover.

Historical information

A building matching the present, (but possibly minus the shed), is shown on the OS map of 1835, but not noted in the near contemporary valuation. It is recorded in the second valuation of 1862 however, with the occupant given as John Halliday (leasing from the Manchester estate) and the rateable value, £2-5-0. The Halliday family acquired the freehold of the property in 1910, with a William George Halliday still in residence in 1929. The post 1862 valuations list no major structural changes to the building, however the front façade appears to have been ‘formalised’ in the early 1900s.

The house appears to have been occupied when surveyed in January 1972, but is at present derelict.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI VAL/1A/2/6 OS map, County Armagh sheet 6, with valuation
references (1835-c.38)
2 PRONI VAL/2A/2/6A OS map, County Armagh sheet 6, with valuation references (1860-62)
3 PRONI VAL/2B/2/19B Second valuation, Seagoe parish (1862)
4 PRONI VAL/12B/14/7A Annual valuation revision book, Kernan ED (c.1864-78)
5 PRONI VAL/12B/14/7B Annual valuation revision book, Kernan ED (c.1879-91)
6 PRONI VAL/12B/14/7C Annual valuation revision book, Kernan ED (c.1892-1906)
7 PRONI VAL/12B/14/7D Annual valuation revision book, Kernan ED (c.1907-19)
8 PRONI VAL/12B/14/7E Annual valuation revision book, Kernan ED (c.1920-29)

Other references
1 EHS HB14/04/017 First survey record card (13th January 1972)

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Long single-storey vernacular house with integrated ‘outbuildings’, of pre 1835 construction, which appears to have been somewhat ‘formalised’ in the early 1900s with the regularising of the window openings, the addition of a porch, the application of ‘quoins’.

General comments

*Thatch under Tin (TUT) Record*