Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB13/08/077

Address :
142 Moy Road Culceeran Dungannon Co Tyrone BT71 7DX

Townland:
Culceeran

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Survey 2:
B+

Date of Listing:
10/10/1991 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
House

Former Use
Public House

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:

Thatched:
Yes

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
179/12

IG Ref:
H8355 5758

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Owner Category

Private

Exterior Description And Setting

Large, two-storey, four structural bay, thatched, vernacular farmhouse. Lobby entry type, through jamb wall removed. Modern porch to front which faces east overlooking the route of a former road. Stone barns to rear forming a courtyard which opens onto the present Moy Road. Gravelled access from gate to south of building sweeping around to front of house. The building is wet dash rendered with smooth plaster detail at windows, base and corners. Three chimneys are located on the ridge, one unpainted on the southern gable, one aligning with the entrance door and on the inner wall on the last bay from the north. All are painted and parged out over the thatch. The thatch is scollop fixed with a wrap over head currently fixed by an ‘X’ pattern of hazel liggers. The thatch sits up approximately 100mm above the gables and is parged along the edge. It is cut back parallel with the roof along the eaves. The front east elevation has four pane sash windows with horns at ground floor level. The porch is located in the second bay from the south. It has a flat roof with parapet and recessed glazing along its whole length. The southernmost bay has three windows. A small window is located in the second bay to the north of the porch. The other bays have two windows. At first floor the windows are timber casements and they align with the sashes below. These replace metal casements recorded at the time of listing. An extra window has been added to the northern bay. Each gable is blank. That to the north formerly had a lean-too barn. That to the south is connected at the south-west corner to an adjacent barn via a 2300 mm high wall containing a door opening. The rear west elevation is dominated by a return located between the second and third structural bays from the southern end. To the southern side a small glazed lobby has been added since listing and the roof extended over. The return has four pane sashes at ground and first floor and a fascia on the gable. On the house to the southern side of the return there is a single sash at ground level near the corner. At first floor more centrally located an eyebrow window sits up from the thatch also with a fascia. This is a six over six pane sash window with a curved head and steeply pitched thatched roof above. The window though historic was not thatched at the time of listing. To the northern side of the return a similar window is located. At ground level there are two doors and two sashes. The one to the northern bay is a double sash. There is a slated rain hood over the door to this bay also added since listing. The barns to the rear form a rectangular courtyard. They are recently renovated and have had their render picked off with rubble sandstone behind exposed. A new wing to match has been built along the roadside to provide more enclosure to the space. The barns are slated and have cast iron rainwater goods on projecting bricks. To the south of the house with a gable parallel to the courtyard is a small barn currently in bad condition. It has a corrugated metal roof and large cracks in the walls. Each gable has a circular opening other openings face west to the rest of the barns (a door and a window). The gates are of cast metal with finials and slim bars. They are simple and elegant. They are complimented by simple, square section tooled sandstone gateposts topped by a pyramid coping. These are flanked by curbed walls retaining their original wet dash lime render. There is an Ordnance Survey benchmark on the gate posts. Around the base of the house are four large corner stones in limestone which project from the general alignment of the walls.

