4 Drumaran Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A vacant direct-entry single-storey vernacular dwelling, possibly pre-dating 1834 and located on the west side of Drumaran Road south of Gilford. Rectangular on plan.

Pitched corrugated metal roof (possible thatch under tin) with raised masonry verges and rendered chimneystacks. Cast-iron half-round rainwater goods on drive-in brackets. Walling is roughcast rendered with smooth rendered gables. Windows are 2/2 timber sliding sash in smooth rendered surrounds with projecting sills.

The principal elevation faces south with timber-sheeted door to centre in smooth rendered surround, flanked by two windows to either side.

The west gable was inaccessible.

The north (rear) elevation has three windows evenly spaced (that to centre is smaller); timber-sheeted door to far right.

The east gable is blank.

Setting

Situated in a rural
setting along a country road south of Gilford. Gable to the road and bounded to east by a modern timber fence. Original wrought-iron gate to northeast giving access to farmland. Site is bounded to north and west by mature hedgerow and trees.

Roof: Corrugated metal
Walling: Render
Windows: Timber
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

The present dwelling is a vernacular farmhouse situated in a rural landscape to the south of Gilford that has changed little since the first ordnance survey took place in the early 1830s. The house was let to tenant farmers who were able to supplement their family income from employment in the nearby linen mills. The house itself is of traditional form, but was refinished c1920.

A house is shown on the first edition OS map of 1834 occupying a plan form much as today, but extending further to the west. The building appears with its present day plan form on the second edition OS map of 1858.

Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64) lists the occupier as Edward McGiveregan and the lessor as Mrs Charritie, a significant landowner in the Gilford area. McGiveregan occupied a house valued at £3 and associated land amounting to over 12 acres, the fieldbook indicating that the valuation was raised from £2.10s because the outbuildings were slated. McGiveregan also sublet a number of smaller houses in the vicinity to tenants, suggesting that he was a reasonably prosperous small farmer.

The land passed through a number of landowners but the house itself passed to the Campbell family in 1876 who remained the tenants until c1920. Alexander Campbell is listed in the 1901 census as a farmer living in the house with his wife and five children aged between 1 and 9. By 1911 two more children had arrived, one of whom had died, but the older children aged 16 and up were working , the girls as linen finishers and the boy as a linen bleacher, possibly at nearby Banford Bleach works.

The valuation record of the house is interrupted at this point and valuer’s notes suggest that the house temporarily became uninhabitable and was deleted from the record. When the house reappears in 1920, it is the home of Margaret Moles and is valued at £1.5s.

At the time of the First General Revaluation in the early 1930s Margaret Moles remained resident and was leasing the house from Alexander Campbell. The cottage, comprising three bedrooms and a kitchen, is revalued at £3.10s and let for a rent of 3s per week free of taxes. The valuer comments that the building is ‘old’ but a ‘good building and finish’. The dimensions are 50 feet by 17 and the house is of rubble masonry with a corrugated iron roof. Although still habitable the house is at present unoccupied.

References:
Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/26/1 First Edition OS Map 1834
2. PRONI OS/6/3/26/2 Second Edition OS map 1858
3. PRONI OS/6/3/26/3 Third Edition OS Map 1901-2
4. PRONI OS/6/3/26/4 Fourth Edition OS Map 1920-21
5. PRONI VAL/1/B/350 Townland Valuation (1828-40)
6. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/48A Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64)
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/25A-H Annual Revisions (1864-1930)
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/17A – Annual Revisions (1923-29)
9. PRONI VAL/12/A/3/9 – Valuer’s Notebook (1916-22)
10. PRONI VAL/3/C/4/2 – First General Revaluation (1936-57)
11. PRONI VAL/3/D/4/3/M/1 – Valuers RV Binders (1933-57)

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

A vacant direct-entry single-storey vernacular dwelling possibly pre-dating 1834. A typical direct-entry vernacular dwelling, perhaps with thatch under tin, the original proportions and layout have been retained. Although much of its external elements and character survive, there have been alterations and it is not among the best examples of the type.