house

Detached four-bay single-storey vernacular house, built c. 1855, with bed outshot to rear. Rounded pitched thatched roof with netting restraint and metal rope stays to eaves, and smooth rendered chimneystacks with stepped coping to gables. Roughcast rendered walls, with random rubble walls to rear. Square-headed window openings with two-over-two horned timber sash windows, and painted concrete sills. Square-headed door opening with battened timber door. Attached single-storey outbuildings to south-west comprising pitched corrugated-metal roofs and whitewashed random rubble and concrete-brick walls. Rubble stone wall with integral steps to north-east corner. Set within farmyard complex.

A fine example of a vernacular thatched dwelling with a characteristic bed outshot which has retained most of its historic fabric. Thatched buildings, although still relatively common in Inishowen, nationally are becoming increasingly rare. The rounded pitched roof is designed to minimise the impact of high winds, demonstrating the subtle adaptation of more common thatch detail to accommodate local climatic variations in exposed areas such as the Inishowen peninsula. The rural setting and the working farmyard and outbuildings give a context which enhances its significance. Dating is on the basis that the house is not marked on the Ordnance Survey first edition six-inch map of c. 1837.