Sonas, Battery Road

Detached three-bay two-storey former Presbyterian/Methodist manse, built c. 1865, having iron trellis work open porch to the centre of the front façade (east) and a multiple-bay full-height two-storey extension with hipped roof to rear (west). Possibly later in use as a Church of Ireland rectory; now in use as a private house. Shallow hipped slate roof with overhanging bracketed eaves and with two rendered chimneystacks to the centre. Painted wet-dashed rendered walls over smooth rendered plinth. Square-headed window openings having replacement windows and with tooled limestone sills. Elliptical-headed door opening to the centre of the main façade having a timber panelled door flanked by timber pilasters and having a plain overlight. Set back from road in extensive mature grounds to the north of Longford Town. Rubble limestone boundary wall to the east. Square-profile rendered piers to site entrance with double-leaf wrought-iron gates.

Although altered, this well proportioned mid nineteenth-century former Presbyterian/Methodist manse retains its early form and character. The symmetrical three-bay front elevation, the rounded door opening, the shallow hipped roof with overhanging eaves and the paired central chimneystacks are characteristic features of the typical mid-to-late nineteenth-century manse/rectory building. This former manse was probably originally associated with the Methodist church (13001044) or the now demolished Presbyterian church to the south end of Battery Road. It may have been later in use as a Church of Ireland rectory associated with St. John's Church of Ireland church (13002006) to the south (local information). It forms part of an attractive group of substantial houses, set in mature grounds, to the north of Longford Town and represents an integral component of the architectural heritage of the area.