66 Kilmore Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A one and a half storey, five bay, direct entry house with a corrugated iron roof covering over thatch and a harled and whitened wall finish. The gutters are constructed of galvanised steel.

The house faces north-east opposite Kilmore Parish Church behind a small forecourt bounded by a plinth wall and hedge with entry by means of a timber gate set between square pillars with pyramidal cappings and ball finials.

The road to Kilmore leaves the Portadown/Armagh road in a northerly direction at Stonebridge about three and a half miles from the outskirts of Portadown

The left-hand (south-east) gable to the south is finished with a timber bargeboard and on the north side the corrugated iron roof covering does not project. A rendered chimneystack with concrete capping and one pot rises on the north-west gable. There are two similar features on the ridgeline but each with two pots.

The four-panel moulded, raised and fielded entrance door is recessed in a classical doorcase with segmental-arched radial fanlight. Plain pilasters rise to console brackets that support a moulded cornice. There are decorative sidelights on either side of the door.

The entrance is flanked on either side by two vertically sliding window openings. To the right (north-west) they are of the 6/6 variety and to the left (south-east) the first window is similar and that at the end is 6/6 vertically sliding with panes of increased width.

There is a foursquare timber framed window in the left-hand (south) gable. There are no openings in the right-hand gable (north) gable. This wall has a roughcast finish.

At the time of inspection on 18 June 2003 is was not possible to view the rear of the house.

Historical information

An L-shaped building matching the main section of the present property and the northern projection, is shown on this site on the OS map of 1834-35, and recorded in the near contemporary valuation as a relatively old thatched dwelling in the hands of a Miss Atkinson, rated at £4-10-0, and measuring 64½ft x 18½ x 8, with a thatched office (i.e. outbuilding) of similar age measuring 48½ x 19½ x 17½.

On the revised map of 1860, a further projection to the south is indicated, with the valuation book of 1862 telling us that by that point, a Charles Atkinson was leasing the property to a Robert Browne, and that the rateable value had risen to £5. The dimensions noted as 23yrds x 7 x 1(storey) and 7 x 2 x 1 for the dwelling, and 16 x 7 x 1 for the outbuilding.

A small cluster of buildings are shown in this vicinity on John Rocque’s map of 1760, however it would be impossible to say for certain if any equates to this house.

Attempts have been made to restore the premises, but the present owners are constrained by an agreement made in the 1930s which precludes offering the building on the open market.

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/1B/229A-B First valuation, Kilmore (c.1836)
4 PRONI VAL/2A/2/9A OS map, County Armagh sheet 9, with valuation references (1860 [-c.62])
5 PRONI VAL/2B/2/26C Second valuation, Kilmore (1862)
6 OS map, 1st edition 1835, Co. Armagh sheet 9. The house appears as existing and the roadside building at the rear on the north side is shown.
7 OS map, 1st revision 1860, Co. Armagh sheet 9. There is no change apart from the addition of a second building extending from the rear at the south side.

Secondary Sources

Survey of Thatched Buildings 1992, report by Colin Hatrick to EHS.
Monitoring of Thatched Buildings, report by Colin Hatrick to EHS 18 June 1994
UAHS, Buildings at Risk, Vol. 2, January 1995, page 26.
UAHS, Buildings at Risk, Vol. 4, August 1997, page 32
UAHS, Buildings at Risk, March 2000, page 103.

Other references

1 EHS Survey of Thatched Buildings, report by Colin Hatrick to EHS, 1992
2 EHS Monitoring of Thatched Buildings, report by Colin Hatrick to EHS, 18 June 1994

According to UAHS Buildings at Risk Vol.4 the windows and the door are later modifications designed to give the house a more formal appearance.

Attempts have been made to restore the premises but the Vestry is constrained by an agreement made in the 1930s that precludes offering the building on the open market.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

D. Plan Form
F. Structural System
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
Z. Rarity

Evaluation

A one and a half storey, five bay, direct entry house with corrugated iron roof covering over thatch and with a harled and whitened wall finish. The house is a good example of a vernacular building of, at least, the early 19th. C that has been gentrified by formalising the appearance from the front.