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Corradreenan Farmhouse

Map Location: Rural 'Wood' Area, 45

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A thatched white cottage with yellow doors and windows and a large garden.

Where is it from?

The traditional thatched and whitewashed farmhouse came from the small townland of Corradreenan West in southwest County Fermanagh. It was dismantled and moved to the Folk Museum in 1969.

A black and white photograph of a dilapidated cottage by the side of a road.
Corradreenan Farmhouse before its removal to the Ulster Folk Museum. HOYFM.L411.9A
A black and white image of a man standing on a dilapidated cottage. He is holding on to the chimney, which still stands, albeit precariously.
Corradreenan Farmhouse had deteriorated somewhat prior to its donation to the museum. HOYFM.L411.11A
A black and white photograph of a dilapidated cottage by the side of a road.
Corradreenan Farmhouse before its removal to the Ulster Folk Museum. HOYFM.L411.9A

Why is it special?

Corradreenan Farmhouse was built around the 1750s. Three features were of particular interest to the museum when it was surveyed. The most distinguishing feature of the farmhouse is the sloping hipped roof. This roof style is thought to be of English origin. Historically, small farmhouses with hipped roofs were widely found in the local area and in the neighbouring counties of Cavan and Monaghan.

The second feature is the jamb wall at the entrance to the house. Traditional houses such as these often had an interior kitchen layout of a central hearth with a jamb wall to protect the hearth from drafts. The jamb wall in Corradreenan Farmhouse is fitted with a small window, to allow people inside to see who was entering. 

The museum was also interested in Corradreenan Farmhouse for the modifications that the Elliott family made to its interior. With the addition of interior walls to create separate rooms, the house reflects changing notions of comfort and privacy throughout the 1800s.

A black and white photograph of a man standing on a roof of a dilapidated cottage. He is examining its thatch.
A closer look at the sloping thatched hipped roof. HOYFM.L411.5A
A black and white photograph of the side of a cottage wall. You can see some stones are numbered in chalk, and the slope of the thatched roof.
A side look at the sloping thatched hipped roof. HOYFM.L411.18
A black and white photograph of the entrance way of a rundown cottage. There is a large jamb wall on the left, a doorway to more interior rooms ahead, and to the left is the door to the cottage.
The entrance way showing the jamb wall on the right. HOYFM.L411.4A
A black and white photograph of a man standing on a roof of a dilapidated cottage. He is examining its thatch.
A closer look at the sloping thatched hipped roof. HOYFM.L411.5A

What is it like inside?

Only two rooms, a kitchen and bedroom, existed in the original layout of the dwelling. 

Around the late 19th century, the kitchen was subdivided to add two small bedrooms, and the bedroom was altered to create a bedroom and a parlour, all with wooden floors to replace the original earth floors. Arranging the living space in this way was common from the 1850s due to new ideas about the need for privacy within the home. A rear kitchen door is also thought to have been a later insertion.

An interior jamb wall; a white stone wall with a little window sits between the front door and the rest of the room.
 
A close up of a small window in a jamb wall.
 
The wall and roof of a room, built out of wood.
 
An interior jamb wall; a white stone wall with a little window sits between the front door and the rest of the room.
 

Who lived there?

The Corradreenan farmhouse was home to the Elliott family. They were a relatively prosperous farming family who had lived in the farmhouse for at least four generations. The farm was about 18 acres but the family held other land in the area. Griffith’s Valuation, published between 1847 and 1864, was the first full-scale valuation of property in Ireland. It reveals that Thomas Elliott held 59 acres of land.

At the time of the 1901 census, six people were living in the house. However, by 1911 only three members were recorded as living in the farmhouse, Andrew Elliott, his wife Mary Anne and their youngest son Alfred, aged 16. In time, Alfred Elliott inherited the farm, married and raised his family in Corradreenan.

The Elliott family left Corradreenan West in the 1930s. By the 1960s, the house had begun to deteriorate. In 1969, the house was donated to the museum by Mr. Glover Elliott, whose great-grandfather William Elliott is reputed to have been born in the house in 1802.

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