Bawn in An Fhothair (tc An Ardaidh)

Faugher House (DG016-024): In 1611, Tirlagh Roe O'Boyle was granted some 2,000 acres in the barony of Kilmacrenan which included, inter alia, the lands of Faugher (Hill 1877, 328; Trench 1945, 96-8). In 1619 O'Boyle is described as having 'built a good bawn and a house of lime and stone in which he with his family dweleth' (Hill 1877, 526). He mortgaged the lands to John Stanton, whose wife is recorded as living there in 1622. The house is described in that year as 'of clay and stone rough cast with lime, 48 ft long, 25 ft broad and 13 ft high . . . Adjoining to this house, there are 3 stone houses and a timber house, thatched' (Simmington 1937, 136; Treadwell 1953-5, 43). The lands were forfeited by O'Boyle as a result of the 1641 rebellion. They were regranted to Sir John Stephens and were sold by his assignee, Hugh Hamil, to William Wray in 1700; the Wrays had been living there for some 30 years previous (Trench 1945, 94-7). The house was abandoned during the 18th century and is marked as 'Castle Ruins' in Taylor and Skinner (1778, 231). The remains comprise an irregular five bay three-storey house with attic and entrance at first-floor level set centrally in a rectangular bawn (DG016-024002-), 34.3m x 29.4m internally, which had four corner towers. Sited on a slope, there is a gradual rise in ground level from S to N; this rise is markedly less within the bawn, where some attempt has been made to raise the ground level, particularly on the SE. Bawn: The walls are built of split stone and rubble laid in mortar; the stones are neatly laid and the whole finely jointed. Only the W wall with adjoining remains of the corner towers, the W half of the S wall, and sections of the walls which adjoin the NE corner tower, survive. The W and S walls stand to full height and are capped with rounded crenellations. The main entrance to the bawn was about midway along the S wall. The stop-chamfered jamb and voussoir of a four-centred arch survive on the W, and the splayed ingoing preserves a large draw-bar socket. The wall is 3.8m high externally and 2.4m high on the interior; it preserves four gun-loops. At the foot of the exterior face is a small rectangular opening, c. 20cms high, the outlet for a flag-covered drain which runs in the direction of the SW corner of the house. Due to the nature of the exterior slope, the W wall is higher on the S, 4m-5m, than on the N, 3m; the wall is 2.9m high on the interior and is pierced with sixteen gun-loops. The SW corner tower is represented by the N and W walls c. 1.5m high; both have two gun-loops. This tower was probably two storeys in height with the entrance from the interior of the bawn at first-floor level. The tower has a slight salient angle. A small section of the E wall of the SE tower, .7m high and incorporated in a modern drystone wall, would likewise confirm that tower as also having a salient angle; it is equally likely that both the N towers were similarly constructed. Only the S wall, c. 1m high, and interior return of the E wall of the NW tower survives. A window in the S wall looks onto the interior of the bawn, and the doorway in the E wall, c. 1.4m high, is blocked up; the heads are missing. The line of the N wall is indicated by fallen rubble and a short stretch of fallen wall lies within the bawn. The E section of the N wall survives to a height of c. 1m, and has a small drain-like opening, c. 20cms high, at present ground level. Fragments of the interior walls of the NE tower are incorporated in a modern drystone wall and the splayed ingoing on the N may be the remains of a doorway corresponding with that in the NW tower. Only a short length of the E wall remains c. 1m high, though its line can be traced for almost the whole of its length; it preserves the remains of a single loop. The outline of two secondary structures in the bawn are visible as footings. One was built against the interior face of the W wall and some stones were removed for bonding, the other was built against the interior corner of the N wall and NE tower; the latter is cross-hatched and depicted as part of a larger structure on the OS 6 inch sheet. The bawn is possibly early 17th century in date and is probably that which was erected by O'Boyle. The house (DG016-024) is certainly later than that described in the 1622 report and might well have been built when the Wrays came to reside there in the second half of the 17th century. The nature of this settlement is further reflected in the names of two fields on the S of Faugher House, namely 'the kitchen garden' and 'the orchard'. The above description was derived from the 'Archaeological Survey of County Donegal. A description of the field antiquities of the County from the Mesolithic Period to the 17th century.' Compiled by: Brian Lacey with Eamon Cody, Claire Cotter, Judy Cuppage, Noel Dunne, Vincent Hurley, Celie O'Rahilly, Paul Walsh and Seán Ó Nualláin (Lifford: Donegal County Council, 1983). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated. Date of upload: 22 September 2008