Drumnahunshin Farmhouse

Drumnahunshin farmhouse was built in the early 1800s and came from Drumnahunshin townland in County Armagh. It was dismantled and moved to the Folk Museum in the 1980s.

The farm was originally a 30 acre farm holding, but by 1818, the land had been subdivided into a 10 acre farm. A small flax mill built on the land added to the farm’s modest prosperity. The farm’s range of outhouses included a cart house, a stable and cow byre, milk house, and a fuel store.

The original farmhouse was a single storey, two-roomed, thatched house with a central kitchen hearth and jamb wall. This internal partition wall helped to screen the kitchen fire from draughts.

In the early 1900s, the farmhouse was extended and improved by being both ‘raised and slated’’. The farmhouse became a comfortable, two storied, slated house. It had extra bedrooms upstairs and a kitchen, parlour and dining room downstairs. 

The Patterson family lived in the Drumnahunshin farmhouse. In 1818, James Patterson held the farm tenancy from the Gosford estate. In the early 1900s, his grandson, John Patterson, bought the farm under the Land Purchase Act.

The last person to live in the farmhouse was Margaret (Maggie) Patterson, the daughter of John and Esther Patterson. Maggie was born in 1888. As electricity was never installed in the house, Maggie relied on oil lamps to light her home. She died in the 1960s in a local nursing home.

In 1975, Maggie’s American niece, Mrs Esther G. Komich of California, donated the farmhouse to the museum.

Several features suggest a degree of affluence, such as the cast iron stove in the kitchen which replaced the original open hearth; the mock panelling in the parlour; the decorative fire surrounds; and some fine furniture and china.