Artramon Cottage

Detached three-bay single-storey house with half-dormer attic, built 1818, on a rectangular plan; three-bay full-height rear (south) elevation. Occupied, 1911. Sold, 1939. Reroofed, ----. Replacement hipped artificial slate roof including gablets to window openings to half-dormer attic with lichen-spotted ridge tiles, paired cement rendered central chimney stacks having concrete capping supporting terracotta pots, timber bargeboards to gablets, and cast-iron rainwater goods on slightly overhanging limewashed rendered eaves retaining cast-iron downpipes. Limewashed lime rendered or roughcast walls. Segmental-headed central door opening into house with cut-granite step threshold, and concealed dressings framing timber panelled door having fanlight. Square-headed flanking window openings in tripartite arrangement with cut-granite sills, timber mullions, and concealed dressings framing six-over-six timber sash windows without horns having two-over-two sidelights. Square-headed window openings (remainder) including square-headed window openings to rear (south) elevation centred on segmental-headed window opening (half-landing) with cut-granite sills, and concealed dressings framing six-over-six timber sash windows with six-over-six timber sash windows to rear (south) elevation centred on six-over-six timber sash window having fanlight. Interior including (ground floor): central hall retaining carved timber surrounds to door openings framing timber panelled doors, staircase on a dog leg plan with turned timber "spindle" balusters supporting carved timber banister terminating in volute, carved timber surround to window opening to half-landing framing timber panelled reveals, and carved timber surrounds to door openings to landing framing timber panelled doors; and carved timber surrounds to door openings to remainder framing timber panelled doors with timber panelled shutters to window openings. Set in landscaped grounds with rendered piers to perimeter having shallow pyramidal capping supporting wrought iron double gates.

A house representing an integral component of the early nineteenth-century domestic built heritage of County Wexford with the architectural value of the composition, one erected for Sir Francis Le Hunte (1787-1859) on his return from the Napoleonic Wars (1803-15), suggested by such attributes as the rectilinear plan form centred on a restrained doorcase showing a simple radial fanlight, albeit one partly concealed behind an Alfred Cochrane (b. 1950)-designed polygonal porch; the Wyatt-style tripartite glazing patterns; and the miniature gablets embellishing the roofline. Having been well maintained, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with substantial quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior, including crown or cylinder glazing panels in hornless sash frames, thus upholding the character or integrity of a the composition. Furthermore, an adjacent school house 'established in 1818 [and erected] in the rustic style' (Lewis 1837 I, 79) continues to contribute positively to the group and setting values of a self-contained ensemble having historic connections with Joseph Sparrow (d. 1897), 'late of Altramont [sic] Cottage Castlebridge County Wexford' (Calendars of Wills and Administrations 1897, 440); and Denis O'Connor (1830-1904) and Mary E. O'Connor (1844-1917) '[of] Artramont [sic] Cottage' (cf. 15703240).