Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB15/04/027 A

Address :
1 Harker's Hill Cornascriebe Road Portadown BT62 3SS

Townland:
Cornascreeb

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Survey 2:
B1

Date of Listing:
10/02/2010 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
House

Former Use
House

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
Yes

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
110/07NW

IG Ref:
H9934 4757

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Owner Category

Private

Exterior Description And Setting

Small, single-storey vernacular house, with lime washed brick frontage, double-pitched slated roof, one of a short canted row of four similar but non-identical dwellings, all of which appear to be largely of 1871, but with this dwelling, and its immediate neighbour to the east, possibly containing the fabric of a pre-1835 structure. The row, which may have been constructed to house workers employed in a small near by mill, is set at the end of a short country lane and shares a communal ‘yard’ with a contemporary –and generally similar- pair of ‘semi-detached’ dwellings to the north [HB15/04/027E & F]. The lane leading to the houses is located to the east of Cornascriebe Road, roughly 1.4km west of Laurelvale, 3.8km west of Tandragee. This house -the largest of the grouping- is situated at the western end of the row, faces roughly northwards. It is roughly rectangular in plan, except for a small ‘step’ to the eastern side of the rear (south) wall. To the western (gabled) end there is a c.1950s single-storey pitched roof extension. The extension is narrower than the house resulting is a small step in the front wall. The front (north) wall is constructed in clay brick that has been finished with lime wash with a painted ‘plinth’. Walls to the rear are finished with lined cement render, and the walls of the extension in roughcast render. The roof is double pitched, covered with natural slate and has a small fixed skylight to the south side. Eaves are clipped without overhangs and rainwater goods have been replaced in uPVC. Chimneystacks rise on either side of the ridgeline; these are constructed in brick, rendered and have corbelled caps. The front façade is asymmetrical, with a flat-headed door opening to right with a plain timber sheeted door, and two flat-headed window openings to left, each with a 2/2 timber sash frame. The window to the far left is smaller. Window sills are painted stone. To the right side of the door is the northern face of the extension. This has one flat-headed window opening with a steel ‘Crittall’-style frame. On the rear façade of the original dwelling there are three flat-headed window openings, each with a Crittall-style steel frame. To the rear façade of the extension there is a flat-headed door opening with a timber-sheeted door. The western gable of the original house is mainly obscured by the extension. To the centre of the gable of the extension there is a flat-headed opening with a Crittall-style frame, as before.

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

A relatively long rectangular structure which appears to match the size and orientation of the western end of the row to which this property belongs, is shown on the OS maps of 1835 and 1860, with a shorter building to the north roughly on the site of the present ‘semi-detached’ block, but orientated slightly differently. None of these buildings are recorded in the first valuation of November 1836. In the second valuation of 1862 two dwellings are listed as present, occupied by a John Gibson and Matthew Cattleton respectively, however, the valuers do not make it clear whether these houses where located in each of the separate structures, or whether both were jointly contained within either one of them. In 1871 six dwellings are recorded by the valuers. Unfortunately (once again) we are not told whether all of these were new builds or divisions of existing properties, but judging from the evidence presented by the earlier maps and by the appearance of the present dwellings, it is likely that the block to the north (containing the ‘semis’- nos.5-6) was built afresh, along with the eastern half of the southern row (containing nos.3-4). The western half of the row (nos.1-2) may also have been built anew, as the use of materials appears much the same as the rest of the structures, however, the fact that it is set at a different angle than the eastern half, as well as the sizes of the window openings, suggests that it may, either in part or in whole, represent the survival of the southern building on the 1835 and 1860 maps. The houses themselves were developed by Charles Moneypenny, who lived to the south-west, in the present no.14 Cornascriebe Road. They are said locally to have originally housed workers employed in a mill to the rear of this house, the remains of which are still extant. The houses later (c.1903) came into the possession of the Sintons, another prominent mill-owning family, but the mill itself appears to have ceased working by this time, and the dwellings themselves are simply noted as ‘cottier houses’ by the valuers in 1904. The lease of the whole group was acquired by the present owner’s ancestor, c.1930 and the freehold c.1965. All of the properties appear to have been last occupied as private dwellings in the mid to later 1960s. No.1 This particular house is recorded as vacant from 1871 to 1887, after which it was occupied by Rose Mallon until 1906, then Bridgit McGinnety, to c.1930, Russell Grundle (c.1930-36), and James Murray (1936-c.57). The final occupant appears to have been an Eileen Shanks, whom the valuers note as living there in 1965. Shortly after this the building (like the rest of its neighbours) was vacated, and, according to the present owner, used by him and his brothers for a ‘den’. References- Primary sources 1 PRONI VAL1A/2/13 OS map, County Armagh sheet 13, with valuation
references, 1835(-c.38) 2 PRONI VAL1B/218 First valuation, Kilmore parish, 1836 3 PRONI VAL2A/2/13B OS map, County Armagh sheet 13, with valuation references, 1860(-c.63) 2 PRONI VAL2B/2/33 Second valuation, Kilmore parish, 1862-63 4 PRONI VAL12B/11/4A Annual valuation revision book, Mullahead ED, 1863-76 5 PRONI VAL12B/11/4B Annual valuation revision book, Mullahead ED, 1876-83 6 PRONI VAL12B/11/4C Annual valuation revision book, Mullahead ED, 1883-97 7 PRONI VAL12B/11/4D Annual valuation revision book, Mullahead ED, 1897-1909 8 PRONI VAL/12A/2/48 Valuers’ office notebook, Tandragee RD, 1904 9 PRONI OS6/2/13/3 OS map, County Armagh sheet 13, 1905-6 10 PRONI VAL12B/11/4E Annual valuation revision book, Mullahead ED, 1909-21 11 PRONI VAL12B/11/4F Annual valuation revision book, Mullahead ED, 1921-29 12 PRONI VAL12F/2/9/1 Annual valuation revision book, Laurelvale ED, 1930-35 13 PRONI VAL3B/2/12 First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland, Laurelvale ED, 1935 14 PRONI VAL3C/2/18 First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland, Laurelvale ED, 1936-57 15 PRONI VAL4B/2/30 Second General Revaluation of Northern Ireland, Laurelvale ED, 1957-72 Secondary sources 1 Information supplied by owner, November 2009

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation D. Plan Form H-. Alterations detracting from building I. Quality and survival of Interior J. Setting K. Group value

Historic Interest

X. Local Interest Z. Rarity

Evaluation

This house is one of a group of six dwellings of 1871 ( originally mill workers’ houses) which have retained their original urban vernacular appearance and layout, and a largely untouched rural setting. This type of group is becoming increasingly rare. The fact that the houses face each other across a lane / communal yard is unusual in a rural setting and adds considerable interest. Detailing and layout is largely intact both externally and internally

General Comments

Date of Survey

10 November 2009