House in Ballybodonnell, County Donegal

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Pair of semi-detached three-bay single-storey former local authority houses, built c. 1910, having gable-fronted timber canopy porches over doorways to outer bays. Now out of use. Hipped natural slate roofs with two red brick chimneystacks to each dwelling having concrete coping over, and with cast-iron rainwater goods. Pitched natural slate roof to canopy porches supported on timber brackets. Roughcast rendered walls. Square-headed window openings having four-over-eight pane timber sliding sash windows; single two-over-four pane timber sliding sash windows adjacent to outer bays adjacent to doorways. Square-headed door opening with timber battened door and having plinth blocks to base. Set slightly back from road to the south-east of Dunkineely with overgrown gardens to the front of site (east).

These simple but appealing houses, of early twentieth-century appearance, retain their original form and character despite being now sadly out of use. Their integrity and visual expression is enhanced by the retention of its original fittings to the openings and the natural slate roofs. The simple but attractive timber canopy porches add a hint of decorative interest to these otherwise plain structures. The form of these buildings suggests that it was originally built as social housing by the relevant local authority or perhaps by the Congested Districts Board. They date to a period when a great many houses of this type were built in Ireland following the passing of the various Land and Labourers' Acts (c. 1883 - 1921) by the British Parliament in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, and they are a ubiquitous feature of the many Irish towns and villages, and indeed the Irish rural countryside. The vast majority of these buildings are now heavily altered, which makes these examples at Ballybodonnell rare surviving intact examples of their type. There are similar buildings to the west end of nearby Dunkineely (see 40846010 and 40846011), which suggests a common building programme. These simple houses are well-built to a conscious architectural design, which could be viewed as an 'improved' interpretation of the local vernacular housing of the time. These modest structures are an interesting addition to the social history and built heritage of the Dunkineely area, adding incident to their attractive location overlooking Inver Bay to the south-east of the village. Sensitively restored, these buildings would make a strongly positive contribution to the local landscape.

From the Buildings of Ireland (National Inventory of Architectural Heritage) record 40909822

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Picture notes

Computer-made picture. It does not show this monument.
Computer-made picture. It does not show this mountain top.
National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
EecherplazGinkgo06.jpg : Cayambe derivative work: Ginkgotree ( talk ), Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
Kenneth Allen, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
Ronnie Nijboer, Wikimedia Commons · CC0
David Dixon, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
louise price, Geograph · CC BY-SA 2.0
louise price, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0

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