house

Detached four-bay single-storey vernacular house, built c. 1820, with modern single-storey porch to the centre of the front elevation (north-west). Modern single-storey flat-roofed addition to the rear (east) at the south end. Pitched thatched roof with raised rendered rubble stone verges and rendered rubble stone chimneystacks to the gable ends (north-east and south-west), and with chicken wire with ropes over secured to the front elevation (north-west) by horizontal metal bar and metal pegs below eaves level, and to the rear by metal pegs below eaves level. Whitewashed rendered rubble stone walls. Square-headed window openings with lime rendered reveals, splayed rendered concrete sills, and replacement fittings. Square-headed door openings with modern doors. Set back from road in own grounds to the south of the centre of Buncrana, originally overlooking Lough Swilly to the west. House set at a lower level than that of adjacent road to the west. Modern boundary wall with metal railings over to the site boundary to the west. Detached single-storey outbuilding to east having pitched corrugated-metal roof, lime rendered rubble stone walls, and square-headed opening with replacement timber metal doors and double-doors.

Although altered in recent year, this thatched vernacular house retains much of its early form and character, and is an appealing feature in the isolated rural landscape to the north\north-west of Buncrana. It probably originally dates to the first half of the nineteenth century, and is one of the few buildings of its type still extant\not heavily altered in the landscape to Buncrana on the Inishowen Peninsula. Modest in scale, it exhibits the simple and functional form of vernacular building in Ireland. Of particular interest in the survival of the thatch roof, although recently renewed, which is now sadly becoming increasingly rare in Donegal. The low profile roof is a typical feature of thatched houses located close to the sea in exposed areas in the north-west of Ireland, while the pegs and metal bar to the eaves were\are used to tie ropes (and sometimes nets) over the roof to secure it against the prevailing winds, as is the case here at Luddan. The form of this building and location of the chimneystacks suggests that this building is of the ‘direct entry’ type that is characteristic of the vernacular tradition in north-west Ireland. The irregular-spacing of the openings to the front elevation is another characteristic feature of vernacular buildings, and suggests that this building may have been extended to the south-west at some stage. This vernacular house represents a surviving example of a once ubiquitous building type in the rural Irish countryside, and is an addition to the built and vernacular heritage of the local area.