Survey Data
Reg No
15400509
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Social, Technical
Previous Name
Cromlyn House
Original Use
Farmyard complex
Historical Use
House
In Use As
Farmyard complex
Date
1700 - 1800
Coordinates
229447, 265811
Date Recorded
16/11/2004
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Complex of multiple-bay two-storey outbuildings arranged around a courtyard associated with Crumlin House (15400508), built c.1760 and altered and extended c.1820, incorporating stables, carriage houses, accommodation and a corn drying kiln as well as farm buildings. Possibly incorporating an earlier house, Rockfield House, to the northeast facing range. Pitched and hipped slate roofs with large natural slates, overhanging eaves, cast-iron rainwater goods and red brick chimneystacks. Constructed of coursed rubble limestone with dressed squared limestone blocks to corners, acting as quoins. Square-headed window openings having cut stone sills and cast-iron diamond pane and timber sliding sash windows. Square-headed doorcases and segmental-headed carriage-arches having dressed limestone voussoirs over. Chimneystack on circular plan to the rear (southwest) having rubble limestone base and brick shaft with render over. Two-storey rubble limestone agricultural/mill building on L-shaped plan to the southwest corner of complex having pitched slate roof. Five-bay single-storey outbuilding to the west, under renovation. Possible remains of walled garden to the south east. Located to the west of Crumlin House and to the northwest of Rathaspic.
Appraisal
A substantial and very interesting complex of buildings probably originally dating to the mid-to-late eighteenth-century. This fine complex retains its early form, character and much of their early fabric, including early cast-iron diamond pane windows. This well-built complex appears to have many uses in the past and, labelled as Rockfield House on the first Ordnance Survey, was the home of the Crawford Family before the present Crumlin House was built a short distance to the east (15400508). Lewis (1837) mentions a private school at Rockfield under the patronage of M. Crawford, Esq., and perhaps one of the surviving structures was this school building. The large scale chimneystack to the rear, a very curious feature to find in a complex of the nature, suggests that this site also contained a corn milling or drying operation at one stage, although there is no obvious water source to the site. The interesting complex deserves closer inspection and provides an insight into various past industrial, domestic and agricultural processes. It is a worthy addition to the built heritage of Westmeath and is a complex of some rustic charm in the rural landscape to the south of Rathowen.