Fowlersbridge House

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached symmetrical three-bay two-storey rendered house, built c.1850, with single-storey front entrance porch, two-storey gabled return and pair of lean-to extensions. Irregular on plan facing north and set back on the south side of Dromara Road on a slightly elevated site with enclosed front and west gardens and rear yard enclosed by two-storey rendered outbuildings.

Pitched natural slate roof with black clay ridge tiles and pair of rebuilt redbrick chimneystacks with octagonal clay pots rising from either gable end. Plastic guttering to rendered eaves course with original cast-iron downpipes to the return only. Painted ruled-and-lined rendered walling with rendered plinth course and rusticated rendered quoins. Square-headed window openings with painted masonry sills and replacement 6/6 timber sash windows with exposed sash boxes and ogee horns.

Symmetrical three-bay two-storey front elevation abutted by single-bay single-storey front entrance porch having flat roof concealed behind parapet wall with deep moulded cornice and frieze. Square-headed window and door openings have stop-chamfered reveals, replacement single-pane timber sash windows and replacement timber panelled door to the west cheek, opening onto granite step and granite platform to front garden.

East gable has a single irregularly placed window opening at each level with a replacement single-pane timber sash window to the first floor and replacement timber casement window to the ground floor.

Rear elevation abutted by full-height gabled return with oculus to the apex. Unpainted rendered walling to rear elevation and return with a variety of replacement single-pane timber sash or timber casement windows and replacement timber door. Lean-to to the re-entrant angle on the east and further lean-to to the west, both having natural slate roofs.

West gable has a single window opening to the ground floor with replacement 6/6 timber sash window.

Setting

Set on a slightly elevated site to the south of Dromara Road with front and west gardens enclosed by rubblestone walls and hedging with a cast-iron pedestrian gate on masonry piers with sweeping rendered wall. Short gravel drive to the east opens into rear yard. The drive and the yard is enclosed to the east by a gable-fronted two-storey rendered outbuilding having pitched natural slate roof with replacement rainwater goods, square-headed window and door openings with steel casement windows and steel sliding doors. The south of the yard is enclosed by a further multi-bay two-storey rubblestone outbuilding having pitched natural slate roof with replacement rainwater goods, coursed rubblestone walls with squared quoins, square-headed window and door openings with stone lintels, sheeted timber doors and iron bars to the windows. The north elevation is abutted by an external flight of concrete steps with the south elevation abutted by a later lean-to extension.

Roof Natural slate
Walling Ruled-and-lined render
Windows Replacement timber sash
RWG Replacement / cast-iron

Historical information

Fowlersbridge House dates from the mid-nineteenth century and is situated close to the Fowler’s Bridge, a road bridge over the Drumadonnell River from which it derives its name. An outbuilding to the east of the house dates from the same period and a further outbuilding to the south was added in the latter half of the nineteenth century.

Buildings are shown on the site on the first edition OS map of 1833-4 but none of these have survived to the present day. The current house is first shown on the second edition OS map of 1860 together with an outbuilding to the east which has also survived. By the third edition of 1901-2 the house is captioned ‘Fowlersbridge House’ and a further outbuilding to the south of the house is shown for the first time.

At the time of Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64) the house and outbuildings were valued at £10 and a yearly rent of £11 was paid for the farm by William Dodds, the landlord being the Trustees of the Honourable Robert Meade. The valuation was raised to £10.10s in 1872 indicating some slight additions/improvements, perhaps relating to the addition of the south outbuilding. There were numerous households of the name of Dodds in Drumadonnell townland at the turn into the twentieth century and the present house could not be definitively identified in the census records. The house passed to members of the Dodds family until taken over by Mary Shanaghan in 1921 followed by Alexander McKee in 1949. The buildings were revalued at £11 and £3.10s for agricultural buildings in the 1930s. This latter figure was increased to £12 in 1954 when a new byre was added to the valuation that had been built in 1949.

The accommodation in the 1930s comprised on the ground floor, two receptions, a kitchen, scullery and pantry and on the first floor a bathroom and WC. Water was laid on, the house was in very good repair, cement rendered with sash windows. However, the house was closed at this period because the owner of the farm lived in Newcastle. Today, the house and outbuildings remain in domestic and agricultural use.

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/35/1 First Edition OS Map 1833-4
2. PRONI OS/6/3/35/2 Second Edition OS map 1860
3. PRONI OS/6/3/35/3 Third Edition OS Map 1901-2
4. PRONI OS/6/3/35/4 Fourth Edition OS Map 1902-20
5. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/51B Griffith’s Valuation (1863)
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/20A-E Annual Revisions (1864-1930)
7. PRONI VAL/3/C/4/3 First General Revaluation (1933-57)
8. PRONI VAL/3/D/4/3/Q/5 First General Revaluation (1933-57)

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 symmetrical three-bay two-storey rendered house, built c.1850, with single-storey front entrance porch, two-storey gabled return and pair of lean-to extensions. A classic example of an Irish farmhouse of the more prosperous type with robust detailing and much historic fabric surviving. The original farmyard setting adds to its interest as a classic example of an Irish farmhouse of the more prosperous type. It is a good example of the type, which is becoming more rare.