What once stood there was no ordinary rural dwelling but an ornamental cottage, a structure designed as much for appearance as for habitation, and built originally to serve a specific social function that has largely disappeared from the Irish landscape.

The cottage was constructed as a dower house, meaning a residence set aside for a widow of the landowning family, allowing her to remain on the estate after her husband's death without occupying the main house. It was built by Sir Christopher St. Lawrence, a figure connected to the St. Lawrence family whose seat was Howth Castle nearby, and who held considerable influence in this part of north County Dublin during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The cottage was ornamental in character, suggesting it was conceived as part of a considered estate landscape rather than as purely functional accommodation. One material trace of its former presence, an armorial plaque that was set into one of its external walls, survived the demolition and is now preserved at Howth Castle, recorded under the national monument reference DU015-027003. An armorial plaque of this kind would typically bear a family coat of arms, serving as a permanent marker of lineage and ownership worked into the fabric of the building itself.

The cottage itself no longer exists, so there is nothing structural to examine on site. The corner of Watermill Lane in Bettyville remains the general location, though visitors looking for physical remains will find none. The armorial plaque, however, can be traced to Howth Castle, which is the more practical destination for anyone wanting a tangible connection to the St. Lawrence building it once adorned. It is worth bearing that context in mind when viewing the plaque, since it now sits entirely removed from the modest ornamental cottage for which it was originally carved.