Tirnaleague House

Detached three-bay two-storey house, built c. 1780 and extensively modified c. 1857, having projecting bays and central battlemented entrance porch to the entrance front (south). Pitched and hipped roofs with timber bargeboards and rendered chimneystacks. Rendered walls. Square-headed window and door openings. Set back from road in extensive mature grounds to the north-west of Carndonagh. Single-storey gate lodge (see 40805031) adjacent to the main entrance to the east of house. Walled garden (on sub-rectangular plan) and orchard, pre 1833, to east of house. Outbuildings to the north and north-west of house.

This substantial house was originally built in the late eighteenth-century. It was later extensively modified or rebuilt in 1857 with the addition of projecting bays, battlemented porch and a spiky roof, which gives this building a High Victorian architectural character and appearance. It was renovated in the 1990s. It forms a pair of related structures with the associated gate lodge to the east (see 40805031) while the small walled garden and outbuildings to site add to the setting and context. This building occupies extensive mature landscaped grounds to the north-west of Carndonagh, and is an integral element of the built heritage of the local area. This building was probably originally constructed during the late eighteenth century by the Cary or Carey family, and was possibly originally built by a George Cary (c. 1780). A Micah Cary was resident here in 1809. It later passed into the ownership (through marriage) of the Rankin family, who lived here from c. 1840. Tirnaleague House was the residence of a Samuel Rankin Esq J.P. in 1846\7, when he acted as chairman of the local Famine Relief Committee, and he was still listed as living here in 1862 (Directory). In the 1870s Samuel was the chairman of the Board of Guardians of the Workhouse of Inishowen Workhouse. Samuel Rankin owned an estate(s) of some 4,277 acres in 1876. It was later the home of a William Rankin Esq in 1881 and 1894 (Slater’ Directories). The estate was later acquired by a Captain McClintock, c. 1900, and the McClintock family resided here until c. 1940 when the estate was purchased by a William Doherty for £1,200. This fine building is an integral element of the built heritage and social history of the local area.