Frizells Cottage

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Single-storey, three bay gable-ended rectangular vernacular lobby-entry house of mud-wall construction. It has an east-west axis, facing south onto the old roadway. There is a small 1950s kitchen to the rere, and an 1950s extension of concrete blockwork on its west end; on the east end there is an old ruined byre with the ruins of a modern garage to the east of this. The old cottage roof is covered with corrugated iron, but this conceals a thatched roof with a scraw underthatch. There are two brick chimney stacks.

The old house,13.90m x 5.80m, has mud walls that vary in thickness from 0.45m to 0.65m and stand at most 2.10m along transverse walls and around 4.90m at the gable ends. As these walls have a pronounced batter, it is likely that they were constructed by the early technique of piling up successive layers of mud, allowing this to dry, and then pairing down to the desired thickness (see Fairon 1986; Gailey 1984). The later technique of using wooden framing or shutters to build up the wall does not here appear to have been used, suggesting the house may be later 18th century, rather than early 19th century in date (see below)

The front elevation of the original cottage, which is rendered with modern pebbledash, has four windows and a door. The front door opening (1.86m x 1.00m) is contained within an open porch (2.20m high, 1.80m wide and 40cm deep) composed of brick side walls, rendered and presently painted black. It has a small pitched canopy of corrugated iron, cat-sliding from the main roof pitch and is probably a replacement for a wooden original. The door itself has gone. The four front windows all have a modern cement surround (painted black), stone sills and have their outer wooden frames. Only the east window however, still retains its wooden frame, one pane over one with top opening casement. The other three windows formerly has sliding sashes. All windows have a steel cages to prevent access while allowing ventilation.

There rere elevation of the original cottage is rendered with wet-dash lime (as the whole exterior would once have been). It has three windows (all with steel cages), and a 1950s extension tacked onto the rere of the old cottage. The central window has a metal frame (casement), while the two outer rere windows have modern wooden frames with one over one frames, the upper being top hung. The modern extension, designed as a kitchen has a flat roof, a ‘back door’ on the east side and is entered from the old kitchen through a batten door.

The 1950s extension, known sometimes as the ‘new cottage’, abuts the west gable of the old cottage and extends outwards to its rere (6.80m x 8.25m). It is built of concrete blockwork, with walls around 15cm thick and about the same height as the old cottage. Its front elevation, which is slightly set back from the line of the old façade, has two windows flanking a central door. Only the timber surround of the door survives in place, and both windows (1m x 0.95m) contain metal frames with external cement sill. There are no openings on the gable or west side of the building. The extensions to the rere, which have a roof with very slight pitch, have two metal windows and a back door, with a modern panelled door.

On the east side of the old cottage stands the ruins of an old byre (4.75m x 4.95m), built of stone rubble walls (35-45cm thick). The byre, now very overgrown with ivy and bushes, is entered from the rere or north side. It has no openings in its east and south facing walls and had a pitched roof. The adjacent garage (2.5m x 5.30m), of concrete blocks, was probably built in the 1960s. It is a lean to structure built against the byre wall and is open on the south elevation.

Roof Construction:
The roof of the old cottage has a corrugated iron sheeting with a thatched roof and scraw layer underneath. The roof is presently supported by purlins embedded in the gables and the internal transverse wall. However, these purlins are of squared 20th century softwood, which one must assume replaced earlier, more fragile purlins. The ridge likewise has been given additional support by the insertion of a long conifer trunk in the 20th century. The common rafters however, and the cross battens are of a much earlier date. They are composed of poor quality timbers, largely branches and bog timbers, supporting a thick layer of scraws – turf and grass sods, laid overlapping at their tops and bases. These scraws, the product of a long roofing tradition, helped to keep the thatch in place by providing a bed into which the scollops were driven. Their presence would normally indicate that the thatch of this house was originally also held in place by an external network of ropes.

