farm house

Detached three-bay single-storey direct entry thatched farmhouse with dormer attic, extant 1837, on a rectangular plan with single-bay single-storey flat-roofed windbreak. Pitched thatch roof with chicken wire-covered paired exposed stretchers to ridge having exposed scallops, rendered chimney stack having stepped capping, concrete or rendered coping to gables including concrete or rendered coping to gable (east) with rendered dwarf chimney stack to apex having stepped capping, and exposed stretchers to eaves having exposed scallops. Roughcast battered walls on rendered plinth with rendered flush strips to corners. Square-headed door opening with two concrete steps, and concealed dressings framing timber boarded half-door having overlight. Square-headed window openings with concrete or rendered sills, and rendered flush surrounds framing two-over-two timber sash windows. Square-headed window openings (gables) with concrete or rendered sills, and concealed dressings framing timber sash windows. Interior including kitchen with elliptical- or segmental-headed hearth; parlour (west) with timber chimneypiece, and timber boarded ceiling; bedroom (east) with fluted timber surrounds to window openings framing timber panelled shutters, Classical-style chimneypiece, and timber boarded ceiling. Set in farmyard with piers to perimeter having overgrown capping supporting flat iron double gates.

A farmhouse identified as an important component of the vernacular heritage of County Westmeath by such attributes as the compact rectilinear direct entry plan form; the construction in unrefined local fieldstone displaying a feint battered silhouette; the disproportionate bias of solid to void in the massing; and the high pitched roof showing a thatch finish. Having been well maintained, the form and massing survive intact together with substantial quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the traditionally-furnished interior, thus upholding the character or integrity of the composition. Furthermore, limewashed outbuildings (----) enclosing a courtyard contribute positively to the group and setting values of a self-contained ensemble making a pleasing visual statement in a rural street scene.