14 Main Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A much altered two-storey, three-bay house with outbuildings to rear. It is aligned E-W and is set below and to E of Main Street, and is bound to the E by the Forkhill River.

Pitched natural slate roof with two cement-dashed and painted chimneys – one to each gable. Overhanging boxed eaves with ogee aluminium rainwater goods.

Principal elevation faces S. Walls are cement dashed and painted with smooth rendered base course and bands to each corner. To centre is a semicircular headed entrance with smooth cement rendered surround. Entrance door is modern varnished timber with matching glazed timber sidelights; over is a sunburst fanlight. To either side is an 8/8 uPVC top-hung casement (mimicking sashes) with concrete cills and smooth rendered surrounds. All windows are detailed as this unless otherwise stated. Aligned above to first floor are three similar windows.

Left gable is blank.

Rear elevation is almost completely abutted by a two-storey return; the exposed section is blank (see later).

Right gable has a 6/6 top-hung casement to first floor right.

The rear return is detailed as main block. Its left (W) facing elevation has a landscape window to ground floor centre and a window to first floor right. The rear elevation has a landscape side–hung casement to ground floor left, a modern door to right of centre and a small window to right-end. First floor has two windows – one to centre and one to the right-end. The right (E) facing elevation has two windows to each floor – all are 8/8 casements. Its right-end is completely abutted by a single-storey conservatory with monopitched natural slate roof. The S cheek has a modern uPVC door, the principal E face is four windows wide, the N cheek is blank and the W face has a pair of French doors.

Beyond the domestic yard to rear, there are a number of outbuildings - all with rubble stone walls and pitched natural slate roofs (unless otherwise stated).

Those nearest the house include a gardener’s house (now roofless), a barn and a granary.

The barn is aligned E-W and encloses the domestic rear yard to the N. It is two-storey with a number of timber louvred openings and rendered and painted S face. Its right gable has a loading door and three square recesses to ground floor. Rear (N) elevation has two six-panelled timber doors to ground floor left and first floor right. The right-end is abutted by an outbuilding (granary - see later).

The gardener’s house is single-storey, two-bay and aligned N-S to the E side of yard. It is now roofless with a brick chimney to each gable. To centre is a t+g sheeted door flanked by a 2/2 sliding sash window. Its left gable is abutted by a lower animal house with pitched corrugated metal roof (of no interest). The rear elevation and right gable are blank.

The granary is on W side of the yard and is two-storey with hipped natural slate roof. Its rear elevation backs onto Main Street. Principal elevation faces E and is abutted to the left-end by the barn. Ground floor has three semi-circular headed door openings – that to left is infilled. First floor has two window openings and a loading door to right-end. The right gable has a large door opening accessed by a ramp. The rear elevation has a t+g sheeted door to the right-end. The left gable has two louvered openings.

Setting:

House is prominently sited to NW of Forkhill Bridge on entry into the village. It is enclosed to Main Street and rear by a rubble stone wall with stone copings. A pair of finely dressed granite (square-in-section) gate piers with trefoil recesses in the copings support arrow-headed wrought-iron railings. A pair of similarly detailed gates are hung on decorative birdcage pillars with matching trefoil recesses in copings.

Historical information

Although a building is shown here on the 1835 OS map, the existing ground plan does not appear until 1907, indicating a later 19th century rebuild. However, as the Valuation plot could not be determined, so the precise date of this change could not be ascertained from the Valuation Revision books.

Primary sources:
1. OS 6” map, 3rd edition, Co Armagh, sheet 31 (PRONI OS 6/2/31/3).

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

A much altered two-storey, three-bay house with outbuildings to rear. Although prominently sited in the village, the house and associated outbuildings are is not of special architectural or historic interest.