40 Peacock Road, Glebe, Sion Mills, Co Tyrone, BT82 9NW

40 Peacock Road, Glebe, Sion Mills

A direct entry, two structural bay, single storey thatched house of stone and brick construction with a lime-washed finish. The building is located on the south-east side of a secondary road leading north-eastwards from the road between Sion Mills and Clady, about a mile from the former town. It forms part of a group of buildings on the site and faces north-east, with a Nissan hut and corrugated iron-roofed outbuildings extending into the yard. A modern bungalow has been erected opposite to the north-east.

The roof is thatched between cement skews, now protected by heavy duty black plastic sheeting due to deterioration, though the condition has been arrested by this temporary covering. Each gable rises to a whitened brick chimneystack; the left (south-east) stack is plain, while the right (north-west) is corbelled and includes a plain pot. The entrance features a timber sheeted door flanked on either side by a 2x3 metal-framed window, with the left-hand window being of increased width. The openings are dressed with plain surrounds and have narrow sills. At the rear are three metal-framed windows of varying size, without surrounds but with traditional depth sills at the leading faces. An opening lighting a bedroom in the part with the corrugated iron roof retains the remains of a timber-sashed window.

The plan form is largely unaltered apart from the addition of a partition to form an internal porch at the entrance. Elements of the early roof structure that remain could be incorporated during the course of a repair scheme.

A longer building is shown on this site on the Ordnance Survey map of 1832–33, which may in part correspond with the present house, though this cannot be confirmed as the property is not recorded in the contemporary valuation. The revised Ordnance Survey map of 1858 shows a building of similar size to the present. According to the contemporary second valuation of 1859, the house was then divided into two properties, each with a modest rateable value of 10 shillings. The occupants in 1858 are listed as Denis McIlwee and John McIlwee, with Reverend Benjamin B. Gough recorded as the immediate lessor. Listing was requested on 21 August 1991 and statutory listing took place on 5 June 1992. The roof condition was noted as fair in 1992 but had deteriorated to poor by 1994, requiring re-thatching. The current owner intends to re-thatch the house and has temporarily protected the roof as described.