school master's house

Detached three-bay two-storey house, built c.1850, now vacant, having lean-to porch to rear (north-west) elevation. Pitched slate roof, with paired red brick chimneystacks, cast-iron rainwater goods, and some timber bargeboards. Limewashed coursed rubble stone walls, roughcast render to rear. having brick eaves course and brick quoins. Square-headed window openings with brick block-and-start surrounds, one-over-one pane timber sliding sash windows, rendered reveals and painted stone sills. Square-headed door opening to front (south-east) elevation, not visible due to overgrowth. Gateway to road having square-plan rendered piers with steel gate, replacing wrought-iron double-leaf gate. Situated directly south of former Urcher school, with Cahans Presbyterian Church located one kilometre south.

This house is likely to have housed the schoolmaster for the school nearby that was established in 1812 for the Church of Ireland with a grant from Countess Clermont, wife of William Henry Fortescue, first Earl of Clermont, who resided at Clermont Park in County Louth. In 1850, Lord Rossmore instructed that the school should come under Presbyterian management and the house was probably built at this time. The school came to be closely associated with Cahans Presbyterian church less than one kilometre south, and remained in use until it was amalgamated with Ballybay Central School in 1987. This former schoolmaster's house retains much of its original form and fabric, including one-over-one pane timber sliding sash windows. The relationship between the house and school is obvious, with no boundary wall between the buildings. The school played a role in the social history of this rural area and it and the schoolmaster's house formed part of a social group.