Ardroe Cottage

Detached three-bay single-storey direct-entry vernacular house with attic level, built c. 1780, having central flat-roofed windbreak porch to the front elevation. Recently restored and now in use as a holiday home\rental property. Pitched thatch roof having pegs below eaves level and to gable ends for securing ropes over thatch, and having rendered chimneystacks and raised rendered verges to the gable ends. Roughcast rendered rubble stone walls. Square-headed window openings having six-over-six and six-over-three pane timber sliding sash windows. Square-headed doorway to windbreak porch having replacement battened timber door. Set back from road in own grounds to the east of Rosnakill and to the south end of the Fanad Peninsula. House reached by hedgerow-lined avenue from the east. Gardens and gravel forecourt to site.

This notable and well-maintained vernacular house retains its early character and form, and is an instantly appealing feature in the scenic landscape to the Rosnakill to the south end of the Fanad Peninsula. It has been recently sympathically restored and is now in use as a holiday home\holiday rental property. Its visual appeal is enhanced by the retention of the timber sliding sash windows, 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. Of particular interest in the survival of the thatched roof, which is now sadly becoming increasingly rare in Donegal. The rounded roof is a typical feature of thatched houses located close to the sea in exposed areas in the north-west of Ireland, while the metal pegs to the eaves were 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 Aghadreenan. This house apparently dates to the late-eighteenth century, and was originally built by the great-great-grandfather of the present owner. This fine building is one of the better surviving elements of the vernacular heritage of the local area, and is an important addition to the built heritage of the local area.