31 Ballynafoy Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached asymmetrical three-bay one-and-a-half-storey rubblestone former dwelling, built c.1800, with windbreaker entrance porch and incorporated byres to either end. Rectangular on plan, facing north and located within a small enclosed site to the west of Ballynafoy Road. Currently vacant with no vehicular access.

Pitched natural slate roof with black clay ridge tiles, cement verge to left gable, three redbrick chimneystacks and no rainwater goods. Lime render over rubblestone walling with rough-hewn squared stones to the corners. Square-headed window openings with granite, basalt and redbrick sills. Original timber sash windows throughout with exposed sash boxes (some boarded over).

Front north elevation is three windows wide with an off-centre windbreaker entrance porch. Left bay has a 6/6 timber sash window with granite sill, central bay has a 6/3 timber sash window with redbrick sill, surmounted by diminutive square-headed opening, now boarded over. To the right is a windbreaker entrance porch with lean-to natural slate roof, original timber frame and vertically-sheeted timber door. Boarded up window to the right of the porch with a further door opening to the right bay having vertically-sheeted timber door providing access to the incorporated byre.

East gable with chimneystack to apex is abutted by slightly lower single-bay byre having rubblestone walling, corrugated iron roof, vertically-sheeted timber vehicular door to the north elevation and a further door and window opening to the south elevation.

Rear elevation is three windows wide, that to the left now blocked up with a 2/6 sash window to the centre with redbrick sill and a 2/2 timber sash window to the right with a rough-hewn basalt sill.

Gabled west side elevation having chimney to apex and a single window opening to attic level, now boarded up.

Setting

Located on the west side of Ballynafoy Road within a small site enclosed by ditches and mature trees. The site no longer has vehicular access.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Lime render
Windows: timber
RWG: None

Historical information

The current single-storey vernacular farmhouse pre-dates the first ordnance survey of 1833 and was extended during the mid-nineteenth century. The building is situated in a rural landscape that has changed little since the first Ordnance Survey, retaining signs of earlier human activity such as a nearby standing stone.

The building is shown on the first edition OS map of 1833 as a simple rectangular structure. However, the house is not listed in the Townland Valuation as it would not have reached the valuation threshold for inclusion. The second edition of 1859 shows the house extended by a bay to the east and a projection, larger than the current porch, perhaps a windbreak, to the north. A small outbuilding shown to the rear has not survived.

Griffith’s Valuation lists the tenant as William Hawthorn, who leases the 21 acre farm from the Representatives of William Sharman Crawford. The slated house, valued at £2.10s, is described as ‘poorly finished’.

The building could not be traced with certainty through the valuation records but appears to have passed to Robert Henry (1881), Robert McAlister (1886) and John Mills (1903). The 1901 census records John Mills, agricultural labourer, living in the three-room house with his wife and mother-in-law. By 1911 the occupant was John Clugston, a 57-year-old farmer. Subsequent tenants were William Halliday (1922 and 1928) and Margaret Bingham (1927).

At the time of the 1930s revaluation the accommodation of the 1¼ storey house comprised a room, bedroom, kitchen and attic. Internal decoration suggests that the house was last lived in c1960s/70s but it has been vacant for some time and is deteriorating.

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/34/1 First Edition OS Map 1833
2. PRONI OS/6/3/34/2 Second Edition OS map 1859
3. PRONI OS/6/3/34/3 Third Edition OS Map 1902-3
4. PRONI OS/6/3/34/4 Fourth Edition OS Map 1903-18
5. PRONI VAL/1/B/352 Townland Valuation (1828-40)
6. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/56 Griffiths Valuation (1861)
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/1A-E Annual Revisions (1864-1929)
8. PRONI VAL/3/C/4/1 First General Revaluation 1933-57
9. PRONI VAL/3/D/4/3/A/2 First General Revaluation 1933-57
10. 1901 census online
11. 1911 census online

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Detached three-bay one-and-a-half-storey direct entry rubblestone dwelling and byres, built c1800, with windbreaker entrance porch. Likely to have been thatched originally, much original fabric and detailing survive and this is of note. The survival of such detailing and fabric represents a vernacular tradition that is becoming increasingly rare, with many elements reflecting the vernacular building practices locally. It is a good example of a vernacular house with attendant outbuilding on an enclosed site.