Macs Corner Bar and House

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached multi-bay two-storey rendered building with public house and shop units, built c.1850 on the site of an earlier dwelling. Rectangular on plan facing east and located on a corner site in the centre of Leitrim village.

M-profile natural slate roof with black clay ridge tiles and several rendered profiled chimneystacks with octagonal clay pots. Replacement steel rainwater goods to rendered eaves. Earlier shaped slate to the rear pitch of the rear pile. Painted ruled-and-lined rendered walls with rusticated rendered quoins. Square-headed window openings with moulded sills, rendered architrave surrounds and replacement hardwood sash windows.

Front elevation is five windows wide with replacement hardwood shopfront and timber fascia spanning the north half of the facade incorporating bar to the north bay. Cast-iron post-box mounted within wall. Segmental-headed door opening with rendered architrave surround and replacement tripartite timber doorcase. Further square-headed door opening to the bar having rendered architrave surround and replacement hardwood panelled doors. Replacement granite sills to the ground floor shop and bar only.

Double gabled south side elevation fronting directly onto road with a chimneystack rising from both gables and irregularly placed square-headed window openings having replacement multi-pane timber casement window, granite sills and some replacement concrete lintels. To the west gable is a single 6/6 timber sash window to the first floor, inserted c.2011.

Rear elevation is seven windows wide and abutted by a flat-roofed single-storey extension. Rubblestone walling exposed to the south end with redbrick linings to the window openings, cement rendered to remainder. Camber-headed window openings with granite sills and early twentieth-century horizontally-glazed 2/2 timber sash windows to the north end. To the south end is a single early 6/6 timber sash window to the first floor and recent 6/6 timber sash windows to the remainder with replacement granite sills.

North side elevation comprises two gables, that to the rear pile extending further north and both having rendered chimneystacks to the apex. The front gable is abutted by a lean-to single-storey extension having shaped natural slate roof and recent skylights. The north side elevation fronts onto the grounds of St. Mary's R.C. Church (HB17/10/004).

Setting

Located on a corner site at the crossroads in the centre of Leitrim village at the junction of Ballydrumman Road and Dromara Road. Enclosed rear yard recently paved, partially in use as a beer garden. Original two storey barn located opposite, to south side of road (HB17/10/025B).

Roof Natural slate
Walling render
Windows timber
RWG metal

Historical information

The current bar, shop and dwelling house has its origins in the period pre-dating the first Ordnance Survey of 1834. However, several phases of renovation and extension have taken place since and the original single-storey thatched structure has been replaced over the years by a much more substantial mid-Victorian structure.

Buildings are shown on the site on the first edition of 1834 which correspond to the present bar and house at the Leitrim crossroads. The Townland Valuation (1828-40) records James Savage as the tenant of the ‘public house’ and dimensions are given for a single-storey thatched pub and slated annexe and two single-storey outbuildings, one slated and the other thatched. The buildings are valued together at £8.

Griffith’s Valuation of 1856-64 lists the house and outbuildings at a value of £11. Patrick Murphy leases over 20 acres of land and the buildings from the Earl of Annesley, the house now having dimensions of 64x25x17, having been raised in the mid-nineteenth century.

Annual Revisions see the valuation raised to £20.10s suggesting further additions or improvements in the mid-1860s. Michael McCartan took over the farmland and buildings in 1884 and in 1885 a new outbuilding was added to the rear of the pub which is shown on the third edition OS map of 1901. McCartan died on 24th December 1897, a very wealthy man leaving a fortune of nearly £18,000. He left £500 to his brother who was parish priest of Seagoe ‘for the support and benefit of such poor priests in Ireland as he may select’. The rest of his estate was left equally to his two brothers including Owen McCartan, who was to become landlord of the pub.

Owen McCartan is recorded in the 1901 census as a spirit merchant and Irish speaker of 64 who lived in the house with six servants, three of these working as grocer’s assistants, including a 15-year-old boy. A further servant was employed on the farm and two women were general domestics. The public house had 16 rooms and was designated first class. The 16 outbuildings included two stables, a coach house and harness room and numerous agricultural buildings. In 1911 Owen McCartan describes himself as a general merchant and employs a live-in shop manager and two shop assistants. Two female servants undertake domestic duties. Owen McCartan died on 7th January 1912 and appears to have left his considerable fortune of over £9,000 to his brother the priest.

Next to take over the premises was Edward McAnulty who purchased the building for £4,060 in 1912 including the licence, goodwill and 20 acres of land near Leitrim station. In 1915 the designation ‘shop’ was added to the description and the valuation was raised to £30 indicating improvements at this time. In 1920 a second pile was added to the rear of the pub/house and the valuation was raised once again to £37. A petrol pump which was added to the site in 1929, bringing about another moderate rise in the valuation.

Valuer’s notes of the 1930s give a plan of the pub and outbuildings showing the house and shop to the south and the bar and cellar to the north, much as they are arranged today. The lean-to extension to the north elevation was used as a flour store and a further hardware store was found to the rear of the bar. A 500 gallon petrol pump stood near the south elevation of the house at the crossroads. The owner of the pub had his own electric plant in the 1930s and supplied electricity to the parish priest’s house and the chapel. The building continues in use as a bar and shop, while the domestic spaces are undergoing renovation.

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/36/1 First Edition OS Map 1834
2. PRONI OS/6/3/36/2 Second Edition OS map 1859
3. PRONI OS/6/3/36/3 Third Edition OS Map 1901
4. PRONI OS/6/3/36/4 Fourth Edition OS Map 1919-20
5. PRONI VAL/1/B/359 Townland Valuation (1828-40)
6. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/51D Griffiths Valuation (1861)
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/15A-D Annual Revisions (1864-1929)
8. PRONI VAL/3/C/4/2 First General Revaluation (1933-57)
9. PRONI VAL/3/D/4/3/K/6 First General Revaluation (1933-57)
10. PRONI Will of Michael McCartan died 24th December 1897
11. PRONI Will of Owen McCartan died 7th January 1912
12. 1901 census online
13. 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
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

Detached multi-bay two-storey rendered building with public house and shop units, built c.1850. Rectangular on plan facing east and located on a corner site in the centre of Leitrim village. A substantial nineteenth-century building having much original fabric and detailing including evidence of the changes made over the years. Its origins are in the period pre-dating the first Ordnance Survey of 1834. However, several phases of renovation and extension have taken place since and the original single-storey thatched structure has been replaced over the years by a much more substantial row of mid-Victorian character, combining aspects of formal architectural solidity with irregular features suggestive of the building’s evolution and vernacular origin. This and its associated two-storey barn (HB17/10/025B) form a traditional grouping that is becoming rare and a good example of this type of village pub and shop.