36 Ballynagarrick Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A single storey, three bay, lobby entry thatched house with harled and whitened finish to walls that are partly of stone and partly of mud construction. The base is painted black.

The house, that faces south-west in a roadside position, is accessed by turning in a north-easterly direction from Moyallon Road at the Drumlyn intersection and then travelling about three-quarters of a mile.

The thatch covering is raised above and contained within parapet gables. The right hand (south-east) gable rises to a corbelled chimneystack and there is a further stack above the position of the kitchen hearth. The stack on the gable that serves a stove is provided with a cowl.

The timber-sheeted door with glazed diamond shaped panel is recessed within a square jambed windbreak porch above which the level of the thatch rises to accommodate the roof slab.

The porch is flanked to the left (north-west) by a vertically sliding window with single vertical division of the sashes and sills of traditional depths. Two similar windows appear at the opposite side of the porch.

The gables of the house are without fenestration. A lean-to store abuts the left-hand (north-west) gable. The roof is of corrugated iron. The wall finish matches that of the main house and the timber sheeted door positioned at the front is shaped at the top to accommodate the roofline.

At the rear a short link entered from the kitchen gives access to an extension that accommodates a bedroom and a bathroom. The pitched roof of this unit is finished with natural slate, the plastic gutters are on drive-in hooks, the wall finish is of whitened roughcast and the windows are vertically sliding with deep sills. The door is of four panels with the upper two glazed.

The fenestration on the rear wall is of the casement type. To the right (north-east) of the extension firstly there is a large three section window with the sashes divided into two horizontally and then a 3x2 window. The sills of these lights are narrow. To the left of the extension there is another 3x2 window with a deep sill. Use of casement windows was approved by EHS in January1986

Historical information

Two small separate structures are shown on this site on the OS map of 1834, neither of which appear to correspond to the building we see today. The present house is probably that shown on the revised OS map of 1859 as the north-west of a pair of (semi-detached) dwellings. The property is noted in the valuation of 1861, with the occupant recorded as James McConville, a James McConville as the immediate lessor (this is a different person as ‘Dominick’ is written in brackets beside the entry), with the rateable value listed as 15/-. A John McConville succeeded as occupant in 1900, and remained there until at least 1929.

C.E.B. Brett, in ‘Buildings of North County Down’ states that the present owner acquired the house from a family named Flynn, who in turn had acquired it from the Sargeant family.

The thatch covering was repaired in 1980 by Gerry Agnew using straw, with re-thatching carried out by him in 1985 using wheat straw, and the jointing of the extension to the house with straw also carried out by Gerry Agnew, in 1986. He repaired the thatch in 1990 and 1992, with a more extensive repair the following year, a minor one in 1996, with further work in 1999.

In 2002 the roof structure was strengthened and the chimney rebuilt; Gerry Agnew once again re-thatched the building, this time using flax.
Thatch repairs carried out in 2016, using flax.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI VAL/1A/3/19 OS map, County Down sheet 19, with valuation
references, (1834-c.38)
2 PRONI VAL/1B/350 First valuation, Tullylish (1833-34)
3 PRONI VAL/2A/3/19B Revised OS map, County Down sheet 19, with valuation references, (1859-c.61)
4 PRONI VAL/2B/3/48B Second valuation, Tullylish (1861-63)
5 PRONI VAL/12B/21/8A-F Annual valuation revision books, Clare ED, (1866-c.1929)

Secondary sources
1 Pierce, Richard, Cooey, Alistair and Oram, Richard, ‘Taken for Granted…’ (Belfast, 1984), pp.68-69
2 Brett, C.E.B., ‘The Buildings of North County Down’ (Belfast, 2002)

Other references
1 EHS Report by John McIlhagga to EHS, 14 June 1991
2 EHS Survey of Thatched Buildings 1992, report by Colin Hatrick to EHS
3 EHS Monitoring of Thatched Buildings, report by Colin Hatrick to EHS, 10 June 1994
4 EHS Letter from EHS to NIHE enclosing sketches of casement windows that would be approved for use at the rear of the house ?date
5 EHS Report by Gifford and Partners to EHS, received on 20 December 1996
6 EHS Report by John McIlhagga to EHS, 19 February 1999
7 EHS Report by Colin Hatrick to EHS, 23 August 2000
8 EHS Report by Paul Logan to EHS, 21 March 2002
9 EHS Report by Consultant Architect, Dick Oram, 19 March 2003

The thatch covering was repaired in 1980 by Gerry Agnew using straw.
Re-thatching was carried out in 1985 by Gerry Agnew using wheat straw.
Jointing of the extension to the house required the services of Gerry Agnew using straw in 1986.
Further repair of the thatch was made in 1990 by Gerry Agnew using straw.
Minor repair of the thatch was carried out by Gerry Agnew in 1992.
A more extensive scheme was undertaken in 1993 by Gerry Agnew
A minor repair by Gerry Agnew. Followed in 1996.
The south-east gable wall of mud construction was repaired in 1998.
Strengthening of the roof structure, rebuilding of the chimney and re-thatching by Gerry Agnew using flax was completed in 2002.
Note: This work took place after the date of the “Beyond the Façade” survey on 22 August 2000.

References – Primary Sources

1. OS map, 1st edition 1834, Co. Armagh sheet 19. Two very small structures appear on this map.
2. OS map, 1st revision 1859, Co. Armagh sheet 19. This house appears as the left-hand (north-west) part of a building of double frontage on this map

Secondary Sources

Survey of Thatched Buildings 1992, report by Colin Hatrick to EHS.
Monitoring of Thatched Buildings, report by Colin Hatrick to EHS 10 June 1994.
Letter from EHS to NIHE enclosing sketches of casement windows that would be approved for use at the rear of the house.
Report by John McIlhagga to EHS 14 June 1991.
Report by Gifford and Partners to EHS received on 20 December 1996.
Report by John McIlhagga to EHS 19 February 1999.
Gerry Agnew undertook further work using flax in 1999.
Report by Colin Hatrick to EHS 23 August 2000.
Report by Paul Logan to EHS 21 March 2002.
Report by Consultant Architect, Dick Oram, 19 March 2003.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
F. Structural System
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Z. Rarity
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A single storey, three bay, lobby entry thatched house with harled and whitened finish to walls that are partly of stone and partly of mud construction. The thatch covering is traditional in form, the layout is unchanged and the detailing is intact including the hearth and the central position of the door from the kitchen to the living room. The roof timbers are traditional or else follow an early form of construction.