46 Gowdystown Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached three-bay single-storey direct-entry thatched former dwelling, built c.1820, with incorporated byre. Rectangular on plan, facing south and set perpendicular to the west side of Gowdystown Road.

Pitched corrugated iron over original thatch roof. Random rubblestone walling with lime mortar. Square-headed window openings with timber lintels and windows removed.

Front south elevation is four windows wide with a central windbreaker entrance projection having lean-to corrugated iron hood. The front elevation is extended to the west to incorporate a byre having a square-headed vehicular openings with timber lintel.

Blank west gable with concrete repairs to verge.

Rear elevation is three windows wide with diminutive square-headed window openings having timber lintels.

Blank east gable fronting onto Gowdystown Road.

Setting

Occupying a roadside site with its east gable fronting onto Gowdystown Road and a small enclosed front area.

Roof Corrugated iron over thatch
Walling stone
Windows None
RWG None

Historical information

The current dwelling house is shown on the first edition OS map of 1833 occupying a roadside site in a rural landscape dotted with farmhouses. By the second edition of 1860 the dwelling has been extended to the west but otherwise remains apparently unaltered up to the present time. The opening of the Banbridge and Lisburn Railway (1863) which passed close to the house, is the most significant alteration to the landscape to have occurred during the nineteenth century.

Unusually Griffith’s Valuation does not separately value this house, which is deemed to be part of a farm held by the occupiers of a nearby two-storey farmhouse to the west. However, the building appears in Annual Revisions at a valuation of £1.5s and by 1900 the occupier is noted to be Samuel Irwine, a general labourer of 60 who lived with his wife. (1901 census) The house had two rooms and was thatched at the time of the 1901 census, as the majority of buildings were in this townland at the turn into the twentieth century. All these thatched dwellings were designated third class. The house does not appear to have been inhabited after 1914 and does not appear in valuation records after this time.

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/27/1 First Edition OS Map 1833
2. PRONI OS/6/3/27/2 Second Edition OS map 1860
3. PRONI OS/6/3/27/3 Third Edition OS Map 1903
4. PRONI OS/6/3/27/4 Fourth Edition OS Map 1903-18
5. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/38D Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64)
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/21A-D Annual Revisions (1864-1929)

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Detached three-bay single-storey thatched former dwelling, built c.1820. Rectangular on plan, facing south with single-bay byre to the west gable. Set perpendicular to the Gowdystown Road to the west. An example of a direct-entry thatched dwelling which retains a vitrually intact thatched roof worthy of record. Currently used as a farm building, this former dwelling has very little joinery or original features, but its vernacular layout survives. However, insufficient fabric survives to merit listing and there are other, better, examples listed.