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

This house is indicated on the OS map of 1832 as part of a relatively substantial collection of buildings, which, as we shall see, also included another large two-storey thatched dwelling. At this date the line of the road to Dungannon lay to the east of the grouping, and the house itself was abutted to the north by a relatively large narrower structure which projected approximately two structural bays northeast to meet the edge of the road. To the centre of the rear of the house there was a small return, whilst to the southeast the eastern section of the present freestanding barn is indicated. A branch road is shown, passing the northwest gable of the house before turning 45 degrees to the southwest, passed a large T-shaped building. The valuation of 1835 records that there were two separate properties within this small site, each with a house and a sizeable collection of outbuildings. The first of these properties, rated at £4-7-0, then belonged to a John Pillar and consisted of an old thatched house in good condition, measuring 41½ft x 21 x 12, with equally old thatched ‘offices’ (i.e. outbuildings) of 24½ x 17 x 7, 51 x 16 x 6 and 72½ x 20 x 6. The other, rated at £4-9-0 and in the hands of a James Pillar, also contained an old two-storey thatched house of 33½ x 21 x 12, a slated office of 33 x 14½ x 13, three thatched offices ‘and wall[s]’ of 49½ x 20 x 6, 32 x 16 x 5½ and 45 x 16 x 5½, with another thatched outbuilding of 37 x 17½ x 6½. Judging from the map evidence it appears likely that the north-western section of T-shaped building to the west was probably the second house. The revised OS map of 1858 shows that by this time this the structure abutting the north end of the house had been demolished and the road had been redirected to its current location to the west of the property. The original road is shown still (largely) in place, but truncated to the southeast of the house by a field boundary. The freestanding barn to the southwest had been extended westwards (by four bays) to meet the edge of the new road, and the larger northwest portion of the T-shaped outbuilding had disappeared. Unfortunately the second valuation of 1859 gives no details regarding the buildings. The fact, however, that no second house is mentioned would suggest that the demolished section of the formerly T-shaped structure was indeed the other dwelling noted in 1835. The still mainly intact roof timbers suggest this house is of considerable age. Originally, over the doorway, there was a large rectangular stone ‘lintel’ supported on stone jambs, which was purportedly inscribed with the date ‘1741’ and the initials of the supposed original residents, James and Mary Pillar. According to notes compiled in 1891, a copies of which are available for consultation at PRONI, the Pillars were a family of Huguenots who had come to Ulster via Scotland, and Mary [?nee Greer] a member of the Quaker congregation at Grange near Moy, who James married in 1726. A 1741 construction date does not appear to be incompatible with the building, for a naïve drawing of a substantial house is depicted on this site on a map of Culkeeran townland drawn up in 1742. The physical evidence (notably the trusses) suggest it may be somewhat earlier. Certainly the valuers who first surveyed the property in the of the 1830s considered it ‘old’. The Pillar family remained in possession of the house until some time between 1835 and 1859, (the aforementioned 1891 notes say 185o), when it was acquired by a family named Kidd. Thomas Kidd is recorded as resident in the 1859 valuation. The Kidds were followed by the Rea family in 1871, who acquired the freehold in 1915 and remained their until 1920. After this the house was acquired by the Williamson family, with whose descendants it remains. A photograph of the house taken at the end of the nineteenth century shows the building without a porch and with six over six Georgian paned sash windows to the ground floor and one over one sashes to the first floor. A small sash window is shown lighting the attic on the southern gable, two windows at the first floor are missing from the northern end, and the large stone lintel over the doorway and its attendant jambs are present. A description of the building dating from around the same time (1891) describes the main room as being on the left (south) of entering and having a ceiling made of oak with a quaint oak beam running from wall to wall. This has since been removed, although a new oak beam has been installed in more recent years. According to the present owner, the northern structural bay was damaged by a fire in the early 1900s and this portion of the roof subsequently slated. A few years later, in the 1920s, the property underwent an extensive renovation which appears to have involved the insertion of metal window frames to the first floor and the construction of the porch. The addition of the latter destroyed the inscribed lintel, though remnants of it are still in place. The building was listed in 1991, and re-thatched with combed wheat straw the following year. The last major renovation was carried out in 1996, when another window was inserted into the north bay, a new porch built, the back return altered, the thatch extended over slated portion of the roof, and the exterior doors replaced. Most of the sash windows were repaired at this stage also, the render to the sides and the rear renewed, and some internal reorganisation carried out. It has been suggested that the building once served as an inn and that the unusual first floor window was part of a bar in one of the ground floor rooms. To date, no evidence has been produced to substantiate this claim, however the location at the junction of two roads, and also the one time presence of a large projection to the front, (as shown on the 1832 OS map), are, arguably, suggestive of an inn. Moreover the building has a farm of fifty acres which is quite small for such a large house; if the farm were always this size it would suggest that the original money for construction came from other sources. It must be added, however, that the building is only roughly a mile distant from the town of Moy, surely a coaching inn would have been better located either in the town itself or else much further away? References- Primary sources 1 PRONI T.1334/1 Photocopy of ‘A map and survey of that part of the townland of Coolkeeran held by Mr. James Piller situate and lying in the parrish of Clanfeekell, Barry of Dungannon and County of Tyrone. Surveyd Apr. 21st 1742 by Jon. Reid’. 2 PRONI VAL/1A/6/62 OS map, County Tyrone sheet 56, with valuation
