9 Derryloughan Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A single storey, four bay, lobby entry house with corrugated iron roof covering over remains of thatch and harled and whitened mud walls.

The house is accessed by turning in a southerly direction off the Portadown/Moy road about four miles from the outskirts of the former town. A further mile is travelled to reach the Diamond. No. 1 Derryloughan Road occupies the north-west corner of this crossroads and No 9 is situated a short distance along the road to the west.
The house faces south-west overlooking a forecourt.

The right-hand (south-east) gable rises to a corbelled chimneystack and there is a further stack over the position of the kitchen hearth. There are no pots. The fascia at the front is serrated, as is the bargeboard that decorates the pitched roof porch.

The foursquare porch with timber sheeted half door is flanked to the left (south-west) by one and to the right by three vertically sliding windows with sashes divided into two horizontally and small sash stops. The openings are dressed with plain cement surrounds and sills are of traditional depths.

At the rear an extension entered from the kitchen has a wall surface similar to the main house and is roofed with corrugated iron.

To the left (south-east) of the extension there are two vertically sliding windows with small sash stops and sills of intermediate depths. The first window is of reduced dimensions with an upper sash divided into two horizontally and with the lower sash plain and equal to one of the upper panes. The other window is similar to those already described at the front. There are no surrounds to these lights.

To the right of the extension there are three windows similar to the smaller light on the opposite side.

The building extends to the right (south-east) as an outbuilding with rendered wall finish and pitched natural slate roof.

Abutting the opposite gable there are a pair of toilets with wall finish similar to the house and with a pitched natural slate roof. Further outbuildings extend towards the road to form one side of the forecourt.

Historical information

A house is shown on this site on the OS map of 1834-35, but not noted in the (near) contemporary valuation. In the second valuation of 1862 it is recorded as the home of Daniel Winters [sic] who was leasing the property from the Cope Estate, with the rateable value calculated at £2.

Dendrochronology tests carried out by QUB in 2000 show that the oak used to form the roof structure of this house was felled between 1703 and 1721. As such the house was probably one of the last buildings in the country to use oak, as after c.1720 Scots pine from Scandinavia and America began the most popular building timber. A house indicated on this site (i.e. a short distance west of the crossroads) on John Rocque’s 1760 map of County Armagh.

It does not appear to be certain if the house was built by the Winter family; George Henry Bassett, writing in 1888 (and who appears to have spoken to the then inhabitants, Misses Jane and Margaret Winter), seems to suggest, that the family acquired it in 1788. It is accepted, however, that it was in their possession at the time of the Battle of the Diamond in 1795 when following the skirmish between the protestant ‘Peep o’day Boys’ and the catholic ‘Defenders’, a number of the triumphant Peep o’day Boys met either in this house or in a nearby inn belonging to Dan Winter, (a relation), and took the decision to form what was to become the Orange Order.

In the late 1990s the owner restored the house and re-thatched the roof with straw from Austria, the nitrogen content of local straw being too high to guarantee an acceptable level of durability.

References- Primary sources
1 Linen Hall Library ‘Survey of the County of Armagh by John Rocque’ (1760)
2 PRONI VAL/1A/2/9 OS map, County Armagh sheet 9, with valuation
references (1834-35)
3 PRONI VAL/2A/2/9A OS map, County Armagh sheet 9, with valuation references (1860 [-c.62])
4 PRONI VAL/2B/2/30 Second valuation, Newry (1862)

5. OS map, 1st edition 1835, Co. Armagh sheet 9. The house and the range of outbuildings extending towards the road are shown.
6. OS map, 1st revision 1862, Co. Armagh sheet 9. The house is shown in elongated form and the outbuilding is curtailed in length.
Ref: - (PRO 02415/3) 1858
Rogues map of 1760.

Secondary sources.

1 Bassett, George Henry, "The Book of County Armagh" (Dublin, 1888 ), pp 320-21
2 Sibbert, R. M. " Orangeism in Ireland and Throughout the Empire ( 1914, (?) revised 1939)
3 Wolsey, W. H., "Storey of The Battle of The Diamond (1928)
4 "Armagh Guardian", 25th. July 1952 (Article)
5 (?) EHS Copy of photograph of a banner belonging to Diamond Grange LOL 118 showing the cottage
Banner unfurled in 1965 )
6 Senior, Hereward, "Orangeism in Ireland and Britain. " (1966)
7 " Belfast Telegraph " 2 June 1996 (Article)
8 "Belfast Telegraph " 4 October 1995 (Article)
9 " Belfast Telegraph " 7 October 1995 (Article)
10 " The Ulster Gazette " 28 March 1996 (Article)
11 " Belfast News-Letter ", 4 April 1996 ( Article )
12 Miller, David W., " The Origins of the Orange Order in County Armagh" in " Armagh History and Society ed. Hughes, A .J. and Nolan, William ( Dublin, 2001 )
13 Sloan, Douglas, " Battle of the Diamond", ( Date not known. )
14 " Belfast Telegraph", ( Article) ( Date not known. )
15 Article in Belfast Telegraph, An Ulster Log (undated)
16 Article in Armagh Guardian, 25 July 1952
17 Copy of photograph of cottage on Diamond Grange L.O.L. 118 banner unfurled 1965
18 Bassett, W H A, Guide and Directory 1888

Request by Armagh District Council to list the house, 3 April 1990
Affidavit from Annaleen Mary McGregor, born Winter, 3 September 1993
Article in Belfast Telegraph, 2 June 1995
Article in Belfast Telegraph, 4 October 1995
Article in Belfast Telegraph, 7 October 1995

EHS file, numerous items of corrospondence. Includes dendrochronological report from QUB of 20th. October 2000.

First mention of the Winter family was in Quaker Records is in 1665.

Queen’s University has estimated the felling date range for oak wood (Sample Q10053) to be AD1712+/-9 years.
The house was probably one of the last buildings to use oak as a building timber as after 1720 Scots pine from Scandinavia and America was then used as the primary building timber.
The house is accepted as being the meeting place following the Battle of the Diamond in 1795 where the decision to form the Orange Order was made.
The property appeared in the Tithe Books compiled in 1830. At the time of Griffith’s valuation of 1860 the annual valuation was £10 – 10 – 0 and the map reference was OS 48 No. 37. Blayney T Balfour was the landlord and the size of the holding was 10 acres, 2 rods, 25 perches.
Note on records in PRO compiled by Dr Christine Kinealy.
The appearance of the building was restored, the corrugated iron roof covering was removed and re-thatching took place by Gerry Agnew using Devon Combed wheat in 2000.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
F. Structural System
I. Quality and survival of Interior
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

V. Authorship
Z. Rarity
W. Northern Ireland/International Interest
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A single storey, four bay, lobby entry thatched house with corrugated iron over remains of thatch and with harled and whitened mud walls.
Removal of the corrugated iron roof covering of this house and also that at 1 Derryloughan Road, followed by re-thatching, is the first operation of this kind and will provide models for TUT’s ("Thatch over Tin" ) in the future.
The layout retains all of the original elements. This includes the lobby entry and the central doorway off the kitchen to the corridor with ( a rare feature) rooms either side. Detailing is intact and the roof structure of about 1720 is of special interest.
Listing at the B1 grade is considered suitable.