CURRY'S COTTAGE
9 Derryhooly Road, Corry, Derrylin, Co Fermanagh
1998
New annex replaces former outbuildings
Curry's Cottage is set in attractive but poor farming land near
the southern border of Co Fermanagh. It is one of a small number
of cruck cottages still surviving in the province, but a very
significant survival as few are now in their original location.
The cottage is said to have been built about three hundred years
ago. We have been unable to find documentary evidence to support
such antiquity, but tree ring analysis of the crucks indicates
they are bog oak. The present occupant, Mr Seamus Curry, was born
in the cottage seventy years ago, and his family were there for
some time before that, although they are not thought to have built
it, and the similarity of the local townland name, Corry, may
be just coincidence.
Externally it is a simple single-storey dwelling with whitewashed
mud walls, curved at the corners, small windows, a half-door,
and a deep overhanging hipped thatched roof. Across the "street"
(as the lane in front of an old cottage is called) are a neatly
trimmed hedge and plum tree. Behind is a tin barn storing turf
and withys for thatching, while a stream runs alongside the hedge
to the road. In a field nearby Mr Curry grew rye for thatching,
as he maintained his own cottage.
Internally, the house has a stone hearth for the turf fire under
a wide open chim-ney, the traditional crane for the kettle, and
a beam over the hearth to carry goods that must be kept dry. The
ceiling is open to the roof, exposing the cruck trusses which
rise from the wall and support a series of rough narrow "purlins"
that carry the turfs and thatch of the roof. This central room
is known in Ireland as the kitchen, combining as it does the functions
of kitchen, dining and living room in one small space, and the
half-door leads directly into it. The even smaller rooms off it
at each end are bedrooms, and here the ceilings had been sheeted
over.
Restoring the old cottage involved stabilisation of the severely
bulging mud walls and repairs to the ancient roof timbers, along
with new services. Hearth has also built an annex alongside it
(a conventional extension was not possible without breaking into
the hipped roof) in place of recent byres, in order to provide
the modern facilities of a kitchen and bathroom, along with a
bedroom. The annex houses the more intrusive elements of modern
living, but it is not intended to be self-sufficient, and the
old kitchen of the cottage remains the focus of life in the farmstead.
The project was given a good scheme
award by Environment & Heritage Service in 2002.
Client: Hearth Revolving
Fund Architect: Hearth
Main Contractor: Andrew Boyle (Phase 1); T Chambers & Sons
(E) Ltd (Phase 2).
Restored: 1998-99
Accommodation: One bedroom in cottage and one in annex
Assisted by loans and grants from: Heritage Lottery Fund, Historic
Buildings Grant and own capital.
