Saint Martin's Villa

Detached three-bay two-storey farmhouse with half-dormer attic, extant 1840, on a rectangular plan with two-bay two-storey rear (west) elevation. Now disused. Pitched slate roof with clay ridge tiles terminating in rendered chimney stacks having lichen-spotted capping supporting terracotta pots, and cast-iron rainwater goods on rendered slate flagged eaves with remains of cast-iron rainwater goods to rear (west) elevation on red brick header bond eaves retaining cast-iron downpipes. Fine roughcast walls; slate hung surface finish to side (south) elevation. Segmental-headed central door opening with cut-granite step threshold, and rendered "bas-relief" surround including cut-granite "Cavetto" lintel framing timber panelled door having fanlight. Square-headed window openings with cut-granite sills, and concealed red brick block-and-start surrounds framing six-over-nine (ground floor) or six-over-six (first floor) timber sash windows with two-over-four timber sash windows to gables to side elevations; six-over-six timber sash windows to rear (west) elevation. Interior including (ground floor): central hall retaining timber surrounds to door openings framing timber panelled doors; and timber surrounds to door openings to remainder framing timber panelled doors with timber panelled shutters to window openings. Set in unkempt grounds with rendered monolithic piers to perimeter supporting looped flat iron double gates.

A farmhouse erected by Reverend Peter Doyle (Whelan and Nolan 1987, n.p.) representing an integral component of the early nineteenth-century domestic built heritage of south County Wexford with the architectural value of the composition suggested by such attributes as the compact rectilinear plan form centred on a restrained doorcase showing a radial fanlight; the diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor producing a graduated visual impression; and the high pitched roofline. A prolonged period of unoccupancy notwithstanding, 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. Furthermore, adjacent outbuildings (extant 1840); and the ivy-enveloped shell of polygonal range of undetermined purpose, all continue to contribute positively to the group and setting values of a neat self-contained ensemble having subsequent connections with Reverend Joseph Murphy PP (d. 1897; Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 1897, 30).