House - 16th/17th century, Ballymurrin, Co. Wicklow

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House

House – 16th/17th century, Ballymurrin, Co. Wicklow

What appears from the outside to be a single rambling farmhouse in Ballymurrin, County Wicklow, is in fact two houses that have quietly merged into one over the centuries.

The grouping sits on a slight rise, flanked by farm buildings on either side in a loose U-shape, the kind of arrangement that suggests long continuity of use rather than any single moment of construction or design.

The more northerly of the two sections dates to around 1675, placing its origins in the decades following the Cromwellian settlement, a period of considerable rebuilding and reoccupation across County Wicklow. The two structures have since been absorbed into a single dwelling, though the fabric retains plenty of evidence of their separate histories. The rooflines are finished in natural slate, and the southern section carries a dentilled eaves course, a small decorative detail in which a row of evenly spaced projecting blocks runs just beneath the roofline, suggesting a slightly more self-conscious approach to finish than the plainer northern half. Windows are a mixture of original two-over-two timber sash frames and later replacements. Inside, three very large chimney breasts dominate the interior, each containing an inglenook, the deep recessed fireplace alcove that was designed as much for warmth and shelter as for cooking. One of these inglenooks still contains the remains of a bread oven, a small arched recess set into the side of the chimney where a fire would be lit, the embers raked out, and loaves slid in to bake in the retained heat. It is the kind of detail that survives more often than people expect, quietly embedded in domestic walls that no one thought to gut.

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