Historical information

This vernacular mud-walled house is located alongside a former old coach road just outside the demesne wall of Ardress. The small 100 acre demesne of Ardress, whose name derives from the Irish An fArdriasc ['the high bog'], is situated around 10km south of Lough Neagh. The demesne was established for the present house, begun in the later 1660s and extended in the 1770s by the Ensor family (HB 15/02/048). The present landscape park belongs to late 18th century and is delightfully surrounded by mature shelter belting of mainly beech, oak, lime, sycamore and Scots pine. The demesne wall was probably built in the 1770s, including the main entranceway, whose fine turning circle, which once also incorporated a gate lodge, lies about 50 metres west of Frizell's Cottage.

Frizell's Cottage is depicted on the 1834 Ordnance Survey map and all subsequent editions. It is not depicted on a map by James Whiteside, surveyed for George Ensor in 1846, but that is almost certainly because the land at that time had not been brought into the demesne. This process took place in 1859-62 when a new road was built to the north, replacing the old coach road along the north demesne boundary. This old public road subsequently became a local demesne trackway, while the gate lodge (on the turning circle) was removed and the approach avenue extended northwards to meet the new road. Consequently, from 1860 onwards Frizell's Cottage lay within the boundary of Ardress Demesne. The name 'Frizell' most likely refers to one of the cottage's former occupants.

This lobby entry, three-roomed mud-walled cottage is of a type found elsewhere in Armagh. It is similar in plan to an example described by T. G. F. Paterson at Tamnavelton townland (Paterson 1961, figure 1). At Tamnavelton there was an open hearth with back stone and 'skeagh' covering and this seems originally to have been the case at Ardress, where the mantle tree survives. The present chimneypiece with its small fireplace is a much later addition. The use of mud or clay for wall construction always depended on the local availability of stone or brick and in mid-Ulster clay was often used during the 18th and early 19th century. Usually, as was the case in this cottage, the walls were built upon a stone foundation. The type of mud wall construction at Ardress seems to be of an earlier type and this, plus the former open hearth would suggest an 18th century date, possibly 1780-1800. Another house, similar in plan to the Ardress house, is one described by Desmond McCourt at Derrytagh South, Co. Armagh, which McCourt notes was built by a cottier weaver, as may have been the case at Ardress.

The use of brick in the open porch, in the chimneybreast of the west room and in the wall to the rere of the kitchen, are likely to be mid 19th century modifications, perhaps c.1860s. The two brick chimneys on the roof may also belong to this period.

The cottage remained in habitation until the 1980s. A photographic and measured survey of the building was first undertaken on behalf of the National Trust in 1999 by Tony Merrick of Hearth Housing Association. It was hoped at the time to carry out a restoration of the building. This was never undertaken however and the building remained unoccupied. From at least 2003 the building had become a regular meeting and drinking place for adolescents, raising concern about its future. Attempts were subsequently made to restrict access and grills were placed on the windows.

Conway, Malachy (2004 & 2007) Building Survey Report: Frizell’s Cottage, Ardress, Co. Armagh. National Trust, Unpublished.
Fairon, O (1986) 'The mud wall house'. Duiche Neill. Journal of the O'Neill Country Historical Society, Volume 1, Number 3, pp40-53.
Paterson, T.G.F (1961) 'Housing and house types, Co. Armagh'. Ulster Folklife, Volume 7, pp19-22.
McCourt, Desmond (1984) 'Weaver's houses around South-West Lough Neagh'. Ulster Folklife, Volume 8, pp43-56.
Gailey, Alan (1984) Rural Houses of the North of Ireland. Edinburgh.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

V. Authorship
X. Local Interest
Z. Rarity

Evaluation

Single-storey mud walled, lobby entry vernacular house with intact layout, which enjoys an attractive unspoiled setting. Original scraw and thatch roof survives beneath corrugated iron roofing. A rare surviving late Georgian mud walled vernacular house.

General comments

The National Trust archaeologist produced a report on the building in February-March 2004 and this was updated in April 2007. The National Trust then approached Built Heritage in 26th April 2007 with a formal request that Frizell's Cottage should be considered for listing. The matter had previously been discussed with the BH director in March of the same year. Alan Turkington visited the property on 26th June 2007 and produced a short report 17/08/2007. Terence Reeves-Smyth visited property and the full survey October 2008