Drumdreenagh House

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A symmetrical two-storey three-bay farmhouse built c.1840; rectangular plan form with rear return, extension and portico. Located off the Drumdreenagh Road approximately 1 mile north east of the town of Rathfriland.

Pitched natural slate roofing with clay ridge tiles; replacement timber barge boards; replacement uPVC rainwater goods; cement rendered chimneystacks. Smooth cement rendered walling with faux-quoins painted directly onto walling. 8/8 timber sliding sash windows with masonry cills and contrasting reveals; no horns. Four-panelled timber door with bolection mouldings; wrought-iron ironmongery; flanked by raised-and-pointed panelled pilasters surmounted by scrolled brackets supporting moulded cornice with half-round bat-wing fan-light with coloured glass. The whole door embraced by moulded doorcase with projected lugs and plinth stops; granite threshold. Tiled steps and concrete semi-circle classical styled portico (post 1970).

The principal elevation faces north east and is symmetrically arranged. The front entrance is centrally positioned with single windows to the left and right. First floor windows directly over.

The left gable is blank.

The rear elevation is asymmetrically arranged. Two-storey gable-ended return to the left bay; matching eaves level; slight lower ridge level. The left cheek has a single ground and first floor window centrally located. The gable is blank with a small single-storey flat-roofed extension right of centre. The right cheek is abutted by a two-storey flat-roofed extension with crenallated parapet to the right elevation; two first floor windows to the rear elevation; the right elevation has a multi-paned ground floor window left of centre; gabled single-storey porch with segmental arched windows located at the re-entrant of the extension and rear elevation. Small multi-paned, margin-paned first floor window over.

The right gable has a single first floor window right of centre.

Setting

The house is set back but visible from the main road. The entrance to the site is served by rectangular piers surmounted by dentilled pedimented caps; modern gates to pedestrian access; cattle grid to vehicular access. The driveway from the road is straight and lined with smooth plastered walls with saddle-back copping. Landscaped turning circle with central island and water feature addressing the front elevation. Concrete yard to the rear encompassed with painted rubble masonry and block outbuilding; slate roof; timber sheeted doors and fixed light. The two-storey outbuilding immediately adjacent to the house is abstractly painted in an irregular black squared pattern. Roughcast walling with pedimented piers and wrought-iron gates throughout the rear complex. Round-headed archway adjoining the right gable of the dwelling with cornice course and projected geometric panelling.

Roofing: Natural slate
Walling: render
Windows: Timber
RWG: uPVC

Historical information

Drumdreenagh House, a two-storey farmhouse was constructed between 1833 and 1859 as it first appears on the second edition of the Ordnance Survey map which was conducted in the latter year. The map depicted the house (then uncaptioned) and a large L-shaped building to its east-side (the L-shaped outbuilding forms the north and east sides of the current courtyard to the rear of the Drumdreenagh House). In 1862 Griffith’s Valuation notes that the site was occupied by James Atkins, a local farmer, who let the property from the Marquis of Downshire. Drumdreenagh house and its out offices were valued at £15 and the site remained at this value by the end of the Annual revisions in 1929.

James Atkins resided at Drumdreenagh House until c. 1901 when the site passed into the possession of a Mr. Robert Nesbitt. By that time Atkins had carried out some alterations to the farm as the third edition of the Ordnance Survey maps (1901-02) shows that the small outbuilding to the rear of the house, as well as additions to the L-shaped outbuilding to the east of the dwelling (forming the current courtyard) had been built; however this construction work did not result in any alteration to the value of Drumdreenagh House in the Annual Revisions.

The 1901 Census records that Nesbitt (32, Presbyterian) was also employed as a farmer and resided at Drumdreenagh House with his wife Martha (34) and their infant daughter; the census building return described the house as a 2nd class dwelling that consisted of eight rooms. By 1905 Robert Nesbitt had vacated the farm and a Mrs. Annie Ellen Rea was recorded as the new occupant; the 1911 Census states that Rea (44) and her two sons looked after the farm which by that time had been upgraded to a 1st class dwelling. The outbuildings to the east of the dwelling housed a large number of farm offices including two stables, three cow houses, two calf houses, four piggeries, a boiling house and a barn.

Annie Ellen Rea and her sons continued to reside at the site until at least the end of the Annual Revisions in 1929. Drumdreenagh House was listed in 1977 and continues to be occupied. The dwelling’s two-storey return was constructed prior to the current edition of the Ordnance Survey map in 1975 which depicts the extension at the rear of the building. Field inspection finds that the tiled steps and concrete semi-circle classical styled portico were constructed post 1970 when they were noted in the First Survey Record.

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/42/1 – First edition Ordnance Survey map 1833
2. PRONI OS/6/3/42/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey map 1859
3. PRONI OS/6/3/42/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey map 1901-1902
4. PRONI OS/6/3/42/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey map 1919-1920
5. PRONI VAL/1/A/3/42 – Townland Valuation map 1833
6. PRONI VAL/1/B/357A+B – Townland Valuation c. 1830
7. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/59/A – Griffith’s Valuation 1862
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/24A – Annual Revisions 1864-1878
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/24B – Annual Revisions 1879-1889
10. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/24C – Annual Revisions 1889-1897
11. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/24D – Annual Revisions 1898-1911
12. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/24E – Annual Revisions 1912-1929
13. Ulster Street Directories (1843-1918)
14. Census of Ireland (1901 / 1911)
15. First Survey Record – HB17/09/016 (1970)
16. Ordnance Survey Map 253-4 (1975)

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A symmetrical two-storey three-bay farmhouse built c.1840. Overall its historic character survives, although there are various superficial contemporary additions and alterations detracting from its appearance. However, it is a good example of this type of farmhouse with much original fabric surviving. The outbuildings to the rear and further landscape features add to the setting and interest of the house.