Ivy House

Detached five-bay two-storey farmhouse with half-dormer attic, built 1740, on a rectangular plan with three-bay full-height rear (west) elevation. Occupied, 1911. Refenestrated, ----. Pitched slate roof with clay ridge tiles, lichen-covered rendered coping to gables with red brick Running bond chimney stacks to apexes having corbelled stepped capping supporting terracotta pots, and cast-iron rainwater goods on roughcast eaves retaining cast-iron downpipes. Ivy-covered roughcast walls over coursed rubble stone construction with concealed rough hewn rubble stone flush quoins to corners; slate hung surface finish to side (south) elevation. Round- or segmental-headed central door opening with cut-granite step threshold, and cut-granite block-and-start surround centred on keystone framing replacement timber panelled door having overlight. Square-headed window openings with cut-granite sills, and concealed red brick block-and-start surrounds framing replacement uPVC casement windows replacing six-over-six or three-over-three (half-dormer attic) timber sash windows. Set in landscaped grounds on a slightly elevated site with roughcast piers to perimeter having shallow pyramidal capping supporting looped wrought iron gate.

A farmhouse representing an integral component of the mid eighteenth-century domestic built heritage of south County Wexford with the architectural value of the composition, one rooted firmly in the contemporary Georgian fashion, confirmed by such attributes as the compact rectilinear plan form centred on a streamlined Gibbsian-like doorcase demonstrating good quality workmanship; the diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor producing a graduated visual impression; and the high pitched roofline. Having been well maintained, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with substantial quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior, including a partial slate hung surface finish widely regarded as an increasingly endangered hallmark of the architectural heritage of County Wexford: the introduction of replacement fittings to the openings, however, has not had a beneficial impact on the character or integrity of a farmhouse making a pleasing visual statement in a sylvan setting.