Ashfield House

Detached three-bay two-storey farmhouse, extant 1840, on a rectangular plan. Renovated, ----. Pitched slate roof with clay ridge tiles, rendered chimney stacks having corbelled stepped chamfered stringcourses below capping supporting yellow terracotta tapered pots, and replacement uPVC rainwater goods on rendered eaves. Rendered, ruled and lined battered walls with rusticated rendered quoins to ends; part slate hung surface finish to side (south) elevation. Segmental-headed central door opening with timber panelled door having sidelights on panelled risers below fanlight. Remodelled square-headed window openings (ground floor) with concrete sills, and rendered "bas-relief" surrounds framing timber casement windows. Square-headed window openings (first floor) with concrete sills, and rendered "bas-relief" surrounds framing timber casement windows. Set in landscaped grounds.

A farmhouse representing an integral component of the domestic built heritage of the outskirts of Wexford with the architectural value of the composition suggested by such attributes as the compact plan form centred on a restrained doorcase showing a simple radial fanlight; and the somewhat disproportionate bias of solid to void in the massing compounded by the diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor producing a graduated tiered visual effect. Having been reasonably well maintained, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior: however, the introduction of replacement fittings to most of the openings has not had a beneficial impact on the character or integrity of a farmhouse making a pleasing visual statement in a sylvan street scene presently (2005) undergoing extensive "suburban" development.