Gobhan Cottage

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A single storey four bay lobby entry thatched house with whitened roughcast wall finish.

The house is located on the left-hand side of Seagoe Road a short distance to the north of the main road to Lurgan and about one mile from the centre of Portadown. The building is set behind a small lawn and low boundary wall with gates to the front and to the side.

The thatch covering oversails at the verges and is finished by means of timber bargeboards. Each gable rises to a chimneystack with narrow projecting corbels and there is a similar feature over the position of the kitchen hearth. Each stack is provided with two pots.

A glazed timber-framed porch, with a course of dentils below the cornice, contains a raised and fielded four-panel door finished with stain.

The door is flanked by two windows of unequal division with the smaller pane at the top and there are two similar windows at the sides of the porch. On the main wall face there are two windows on either side of the porch with the lower parts divided into two vertically and with a narrow opener at the top. The openings are dressed by plain surrounds with curved and eared heads and the sills are of intermediate depths.

At the rear the kitchen extension is roofed with cedar shingles, rainwater goods are of plastic and the entrance has a six-paned (2x3) panel above a plain lower section.

To the right of this projection there is one window similar to those at the front, but with a plain surround. To the left there are four windows. The first lighting the living room has three panes above two larger panes below, then there are two windows similar to those at the front but with plain surrounds. The end window lighting the rear of the sitting room is divided vertically into two panes and is infilled with Art Deco coloured glass.

Corrugated iron roofed sheds extend at right angles from the left hand end of the rear elevation

Historical information

A building matching the present, but without outbuildings, is shown on this site on the OS map of 1834-35, but not recorded in the near contemporary valuation. It is included in the second valuation of 1862, however, when it appears (the referencing on the map is unclear) to have been leased by a John Wolsey from the Manchester Estate, with the building noted as an old single-storey thatched house 15yrds in length.

The building was re-thatched in 1979 by Gerry Agnew using straw, with repairs carried out by him in 1985, again using straw. In the same year the rest of the building was renovated, with assistance from the NIHE, which included the addition sawn timber framing to support a fractured purlin and two of the window frames to the front replaced in existing style. The roof structure was strengthened in 1987 and the thatch repaired. In 1992 the rear extension was added; during the work par of the rear wall of the original building collapsed (about three metres) and was rebuilt. The thatch was repaired by Gerry Agnew in 1994 using flax, with repairs undertaken in 2000.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI VAL/1A/2/10 OS map, County Armagh sheet 10, with valuation
references (1834-35)
2 PRONI VAL/2A/2/10A OS map, County Armagh sheet 10, with valuation references (1860 [-c.62])
3 PRONI VAL/2B/2/19D Second valuation, Seagoe (1862)

Secondary sources
1 Brett, C.E.B., Oram, R., et al, ‘Lists of Historic Buildings…Craigavon’ (revised edition, Belfast, 1979), p.6 (Portadown section)

Other references
1 EHS Report by Alan Gailey, UFTM, to EHS, 8 September 1978
2 EHS Report by Kirk McClure & Morton to EHS, 18 June 1985
3 EHS Report by Albert Fry to EHS, 8 September 1987
4 EHS Survey of Thatched Buildings, report by Colin Hatrick to EHS, 1992
5 EHS Monitoring of Thatched Buildings, report by Colin Hatrick to EHS, 16 June 1994
6 EHS Report by Colin Hatrick to EHS, 17 August 1994
7 EHS Reprt by Colin Hatrick to EHS, 23 June 2000

The house appears in a wooded setting on the 1835 map without outbuildings.
There is no change on the 1860 map.
Re-thatching of the building took place in 1979 by Gerry Agnew using straw.
Repair of the thatch took place in 1985 by Gerry Agnew using straw.
A fractured purlin was supported by sawn timber framing in 1985.
The building was overhauled, including replacement of two front windows in existing style, with assistance from NIHE in 1985.
The roof structure was strengthened extensively in1987 and the thatch was repaired.
During the construction of the extension in 1992 a section of the rear wall of the house collapsed (about ten feet) and was rebuilt.
The thatch was repaired in 1994 by Gerry Agnew using flax.
Repair of the thatch was carried out in 2000.

References – Primary Sources

1. OS maps, 1st edition 1835, Co. Armagh sheets 9 and 10
2. OS maps, 1st revision 1860, Co. Armagh sheets 9 and 10

Secondary Sources

UAHS Craigavon 1970, Portadown, page 6, item 45.
Report by Alan Gailey, UFTM to EHS 8 September 1978.
Report by Kirk, McClure & Morton to EHS 18 June1985.
Report from Albert Fry to EHS 8 September 1987.
Survey of Thatched Buildings 1992, report by Colin Hatrick to EHS.
Monitoring of Thatched Buildings, report by Colin Hatrick to EHS 16 June 1994.
Report by Colin Hatrick to EHS 17 August 1994.
Report by Colin Hatrick to EHS 23 June 2000.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
F. Structural System
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Z. Rarity
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A single storey, four bay lobby entry thatched house with whitened roughcast wall finish.
The original layout is clearly discernible and the roof structure remains in traditional form. Alterations that have taken place include the addition of the porch, replacement of the windows and also the overhanging verges finished with bargeboards. The kitchen extension complements the character of the main house.