references, (1832-c.38) 3 PRONI VAL/1B/610 First valuation, Clonfeacle (1835) 4 PRONI VAL/2A/6/62 Revised OS map, County Tyrone sheet 62, with valuation references, (1858-c.59) 5 PRONI VAL/2B/6/9A Second valuation, Clonfeacle (1859) 6 PRONI VAL/12B/38/22A-F Annual valuation revision books, Moy ED (1864-1929) 7 Photograph showing the house, c.1890s, in possession of the present owner Secondary sources 1 PRONI T.1334/7 Photocopy of notes on the Pillar family by Samuel Hudson Pillar (1891) Other sources 1 EHS Listed building file HB13/08/077 The house is indicated on the 1832 Ordnance Survey sheet with the trunk road to the front of the house in a different position to today. A return now gone is indicated to the front of the building at the north west end. It is narrower than the house and projects approximately two structural bays north east to meet the edge of the road. A small return is indicated on the centre of the rear of the building. The present barn parallel to the south east is indicated. A branch road passes to the northwest gable of the house turning 45 degrees in the farmyard to travel south east past a T shaped building. By the 1858 survey the return to the front has been demolished. The road position has been changed to the present arrangement to the rear of the building. The line of the road to the front remains but stops at an adjacent field. The barn at the rear is indicated extended south west for four bays to meet the new road and the T shaped building has lost its return. The small return to the rear of the main house remains unchanged. A photograph of the house taken at the end of the nineteenth century shows this building without a porch and with six over six Georgian paned sash windows to the ground floor and one over one sashes at first. There is a small sash lighting the attic on the southern gable and two windows at first floor are missing from the northern end. Over the door is a large rectangular stone supported by stone jambs. There appears to be no decoration. This lintel stone bore the initials of James and Mary Pillar and the reputed date of construction: 1741. ( From the roof structure the house may however be earlier). The Pillars were Huguenots who arrived in Ulster via Scotland. Mary was a member of the Quaker meeting at Grange near Moy and they were married around 1726. Their descendants occupied the house until the 1850s. From 1850 to 1880 a family called Kidd occupied the building. Rea’s between 1880 and 1918. Williamsons relatives of the present owners bought the house in 1918. A description of the building from 1891 describes the principal room as being on the left of entering with a ceiling made of oak with a quaint oak beam running from wall to wall. This ceiling is now gone, though the present owner has installed a new oak beam. According to the owner renovations were carried out during the 1920s explaining the metal windows at first floor when listed and a small porch was added at the front. This destroyed the carved lintel, the remnants of which are however still in place. There is a suggestion that the building was once used as an inn and that the unusual window at first floor was part of the bar in one of the ground floor rooms. This suggestion has not been substantiated and may be fanciful, however the building has a farm of fifty acres which is quite small for such a large vernacular house. This suggests that the original money for construction may have come from other sources. The location at a junction of two roads on the 1832 map and the return to the front are also suggestive of an inn. The present renovation of the house dates from 1996. A final window on the north bay was added as part of this work as well as the front porch, alterations to the back return, the extension of the thatch over the north bay, removal of a lean to at the end, new exterior doors and a roof over one at the north bay. Three quarters of the sash windows were repaired rather than replaced. Render was renewed to the sides and rear and some internal reorganisation was carried out. The building was listed in 1991 and thatched with Combed Wheat Straw in 1992. The extension was thatched with similar material in 1996. References: Primary Sources: First Edition Ordnance Survey.1832 Co Tyrone Sheet 62 Second Edition Ordnance Survey 1858 Co Tyrone Sheet 62 EHS listed building file. Records of grant aided work since listing. Nineteenth Century Photograph in possession of owner. Secondary Sources Note on the Pillar Family by Samuel Husdon Pillar dated 1891 in the possession of the owner.

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation D. Plan Form F. Structural System H-. Alterations detracting from building J. Setting

Historic Interest

W. Northern Ireland/International Interest Z. Rarity

Evaluation

A well preserved large, two-storey, four structural bay, thatched, vernacular farmhouse. Lobby entry type, though jamb wall removed Historic roof structure remains. Gates and walls complement character of Of interest for its scarcity, attractiveness, and importance as an example of a now rare vernacular type.

General Comments

Date of Survey

14 June 2002