Survey Data
Reg No
40822007
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Technical
Original Use
House
In Use As
Museum/gallery
Date
1840 - 1900
Coordinates
213996, 420463
Date Recorded
06/02/2014
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached three-bay single-storey vernacular house with attic\loft level, built c. 1860, having central windbreak porch to the front elevation (south). Renovated c. 2005 and now in use as museum, craft shop, and tea rooms\cafe. Pitched thatched roof having ropes over secured by pegs beneath eaves level, decorative rope work to ridge, and with rendered chimneystacks and raised rendered verges to the gable ends (east and west). Roughcast rendered rubble stone walls. Square-headed window openings to front elevation and rear elevations with painted sills, and with six-over-three pane timber sliding sash windows. Square-headed window openings to the east and west elevations at loft level having two-over-two pane timber windows. Square-headed doorway to front face of porch having replacement batted timber half-doors. Located adjacent to road at right-angle to road-alignment, to the north-west end of Kilmacrenan, and a short distance to the north of the north bank of the River Lurgy. Garden to front (south) with collection of historic farm machinery and domestic appliances. Detached single-storey outbuilding to the north-west, built c. 1880 and renovated c. 2005, having pitched rope-and-peg thatched roof with raised rendered verges to the gable ends, roughcast rendered rubble stone walls, and square-headed window openings with timber windows, and square-headed doorways with battened timber doors. Detached three-bay two-storey outbuilding to the west, renovated c. 2005, having pitched rope-and-peg thatched roof with rendered verges to the gable ends, rendered rubble stone walls, and square-headed window openings with four-pane timber windows, and central square-headed doorway with battened timber door. Rubble stone boundary wall to road-frontage to the east. Gateway to the north-east having a pair of rubble stone gate piers (on circular-plan).
Appraisal
Although recently renovated, this well-maintained vernacular house retains its early character and form, and is an appealing feature in the streetscape to the north-west end of the village of Kilmacrenan. It originally dates to the mid-nineteenth century and was comprehensively renovated c. 2005 and is now in use as a museum and café. Its visual appeal is enhanced by the retention of the timber sliding sash windows (possibly replacements), while the unrefined whitewashed rubble stone construction creates a charming composition of some picturesque appeal. Modest in scale, it exhibits the simple and functional form of vernacular building in Ireland. The central projecting windbreak porch is a feature of many vernacular houses in Donegal. Of particular interest in the survival of the thatched roof, although recently renewed with decorative ropework to the ridge that is not a feature of the Irish vernacular tradition. The pegs to the eaves were\are used to tie ropes (and sometimes nets or wire mesh) over the roof to secure it against the prevailing winds as is the case here at Kilmacrenan. The location of the chimneystacks and the position of the doorway suggest that this building is of the ‘direct entry’ type that is characteristic of the vernacular tradition in north-west Ireland. Also of interest is the associated collection of two detached single-storey outbuildings, also comprehensibly renovated c. 2005 and now in use as a museum and gallery. These buildings are also built with local rubble stone masonry and have recently renewed thatched roofs, and add significantly to the context of the main house to site creating an interesting complex with an informal vernacular arrangement. This building and associated buildings are now an important tourist and local amenity, and is an integral element of the built heritage of the local area.