31 Birren Road, Dungiven, Co Londonderry, BT47 4SH

31 Birren Road, Dungiven

This is a well-preserved example of a developed vernacular farmhouse, retaining its linear arrangement, openings, interior layout, detailing and setting. Once numerous, buildings of this type and in this state of originality are now relatively rare.

The substantial two-storey vernacular farmhouse was probably built before 1832, though it likely began as a more modest single-storey building before assuming its more formalised two-storey form in the early 20th century. Attached in typical linear fashion is a two-storey outbuilding, with a single-storey lean-to kitchen outshoot to the rear. To the west end stands a lower single-storey outbuilding, recently renovated. The house is located 3 kilometres south-east of Dungiven on the southern slope of Enady Glen.

The front elevation faces roughly north with an asymmetric composition. It is rendered in roughcast with a well-ordered arrangement of openings, largely evenly-spaced. A flat-headed timber panelled and glazed mid-1900s door is set to the right of centre. To the right is a single window opening, and to the left are two further openings. Directly above each ground floor door and window opening is a first floor window, somewhat shorter than those below. All openings have cut stone sills and timber sash frames, mostly 1/1. The east gable is blank. The rear elevation has lost much of its render, revealing rubble construction with Imperial brick dressings to the windows. A single-storey lean-to outshoot is set to the left of centre, with window openings either side and a first floor window directly above, slightly offset. The gabled roof is slated with a single brick chimneystack to the east gable. The lean-to roof has shaped slates typical of the early 20th century. The attached outbuilding is slightly wider than the house but shares a continuous front wall, roof slopes and ridgeline, with similar construction but a less ordered, more overtly vernacular composition.

Documentary evidence indicates a building of matching size and orientation appears on the Ordnance Survey map of 1832. The first valuation of December 1831 records the property as home to E. Cromie (or Crommie) with a rateable value of £2-8-0. The relatively low rateable value suggests it was likely single-storey and probably thatched. In the second valuation of 1856, the house is noted as divided between Alexander Crommie and Edward Crommie with a combined value of £2-5-0, indicating little structural alteration in the intervening 25 years. The Crommies had built another smaller dwelling within the surrounding plot by 1856, and two additional modest dwellings are recorded in annotations to the valuation of circa 1863, occupied by Michael McCloskey and Margaret McElheney respectively. Both these smaller houses, located near the field boundary to the south-west and north fronting Birren Road, were listed as abandoned by or just before 1882. The main house remained occupied by members of the Crommie family until circa 1980, when Robert Crommie built a new house a short distance to the east. The original building has remained vacant since then. The present owner acquired the property in 1987.

The original valuations suggest the house was initially single-storey or had considerably less living space than it does today. However, the valuations themselves give little indication of when major structural changes occurred, such as the raising of the roof or conversion and probable heightening of outbuildings. This was not uncommon, as improvements to vernacular dwellings typically received less attention from valuers than larger planned buildings. The stonework gives little obvious indication of walls having been raised, but the use of Imperial brick as an eaves course and window dressing, sawn roof timbers, absence of glazing bars to windows, and internal detailing all suggest remodelling in the very late 19th or, more probably, early 20th century. The property passed through five different members of the Crommie family between 1870 and 1910, at least one of whom appears to have felt the need to extend the building.