Survey Data
Reg No
40823109
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Technical
Original Use
Building misc
Date
1780 - 1820
Coordinates
222066, 420935
Date Recorded
02/07/2014
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached pair of single-bay single-storey watchman’s hut associated with former bleaching green(s), built c. 1800. Now out of use. Pyramidal natural slate roofs with red brick chimneystack to hut to the south-west. Random rubble stone walls. Square-headed window openings with remains of four-pane timber window. Square-headed doorways with remains of timber doors. Set well back from road to the south-west and north of former bleaching green, and in the rural countryside to the west of Ramelton. Two-storey house (see 40800305) to the west, with River Leannan to the south. Detached single-storey outbuilding to the north-east having pitched corrugated-metal roof with raised verge and red brick chimneystack to the south-west gable end, random rubble walls, square-headed window opening with replacement fitting, and square-headed doorway with timber door. Detached single-storey outbuilding to the east of hut to the south-west, built over a former ice house, having mono-pitched corrugated-metal roof, corrugated-metal walls, and square-headed doorway with battened timber door.
Appraisal
This pair of modest pair of single-bay structures were originally built as watchmen's’ huts associated with a former linen bleaching green between. Although out of use for a considerable period (hut to the north-east may now be in use as an outbuilding associated with a house), they survive in good condition with intact hipped natural slate roofs, and robust rubble stone construction. The chimneystack to the hut to the south-west indicates its temporary domestic function. These simple buildings, although very modest, contribute significantly to the district’s architectural and industrial heritage. The linen industry was an important part of the town’s economic life during the eighteenth and nineteenth century, and protecting the produce of bleaching mills, whilst vulnerable on the bleaching green, was paramount. These structures form part of an interesting collection of related structures associated with the former linen industry in this part of Ramelton and are important, possibly unique, additions to the built heritage of County Donegal. They may have been built by James Watt who built the fine house, The Green (see 40800305), adjacent to the west. Watt was the leading linen bleacher in Donegal during the early part of the nineteenth century. I former bleaching mill to the rear and north of the house survived until sometime after c. 1904 but was subsequently demolished. The Watt family also ran a salmon fishery at the Leanne River adjacent to the south during the nineteenth century. The simple single-storey outbuilding to the north-west also survives in good condition, and completes the setting and context.