House in Beifleacht

Situated on the SE facing slope of rising ground in mountain valley overlooking valley to the S and E with higher ground to the N and W. A long bog road runs off the S side of the main road ( R254) which runs through the Glenveagh National park. Approximately 1.2km in from the R254 there are a cluster of ruinous buildings with several small fields around the ruined house defined by a low stone drystone wall. The main house consists of a two bay single storey high rectangular building built with intermittently coursed granite rubble which is covered with an external render. The main room (int. dims. 4.1m NW-SE x 6.7m NE-SW; wall T 0.6m) of this house is accessed directly from a doorway in the centre of the SE wall, a second room (int. dims. 4.1m NW-SE x 3.9m NE-SW) is accessed through a doorway in the partition wall to the NE of the main room. The front doorway of the house was protected by a projecting porch. The internal walls of the house are covered in a lime render. The main room of this building was heated by a fireplace now mainly broken out that is located in the centre of the SW gable. This fireplace has a stone chimney hood that was supported on corbels which projected into the room of the house in a manner reminiscent of medieval fireplaces. This unusual stone fireplace may suggest that this house was built as early as the 17th century as this type of fireplace construction is not found in the 18th/19th century vernacular houses of this region. Alternatively this farmhouse may have been built in the 18th century with the fireplace built in a manner similar to the houses of the medieval period. The main room was lit by a window located in the SE wall which has evidence for a drawbar slot in the embrasure of the window opening. There is evidence for a second window in the NW wall and possibly a third window in the NW wall of this room. The smaller room to the NE has evidence for only one window which is located in the centre of the SE wall. A third room which is accessed from its own doorway in the SE wall appears to have been built onto the NE gable of this house. During this time an outhouse appears to have been built to the NE of the extension now forming an L-shaped range of buildings. To the SW of the house there is a two bay single storey high building with no evidence of any fireplace which may have been built later than the main house. The fields to the S and E represent the extent of the farmstead around this farmhouse and there is no evidence of any cultivation ridges within the fields which would suggest that they were built to stock livestock.