house

Attached four-bay single-storey house, built c. 1800, having flat-roofed windbreak porch to the southeast end of the main elevation (northeast) and with three-bay single-storey section to the southeast end. Previously in use as a commercial outlet. Pitched corrugated-metal roofs with central rendered chimneystack and with a raised render verge to the southeast gable end. Painted ruled-and-lined rendered finish, over rubble limestone construction, and with rendered plinth. Square-headed window openings with one-over-one pane timber sliding sash windows and painted stone sills. Wrought-iron security bars to a number of the window openings. Square-headed window openings to the southeast section containing glazed blocks and having painted rendered sills to southeast section. Square-headed door openings to porch and to southeast section, the former having a sheet metal door, the latter a timber battened door. Outbuildings of roughly coursed limestone construction with corrugated-metal roofs set around yard to rear (southwest). Road-fronted to the southeast end of Abbeylara. Single-storey garage extension attached to the southeast end.

Despite being out of use, this modest vernacular house retains much of its early charm and character. The form of this building and the spacing of the openings suggest that it was once a number of individual houses that were later amalgamated into a single property. The corrugated-metal roof suggests that it was originally thatched. Simple vernacular structures of this type were once a ubiquitous feature of Irish towns, villages and the rural landscape but are now becoming very rare. Its original character and form has been preserved in the retention of small unevenly spaced openings. It represents a subtle feature in the centre of Abbeylara, adding context to the roadscape to the southeast end of village.