Ashgrove

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached single-storey direct entry four-bay white-washed (formerly thatched) house, built c.1800, extended to either end. Rectangular on plan facing north and accessed via long avenue to the south of Upper Mealough Road. Vacant for over twenty years with a modern dwelling to the front.

Pitched natural slate roof with black clay ridge tiles and four redbrick chimneystacks with modern terracotta pots. White-wash over rough-cast rendered walling. Square-headed window openings with painted masonry sills and variety of timber sash and timber casement windows.

Front elevation is four windows wide flanked by a vehicular opening to either end. The central section appears to be the original part of the dwelling as evident in the roofing variations. This central section has a central square-headed door opening with replacement timber sheeted door and granite step. To the east is an early 3/6 timber sash window with exposed sash box while to the west is a later 2/1 horizontally glazed timber sash window. The east accretion also has an early 6/3 timber sash window while the west accretion has single-pane timber sash window. The vehicular openings to either end have replacement timber sheeted doors.

East gable end is abutted by a further structure with a slightly higher pitched natural slate roof and replacement sheeted timber door.

The rear elevation has few window openings while its rough-cast rendered walling is unpainted with some rubblestone walling exposed.

West gable abutted by lean-to with corrugated asbestos sheeted roof.

Setting:
Set on an east-west axis facing north and accessed via long avenue to the south of Upper Mealough Road. Various single-storey outbuildings to the west have rubblestone and massed concrete walls with corrugated asbestos sheeted roofs and sheeted timber doors.

Roof Natural slate
RWG N/A
Walling Rough-cast over rubblestone
Windows Timber sash

Historical information

The current building comprises an original pre-1830 dwelling house which has been extended to either side and constitutes an increasingly-rare example of early vernacular structure.

A house, the central dwelling place present on the site today, is shown on the first edition OS map of 1834 as a rectangular structure with an unfinished laneway connecting the house to the main road. The house is not numbered on the valuation map of the period and cannot therefore be identified with certainty in the Townland Valuation (1828-40) but would appear to be a house belonging to John McGowan. Dimensions are given for a single storey thatched dwelling, noted to be of category C+, i.e. old but in repair. A number of single-storey outbuildings are also present, both thatched and slated. The buildings are valued at £1.17s.9d, which put the holding under the threshold for the levying of county cess.

By the time of Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64) the house is occupied by Robert McGowan and we learn that the landlord is William Keown. McGowan has a small landholding of over 7 acres and the buildings are now valued at £1.10s. He pays a yearly rent of £8.8s and holds the land ‘at will’, meaning that the lease could be terminated at any time by either landlord or tenant. The OS map of 1858 suggests that the building has already been extended by this stage and further extension is shown by the third edition of 1901-2.

In subsequent years the house remained the property of the McGowan family, passing to Hugh McGowan in 1884, who became the owner in fee under land purchase legislation in 1908. Hugh McGowan is listed in the 1901 census as a farmer living with his wife and five children ranging in age from fifteen to four. The house is no longer thatched at this stage. By 1911 the three older children were no longer at home, and three more children had been born. The building is no longer in use as a dwelling.

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/9/1 – First Edition OS Map 1834
2. PRONI OS/6/3/9/2 – Second Edition OS map 1858
3. PRONI OS/6/3/9/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1901-2
4. PRONI OS/6/3/9/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1920-21
5. PRONI OS/6/3/9/5 – Fifth Edition OS Map 1920-31
6. PRONI VAL/1/A/3/9 – Townland Valuation (1828-40)
7. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/25A – Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64)
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/20/11A-F – Annual Revisions (1864-1930)
9. 1901 census online
10. 1911 census online

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

Z. Rarity
X. Local Interest
R. Age
S. Authenticity

Evaluation

A detached single-storey direct entry four-bay white-washed (formerly thatched) house, built c.1800, extended to either end. Rectangular on plan facing north and accessed via a long avenue to the south of Upper Mealough Road. The exterior proportions are consistent with the building's vernacular style. It retains most of its original fabric and detailing both internally and externally and despite the addition of a new dwellng close by this house enjoys a good setting and is of importance as a relatively rare exampe of a pre -1830 vernacular house.