11 Caughey's Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A two-storey/ three bay formalised vernacular farmhouse. All of the bays are approximately the same width; the two bays to the right appear to have been the original (singlestorey) house.

Pitched natural slate roof with flush verge, cement skews and traditional eaves detail; the slates are very small and thick (the owner states that they are fixed with wooden pegs.) ‘Rustic’ brick chimneys to gables and on ridge one third length along from left hand gable (no pots). The ridge is of terracotta tiles, the verges are raised in concrete and the eaves project with an additional projecting course/moulding below, broken over the windows. The gutters are galvanised metal half-round on brackets. Façades are whitewashed lime rendered; gables cement rendered.

The principal elevation faces North. To left, closer to the front door than to the gable, is a 1/1 tripartite sliding sash window (third-width sashes either side of main window) with exposed boxes (reeded) and painted concrete sills. To left of centre (or close to the gable of the original dwelling) is the entrance door; this is timber painted four-panelled (bolection moulded) with a narrow 1/1 sliding sash window (with sills) to both sides and a quartered semi-circular fanlight (the two side transoms being curved); concrete step. The edge of the first floor is visible through the fanlight. To the right, at a distance from the door, is a window, as before. The sill level of the ground floor windows is very low. At first floor are three 6/3 sliding sashes in line with the ground floor openings (also with exposed boxes but no sills). To extreme right, abutting the gable, is a single storey, cement rendered, flat-roofed garage with two timber, ledged, braced and battened sliding doors(of no interest.)

Left (E) gable is cement rendered with a modern timber top-hung window to left at first floor level; rainwater hopper towards front at eaves level (no downpipe); soil vent pipe beside this with drainpipes to it.

Rear elevation

Faces South. At left, blank rear wall of garage abuts gable. To left of house elevation is a square opening with a modern window in timber with two top-hung lights over a single lower pane; next is the rear door of timber, painted, ledged, braced and battened; then a paired 1/1 sliding sash window with exposed boxes; right hand window in centre of smaller bay as that to left. Sill level is higher than to front elevation. At first floor all windows are 1/1 timber sliding sash, all with concrete sills; window to left is centred over that to ground floor; next window is over the rear door and is lower than the other two; window to right is to the right of that on the ground floor.

The right (W) gable is abutted by the garage; above is blank, cement rendered.

At the front of the house is a concrete paved roadway to the farmyard past the E gable. This is the approach to the house from the road and is a long laneway, which continues as an unmetalled track through fields. Across this lane is a small field, then trees on the banks of the River Lagan. To the rear is a concrete yard enclosed by a steep bank to a small field.

Historical information

A building is shown on the first and second OS maps of 1834 and 1859 of the same size, position and orientation as the current house. It is named as 'Lagan Vale' on the third OS map of 1919. There is one outbuilding on the first and second maps, with the remaining outbuildings appearing by the time of the third edition.

Primary Sources:
1. OS 6" map, 1st edition (1384) Co Down sheet 20
2. OS 6" map, 2nd edition (1859) Co Down sheet 20
3. OS 6" map, 3rd edition (1919) Co Down sheet 20

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
Z. Rarity

Evaluation

A good example of an increasingly rare type: two-storey/ three bay formalised vernacular farmhouse. Major features unchanged and otherwise it shows the stages of its development over approximatley two hundred years.