31 Halfpenny Gate Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A single storey, five bay, lobby entry thatched house with a limewash finish to the front and side mud walls and to the rear wall of stone construction. The base is finished in black. The left-hand (north-east) gable has been reinforced in the lower part. Internal partitions are of brick with one of mud.

The house faces north-west overlooking a strip of grass behind a timber fence containing a single leaf modern metal gate.

Halfpenny Gate Road is accessed by making a turn to the right (south-east) three quarters of a mile from the Moira roundabout (Exit 9 from the M1) travelling towards Lisburn. The house is reached after a further mile and a half.

The dam-retted thatch covering is contained within cement skews. There are three rows of exposed scollops at the ridge and two below the chimneys with a single row at the eaves. The right hand (south-west) gable rises to a chimney with double corbels and there are further similar stacks, one above the kitchen hearth position and one over the wall between the bedroom and the bathroom at the north-east end of the house. Each stack has a single pot, that over the kitchen hearth is provided with a spark arrester.

The pitched corrugated iron covered roof of the projecting porch is finished with a timber bargeboard. The entrance door is framed, ledged braced and timber sheeted. There are small window openings on either side and the corners have plain dressings.

There are five windows on the front elevation, two to the right (south-west) of the porch, widely spaced, and three to the left more closely spaced. All of the windows are vertically sliding with sashes divided into two horizontally, sash stops are moulded and sills are of traditional depths. Plain surrounds project slightly and the heads are undulating. There are no openings in the gables of the house

A modern kitchen extension with flat felt roof and plastic rainwater goods projects at the rear. The widows in this feature are modern casements as are those lighting the rear of the house. There is one to the left (south-west) and three to the right of the extension. All these openings have narrow sills.

Historical information

A building matching the present is shown on this site on the OS map of 1832 / 33, but is not included in the near contemporary valuation. It is included in the second valuation of 1859, however, with Thomas Dougherty leasing the property from the Hertford Estate and the rateable value calculated at £1-10-0.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI VAL/1A/1/67 OS map, County Antrim sheet 67, with valuation
references (1832 / 33-c.38)
2 PRONI VAL/2A/1/67A OS map, County Antrim sheet 67, with valuation references (1857-c.59)
3 PRONI VAL/2B/1/62A Second valuation, Magheramesk (1859)

Other references
1 EHS Survey of Thatched Buildings, report by Colin Hatrick to EHS, 1992
2 EHS Monitoring of Thatched Buildings, report by Colin Hatrick to EHS, 16 June 1994
3 Various letters and reports in EHS file since date of listing.

The thatched roof was patched by Irish Thatchers Ltd 1n 1977 using straw.
Re-thatching was carried out by Gerry Agnew in 1981 using wheat straw.
The kitchen extension at the rear was constructed in 1982.
Patching of the roof was carried out by Gerry Agnew in 1986 using straw.
Part of the roof was damaged by fire by fire in May 1987 and Gerry Agnew repaired the damaged section.
Repair of bird damage was carried out in 1992 by Gerry Agnew using flax.
A further scheme was undertaken in 1996 by Gerry Agnew using flax.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
F. Structural System
H-. Alterations detracting from building

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
Z. Rarity

Evaluation

The house faces north west. Halfpenny Gate Road is accessed by making a turn to the right ( south east ) three quarters of a mile from the Moira roundabout ( Exit 9 from the M1) travelling towards Lisburn. The house is a mile and a half further on.
It is a single storey, five bay, lobby entry thatched house. The walls are whitened. The front and gable walls are of mud and the rear wall is of stone construction. The original layout is discernible and alterations to provide a porch and an internal corridor are considered to be acceptable developments. Embellishment of the front window surrounds complements the porch in style. However the modern windows that have been inserted at the rear have a negative effect on the overall character of the building.
The house is of at least early 19th. C origin but could be much older.