house

Detached four-bay single-storey vernacular house, built c. 1880, having single-storey flat-roofed extension to the rear (south). Pitched rope-and-peg reed thatched roof having stone pegs below eaves level and with rendered chimneystack. Smooth cement rendered walls. Square-headed window openings with replacement windows. Square-headed door opening, offset to the west side of centre, having timber sheeted door. Set well back from road in elevated sloping site to the east/north of Gleann Cholm Cille/Glencolumbkille. Single-bay single-storey modern outbuilding adjacent east gable.

This vernacular house retains some of its early character despite some alterations and the loss of the early fabric to the openings. Modest in scale, it exhibits the simple and functional form of vernacular building in Ireland. Of particular interest in the survival of the thatched roof, which is now sadly becoming increasingly rare in Donegal. The shallow pitched 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 sometimes nets) over the roof to secure it against the prevailing winds, as is the case here at Meenadiff. This house represents a 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.