39 Liscalgot Road Crossmaglen Co. Armagh BT35 9HX

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

39 Liscalgot Road is a cluster of vernacular buildings, with the principal dwelling (building 1) fronting onto the roadside, and which, along with building 2 predate the first edition OS map of 1835. Other outbuildings were added during the 19th century (buildings 3 & 4) with the remaining structures (5,6,7) constructed between 1907 and 1956.

Former dwelling (Building 1) is a detached asymmetrical single-storey five-bay vernacular building containing attached outhouse to right hand side and having flat, concrete roof entrance porch to southeast. Roof has corrugated tin sheeting with raised cast concrete verges and ridge mounted chimney to right hand side. No evidence of any rainwater goods. Painted roughcast render over rubblestone walling. Original square window openings have been reduced in width to form rectangular openings with top hung painted metal frame windows with stone heads and sills. Square-headed door to front of entrance porch with timber door frame, vertical sheeting, and painted metal hinge brackets on door. End RHS bay having separate single door opening. Rear, northwest elevation with 1no square-headed door opening to left hand side. Both east and west elevations blank with exposed painted rubble wall finish.

Directly behind, single storey detached, three bay, asymmetric, building to northwest (Building 2). Roof has corrugated tin sheeting with raised cast concrete verges separating two left hand side bays from attached third, which has low wall enclosure in front, connected to rear of Building 1. No rainwater goods evident. Exposed painted rubble stone walling, with vertically sheeted painted timber doors. Low set mono pitch, corrugated tin roof attached to left hand side. Rear elevation blank, with painted rubble stone wall with high level open, vertical ventilation slots. To rear and attached via gated access into field is located low set corrugated tin, pitched roof with raised verges, painted rubble stone walls and containing two, vertically sheeted painted timber doors. Attached to northwest gable is located current, contemporary styled, (occupied) dwelling (Building 4).

The remaining outbuildings – 1, 3 & 6 reflect low set, pitched and mono pitched, painted corrugated tin roofs with raised in-situ concrete verges, painted rubble stone walls and having rustic, painted, sheeted doors.

Setting:
The complex is located on the roadside of Liscalgot Road, and spreads northwest, terminating at the current dwelling house. The confection of buildings, in good decorative order and randomly located with red roofs and white painted walls defines a distinct rustic
setting within an agricultural environment.
Roofing: Painted, corrugated tin
Walling: Random rubblestone, render
Windows: Where applicable metal frame
RWG: none.

Historical information

39 Liscalgot Road is a cluster of vernacular buildings lying alongside the Liscalgot Road, two of which (buildings 1, 2) predate the first edition OS map of 1835. Building 3 was added to the site c1850 and building 4 dates from c1882 but was raised or rebuilt in the second half of the 20th century. The remaining structures (5,6,7) were constructed between 1907 and 1956.

The first edition OS map of 1835 shows buildings 1 and 2 parallel to the Liscalgot Road, together with another structure that is no longer extant. By the time of the second edition (1862), building 3 had been added to the site. The dwelling and outbuildings are listed in Griffith’s Valuation of 1864 and are leased from the landlord Rev Patrick McKeown by Bryan Hughes at a valuation of £1.5s.

A further dwelling house (building 4) was added to the site in 1882 and was leased by Peter Hughes at a valuation of £1. This dwelling house is first shown on the third edition OS map of 1906-7. The two sets of occupants became the owners in fee of their dwellings under the Land Acts in 1907.

The houses and their residents can be identified in the 1911 census. Thomas Hughes, a farmer born in County Louth, lived in building 1 with his sister Mary Anne, while building 4 was occupied by widow Mary Hughes and her three adult children. The census building return shows that building 1 was thatched and building 4 was slated (or roofed in another type of permanent material) at this time, both having two rooms internally. Building 1 is noted to have two outbuildings, while building 4 has seven.

In the 1933 revaluation, building 1 was the residence of Thomas Hughes and was of rubble masonry with a thatched roof. Dimensions are given of 34 feet x 17½ feet which did not include an attached outbuilding. Accommodation consisted of a kitchen and bedroom. Building 4 was at this time a dwelling of similar vernacular proportions (29x16½ feet and 10 feet in height, slated) and was subsequently raised/rebuilt to form a two-storey dwelling, most likely in the late 1950s or later as there is no change in valuation in the period up to 1957.

Buildings 5, 6 and 7 were constructed after 1907 and first appear on the fourth edition OS map of 1956. The two dwelling houses were taken over by Brian and Ellen Hearty in 1955. A flat roof extension was added to the side of building 4 after 1982.

References:

Primary Sources:

1. PRONI OS/6/2/31/1 First Edition Six Inch OS map (1835)
2. PRONI OS/6/2/31/2 Second Edition Six Inch OS map (1862)
3. Griffith’s Valuation townland of Claranagh (www.askaboutireland.ie) (1864)
4. PRONI VAL/12/B/12/7A-D (1859-1929) Annual Revision Lists, ED Moybane
5. PRONI OS/6/2/31/3 Third Edition Six Inch OS map (1906-7)
6. PRONI VAL/3/C/2/14 (1935-1957) First General Revaluation, Rural District of Newry, Vol 3
7. PRONI VAL/3/D/2/6/Y/1 (1933-57) Valuers RV Binder, ED Moybane
8. PRONI OS/6/2/31/4 Fourth Edition Six Inch OS map (1956-7)
9. Census of Ireland, 1911