house

Detached four-bay single-storey vernacular house, built c. 1820, having windbreak porch to the front elevation (east). Now in use as an outbuilding. Pitched/domed thatched roof having net and ropes over secured on metal pegs and copper plumbing pipe below eaves level; two rendered chimneystacks, one to the south gable end and one offset to the north side of centre. Lime-washed smooth rendered walls over rubble stone construction. Square-headed window openings with stone sills and remains of timber framed windows, now no longer glazed. Square-headed door opening to front face of porch (east) having stone plinth blocks and modern metal sheeted door. Set back from road to the east of Gleann Cholm Cille/Glencolumbkille. Located adjacent to country lane. Dry stone walls to site. Two rubble stone outbuildings with modern repairs to site having flat corrugated metal roofs.

This charming thatched vernacular house retains its early form and character, and is an appealing feature in the rural landscape to the east of Gleann Cholm Cille/Glencolumbkille. It survives in good condition despite the loss of the early fittings to the openings. Of particular interest in the survival of the thatched roof, which is now sadly becoming increasingly rare in Donegal. The rounded 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 to the eaves were used to tie ropes and nets over the roof to secure it against the prevailing winds. The form of this building having chimneystacks to the gable ends suggests that this building is of the ‘direct entry’ type that is characteristic of the vernacular tradition in north-west Ireland. The location of the chimneystacks suggests that this building was extended by a bay at some stage. This house at Meenadreen represents a fine surviving example of a once ubiquitous building type in the rural Irish countryside, and is a representative example of the typical vernacular dwelling found along the Atlantic fringe of County Donegal.