69 Lisnagade Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A group of vernacular buildings, including a single-storey three-bay rubble stone hearth-lobby house, a single-storey four-bay roughcast rendered direct-entry house and associated outbuildings; built pre 1834 and located to the west side of Lisnagade Road north of Loughbrickland.

Rubble stone house

Rubble stone hearth-lobby house has tin roof and raised stone verges with a replacement chimneystack. uPVC half-round rainwater goods with timber fascias. Walling is random rubble. Windows are 1/1 timber casements with timber lintels and concrete block sills.

The rubble stone dwelling is north-facing and rectangular on plan with projecting catslide porch to front. Porch to right of centre having timber-sheeted entrance door; window to right and two windows to left. East gable is blank. South (rear) elevation has a window to left and a further opening to left (not viewed). West gable is abutted by a wall and slated canopy which is connected to the neighbouring roughcast rendered house.

Roughcast rendered house

Roughcast rendered house has pitched natural slate roof (artificial slates to rear slope) with blue/black angled ridge tiles and replacement rendered chimneystacks. Cast-iron half-round rainwater goods. Walling is painted roughcast render on a smooth rendered plinth with quoins. Windows are 1/1 timber sliding sash with projecting sills unless otherwise stated; replacement timber windows to rear.

The roughcast rendered house is north-facing with replacement timber-sheeted door to left of centre and a window at either side; additional bay to left has a replacement timber-sheeted half-door and a 2/2 timber casement window. The east gable is abutted by a wall and slated canopy which is connected to the neighbouring rubble stone dwelling. The south (rear) elevation comprises four replacement windows at various locations and of various sizes. The west elevation is abutted by a single-storey byre.

Byre

Byre to west has pitched natural slate roof with blue/black angled ridge tiles and two flush rooflights to left of north-facing slope. Cast iron rainwater goods. Walling is mainly random rubble stone with ashlar quoins, red-brick dressings and relieving arches. Timber casement windows. Timber-sheeted doors to left and centre and two windows to right of centre (that to right is multi-paned). To far right is a pair of timber-sheeted doors. The east gable is abutted to the adjoining single-storey house. The south (rear) elevation is blank. The west gable has an opening to centre at apex sheeted in corrugated metal.

Barn

Rubble stone barn to northeast of yard has red-brick quoins and a natural slate roof. Elevations are blank except the west gable which as a timber-sheeted sliding door (brick infill to door opening at centre).

Setting

Closely grouped on a large site accessed via a long lane and surrounded by farmland with yard to front. At entrance to yard are a pair of original wrought-iron gates on simple stone piers. To far west of yard is a modern agricultural shed and rubble stone wall. Bounded by mature trees and hedgerow.

Roofs: Natural slate / corrugated metal
Walling: stone / roughcast
Windows: timber
RWG: Cast-iron / uPVC

Historical information

The current buildings are a group of vernacular dwellings formerly known as ‘The Hill Head’ and listed throughout valuation records as three separate holdings. The two central dwelling houses are pre-1834 in date.

Buildings are shown on the first OS map of 1834, captioned ‘The Hill Head’ and situated near a small rath. The two central dwelling houses have survived to the present day, while a third dwelling house to the south has now gone. The group is not listed in the Townland Valuation, as the buildings would not have reached the valuation threshold (£3) for inclusion.

Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64) lists the two occupiers as George Burns and Margaret, then James, Patterson. The farmhouses are valued at £1.10s and £2.15s and are situated in plots of land of over 11 acres and over 23 acres respectively. James Patterson’s house is described as ‘partly slated’. The Burns and Patterson families remained resident until the early decades of the twentieth century and appear in the censuses of 1901 and 1911. In 1901 George Burns was a 54-year-old widower, living with his large family of ten children aged between 5 and 30. The older sons were helping with the farm and their sisters were working in the home. James and Alexander Patterson were unmarried brothers living with Mary Jane Tuft who was a domestic servant. Both houses were thatched in 1901 and were listed as ‘third class’, a designation made according to their size and construction materials. Each house had three rooms. By 1911 only three adult children remained at home with George Burns. James Patterson was living alone with his servant and both the houses were roofed with more permanent materials, probably corrugated iron and/or slate.

James Patterson’s house passed to William Teggart in 1929 and subsequent occupiers were Robert Jardine (1938) and Patrick McKiveregan (1943). In the First General Revaluation of the early 1930s, the house was partly slated and partly roofed with corrugated iron. Internally it was laid out with a reception, kitchen, bedroom and attic and was described as in ‘medium condition’.

In 1955 George Burns’ house was redesignated an agricultural outbuilding and revalued at £1. At the time of redesignation its internal accommodation comprised two bedrooms and a kitchen and the house was roofed with corrugated iron.

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/33/1 First Edition OS Map 1834
2. PRONI OS/6/3/33/2 Second Edition OS map 1860
3. PRONI OS/6/3/33/3 Third Edition OS Map 1903
4. PRONI OS/6/3/33/4 Fourth Edition OS Map 1903-18
5. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/55D Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64)
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/22A-D Annual Revisions (1864-1929)
7. PRONI VAL/12/F/4/2/8 Annual Revisions (1930-35)
8. PRONI VAL/3/C/4/3 First General Revaluation (1936-57)
9. PRONI VAL/3/D/4/3/S/4 First General Revaluation (1933-57)
10. 1901 census online
11. 1911 census online

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

A group of vernacular farm buildings, including a single-storey three-bay rubble stone hearth-lobby house, a single-storey four-bay roughcast rendered direct-entry house and associated outbuildings; built c.1840 arranged in a traditional grouping. The setting is largely as original and much of the early character of the group has survived. Although increasingly rare as a grouping, the buildings have been altered and are not among the best examples of the type.