Survey Data
Reg No
13304005
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural
Previous Name
Lark Field
Original Use
House
In Use As
House
Date
1810 - 1830
Coordinates
222347, 279739
Date Recorded
26/07/2005
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached three-bay two-storey house, built c. 1820, with gabled porch to centre of front elevation (southeast), box bay window with mono-pitched roof and lean-to glass house to southwest elevation, canted bay window to northeast elevation, and with two-bay two-storey and single-bay two-storey extensions with pitched roofs to rear, added c. 1880. Hipped slate roof with ridge capping and two central rendered chimneystacks. Decorative timber bargeboards to porch, rear gables and box bay windows. Roughcast rendered walls over smooth render plinth course. Red brick walls to box bay window. Square-headed window openings with one-over-one pane timber sliding sash windows and limestone sills. Square-headed opening to southwest side of porch with replacement timber door and limestone step. Set in extensive mature grounds to the south of Ballinalee, overlooking Gorteen Lough to the southeast. Complex of single-storey outbuildings to the rear with pitched corrugated-metal roofs (two with raised limestone verges), roughcast rendered walls and square-headed openings with timber half-doors and with fixed timber or timber sliding sash windows. Wrought-iron field gate to the west. Entrance gateway to the northwest of house, at start of approach avenue, having rendered walls, rendered gate piers with cut stone capstones and having decorative cast-iron gates.
Appraisal
This large but plain house retains much of its early character and form. It was probably built during the first half of the nineteenth century but was greatly extended to the rear at some stage during the second half of the century. It has a pleasing symmetry, typical of its date, and retains much of its early fabric including timber sash windows and a canted bay window, added c. 1880. The simple complex of single-storey outbuildings to the rear and the good quality cast-iron gates to the entrance complete the setting and add to this composition. A gate lodge once stood to the south of the main entrance, now no longer extant. Occupying attractive mature grounds overlooking Gorteen Lough, this house is an integral element of the built heritage of the Ballinalee area.