house

Detached three-bay single-storey vernacular house, built c. 1800, now disused. Pitched corrugated-metal roof with squared rubble limestone chimneystack to the northwest gable end. Painted smooth rendered walls with square-headed window openings having timber casement windows and painted stone sills. Central square-headed door openings with timber door. Wrought-iron gate to southwest of site. Road-fronted to the centre of Abbeylara.

This modest vernacular house retains much of its early charm and character. It originally formed part of an informal terrace of single-storey houses, of which it is the only survivor. The corrugated-metal roof suggests that it was originally thatched. Simple vernacular structures of this type were once a ubiquitous feature of Irish towns, villages and the rural landscape but are now becoming very rare. Its original character and form has been preserved in the retention of small unevenly spaced openings. It represents a subtle feature in the centre of Abbeylara, adding context to the roadscape at the centre of the village.