Estate Cottages, 178-182 Ballagh Road, Ballagh, Lisnaskea, Co. Fermanagh, BT92 5DJ

Estate Cottages, 178-182 Ballagh Road, Ballagh, Lisnaskea, Co. Fermanagh

A delightful and beautifully proportioned Gothic Revival building containing three separate estate dwellings associated with nearby Armagh Manor. Despite its present condition, the building has been little altered, retaining many features of interest and a good deal of its original character. Situated between Ballagh Church and Ballagh Cottage, the group constitutes a striking landmark.

The building is a symmetrical Gothic Revival structure in an 'H' plan, consisting of a single-storey central section flanked by one-and-a-half-storey cross-gabled sections to either side. Each component comprises two bays and a single dwelling. The building is now heavily overgrown and is aligned north-west to south-east on the north side of Ballagh Road. All roofs are steeply pitched natural slate. A tall cement-rendered chimney comprises three individual octagonal stacks set at each end of the central section. Half-round metal rainwater goods are supported on overhanging eaves with exposed rafter tails. The gables retain the remains of scalloped bargeboards. Walls are lime-rendered and painted. All windows are the remains of 2x3 timber side-hung casements with timber mullions (unless otherwise stated) and have stone cills. Many are ruinous and some are boarded over.

The central section's principal elevation faces south-west and is abutted at centre by a projecting gabled entrance porch rising above eaves level. To either side is a pair of windows with central mullion. The porch is detailed as the main block and has a single window to either side of its south-west face, each without mullion. The right and left cheeks each have a door opening (that to the right is infilled). Left and right gables are completely abutted by the flanking cross-gabled sections. The rear elevation is almost completely abutted by a single-storey flat-roofed annexe. The exposed left end is blank. The annexe has a flat slated roof with walls as the main block. There is a door opening to either side of the north-east face; that to the left shares its frame with a 2x2 metal-framed top-hung casement without cill. The left cheek is blank; the right cheek abuts the projecting cheek of the right cross-gabled section.

The left cross-gable's principal gable faces south-west and has a window set to the centre of each floor. That to ground floor is a group of four 2x4 windows divided by three mullions. That to first floor is a pair of 2x3 windows with central mullion. The north-west elevation has a group of three windows divided by two mullions set to ground floor left. The north-east gable has a window opening to first floor. The south-east elevation is abutted at centre by the single-storey section. The exposed left end has a four-panelled door. The exposed right end is abutted by the annexe.

The right cross-gable constitutes the mirror image of that to the left, with the exception of a tongue-and-groove-sheeted entrance door to the exposed left end of the north-west elevation (in place of the annexe).

Two identical single-storey outbuildings are set gable to the road at either end of the main block (to north-east and south-west respectively) and linked to it by cast-iron railings. Both are detailed as a house with pitched natural slate roofs (that to the left outbuilding has been replaced with corrugated perspex). Each has a Gothic-headed window opening to the south-west gable, set in an advanced brick reveal with two brick mullions. House-facing elevations each have a door opening to either end. Other elevations are blank.

The group faces directly onto the road with a small grassed area to front. To the rear is an elevated bank planted with mature trees.

The building was erected in 1859-60 by James Haire of nearby Armagh Manor. It does not appear on the 1859 Ordnance Survey 6-inch map but is first cited in the published valuation book of 1862 (compiled 1860) as three houses, valued at £3, £3 and £2 10 shillings.