68 Cavan Road, Clongowna, Newtownbutler, Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, BT92 6ED

68 Cavan Road, Clongowna, is a well-preserved single-storey thatched house of post-1835 date, notable as a rare example of intact vernacular plan form. The building is significant for its scarcity and architectural interest, particularly in demonstrating the form of a historic domestic type.

The house comprises three bays with direct entry, featuring small hips on end gables and two chimneys on the ridge rising from internal walls. A projecting porch to the north end of the central bay has thatch carried over its top. Small two-pane sash windows without projecting sills light one window to each bay. The curve of a former entrance projection is visible on the south side of the porch, indicating earlier modifications to the façade. Most walls are of stone construction, with render overall.

The building is constructed with walls and render in good condition, though the south gable wall, which once contained the hearth, was originally built of turf and partially collapsed approximately 25 years before the 2000 survey; it was subsequently rebuilt in concrete block. The owner stated that the house originally consisted of a single room, extended first to the north and then to the south. The south room has slightly narrower walls suggesting later addition, though there is no physical evidence of phasing at the north end.

The building does not appear on the Ordnance Survey map of 1834–35 but first appears on the map of 1857. It is recorded in the second valuation of 1862, when leased from John Brady Esquire by James Browne, with a rateable value of £1–5–0.

The house is located perpendicular to and below the adjacent main road. A small barn of similar size, now roofed in concrete tiles, stands nearby. A modern extension has been inserted in the yard between the house and barn, forming a triple-pile arrangement. The south elevation shows a blank gable to both the original house and barn, with a pitched glazed entrance serving the modern extension. A long metal window lights the modern extension. The north-west elevation of the original house is now obscured. The rear of the building is bounded by a small courtyard terminated by a row of farm buildings, one side of which forms a colonnade to the yard. A narrow path to the north separates the building from a steep slope to the road. Access is via a steep road from the east, dropping from the main road through a pair of 1970s metal gates.

The present occupants have resided in the house since 1981 when it was purchased with nine acres of land. Prior occupants included Mrs Armstrong and her aunt, Mrs Elizabeth Lee.