Teachín Tessie

Detached four-bay single-storey vernacular house, built c. 1860, having single-storey flat-roofed extension to the rear (north). Now in use as a holiday home. Pitched/domed thatched roof (recently re-thatched with reed) having ropes over secured on pegs below eaves level, and with rendered chimneystack to centre. Wire mesh over roof. Smooth rendered rubble stone walls. Square-headed window openings (enlarged) with replacement windows. Square-headed door opening to west end of the front elevation (south) having replacement timber sheeted door. House set at right-angle to road-alignment. Located to the north-east of Gleann Cholm Cille/Glencolumbkille. Yard to front and enclosed garden to the rear. Rubble stone boundary walls to site.

This vernacular house retains some of its early character despite some alterations and the construction of an extension to the rear. 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 rounded 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 in Gleann Cholm Cille/Glencolumbkille. This house represents a fine 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.