Lurgancanty House, 24 Lurgancanty Road, Lurgancanty TD, Warrenpoint, BT34 3QW

Lurgancanty House

Large two-storey farmhouse of probable pre-1834 construction, extensively remodeled around 1910-1914 when the canted bays appear to have been added and the roof probably replaced.

The house stands in a rural setting 4.85 kilometres north-northwest of Rostrevor, positioned on the west side of a quiet tree-lined country road. The east end of the house faces onto the roadside, with a long sloping garden enclosed by trees to the south, and a collection of outbuildings arranged around a relatively small yard to the north, with a larger farmyard beyond. A wooded area encloses the property to the west. Maps suggest that a field to the north of the farmyard was a productive garden in the mid to later 1800s.

The house is fundamentally rectangular in plan with full-height canted bays either side of a single-storey porch to the front, a large single-storey lean-to to the east (road-facing) gable, and a relatively small single-storey gabled projection to the rear. The walls are smooth rendered with quoins and bevelled plinth to the front, plain render to the gables, and roughcast finish to the rear, with the projection in lined render. The double-pitch roof has an overhang with exposed rafter ends, covered in natural slate with red clay ridge tiles. There are three rendered chimneystacks, the position of the second stack (east of centre) possibly indicating the extent of the original portion of the house or at least marking a different stage of development. A metal skylight sits to the rear (north) side. The bays and projections also have slate roofs, with some slates to the east lean-to having fallen off. Rainwater goods are a mixture of cast-iron and replacement PVC.

To the east the lean-to merges into a long single-storey gabled shed. To the west the house is abutted by a small single-storey timber shed whose mono-pitched roof forms a cat-slide with a two-storey outbuilding, which abuts another at right-angles. Both enclose the west and north sides of the relatively small concrete yard to the rear of the house, with the yard enclosed to the east by another shed and a vehicle gateway. A smaller single-storey shed stands to the northeast corner, with a larger farmyard to the north.

The front (south) elevation displays an asymmetrical arrangement suggesting alteration on at least one occasion. A canted bay to the left and another to the centre-right flank a porch. Both bays have hipped roofs with three windows at each floor, with timber sash frames and segmental heads to the upper-level windows. Both bays have cill courses at each floor with an intermediate cornice-like course stretching across the main portion of the façade. The porch has a doorway with panelled timber door and a hipped roof (originally flat). Directly above the porch is a somewhat squat window with a modern timber frame. To the right (east) end of the main façade is a window at each floor, both with mullioned and transomed timber frames. The elevation terminates to the east in the blank side of the lean-to.

The east elevation shows the lean-to with a small window (with remains of frame but no glazing) and a doorway with plain sheeted door. To the right is the east side of the shed with a single three-over-three timber sash window. The exposed upper floor of the house gable is blank.

The west elevation has the ground floor abutted by the timber shed, with the exposed upper floor of the house gable blank.

The rear (north) elevation shows another asymmetrical arrangement suggesting alterations. A small window with plain timber sash frame sits to the far left, with a low doorway to the right and a slightly larger window with similar frame to the right again. The projection (centre-right) has a doorway to the left on its east face and a window with metal frame to the north (gabled) face. The first floor has three roughly evenly spaced windows with two-over-two timber sash frames, with another window at a slightly lower (presumably stairwell) level with a mullioned and transomed timber frame. The upper-level windows are considerably larger than those to the ground floor.

The two-storey outbuilding to the north of the yard appears to be largely rubble-built, mainly limewashed with a natural slate roof. Its south façade has randomly arranged openings to the ground floor including three windows with metal frames and two timber sheeted doors. A single upper-level loft doorway sits to the left, with several similar loft openings to the rear (north farmyard-facing) façade and a large full-height vehicle doorway to the far right (west). The outbuilding to the west side of the yard is partly concrete block construction with an asbestos tile roof. Its east façade has a sliding door to the ground floor and a relatively large loft opening above. The small shed to the northeast corner of the yard has a small window to its north façade and a sheeted timber door to the west gable. A lean-to of concrete block construction with corrugated-iron roof and door and window to its south façade sits to the south side of this. Between this and the main two-storey outbuilding stands another shed wholly constructed in corrugated-iron.