Clontara

Detached three-bay single-storey worker's house with half-dormer attic, c.1870, on a T-shaped plan centred on single-bay full-height gabled projecting breakfront. Renovated. Pitched slate roof on a T-shaped plan including gablets to window openings to half-dormer attic centred on pitched (gabled) slate roof (breakfront), roll moulded ridge tiles, cut-limestone "Cavetto" coping to gables on cut-limestone kneelers with replacement yellow brick Running bond chimney stacks to apexes having corbelled stepped stringcourses below capping supporting terracotta pots, and cast-iron rainwater goods on ogee or thumbnail beaded consoles retaining cast-iron octagonal or ogee hoppers and downpipes. Repointed rubble stone walls originally rendered, ruled and lined with hammered limestone flush quoins to corners. Square-headed central window opening (breakfront) with cut-limestone block-and-start surround having chamfered reveals framing replacement timber window. Square-headed window openings originally in tripartite arrangement (ground floor) with cut-limestone block-and-start surrounds having chamfered reveals framing replacement timber windows. Square-headed window openings originally in bipartite arrangement (half-dormer attic) with cut-limestone block-and-start surrounds framing replacement timber windows. Road fronted on a corner site with flagged footpath to front.

A worker's house erected by Edward Plunkett (1808-89), sixteenth Baron of Dunsany, representing an integral component of the nineteenth-century built heritage of County Meath with the architectural value of the composition confirmed by such attributes as the compact plan form centred on an expressed breakfront; the diminishing in scale of the multipartite openings on each floor producing a graduated tiered visual effect; the silver-grey limestone dressings demonstrating good quality workmanship; and the miniature gablets embellishing the roof. Having been well maintained, the form and massing survive intact: however, neither the removal of the surface finish nor the introduction of replacement fittings to the openings has had a beneficial impact on the character or integrity of a worker's house forming part of a self-contained ensemble (including 14403704; 14403706) making a pleasing visual statement in a sylvan street scene.