house

Detached four-bay single-storey vernacular house, built c. 1860. Pitched thatched roof with smooth rendered chimneystack. Limewashed rubble stone walls. Square-headed window openings with stone sills and one-over-one pane timber sliding windows. Square-headed doorway having timber door. Set back from road in own grounds on sloping site to the south of Ardara. Single-storey outbuilding to site having pitched thatched roof, rubble stone walls and square-headed openings. Short approach avenue to house from the east.

This thatched vernacular house retains its early form and character, and is an appealing feature in the rural landscape to south of Ardara. 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, which is now sadly becoming increasingly rare in Donegal. This building also retains much of its salient fabric, including sash windows. The irregular-spacing of the openings to the front façade lends it an appealing vernacular character. This house represents a fine surviving example of a once ubiquitous building type in the rural Irish countryside, and is a valuable addition to the vernacular heritage of County Donegal. The thatched outbuilding to site adds considerably to the setting, and is a significant survival in its own right.