Curragh Village, Ardmore Bay, County Waterford, 1943: Architectural Drawings of Irish Traditional Houses

Co. Waterford, Curragh - Plan, section, part section, elevation, elevation of half door, settle, coop, and window detail, 1945.

Wove paper, pencil drawing ink Height 697mm, Width 498mm.

The hearth in this house is in the gable wall. This was originally a one-roomed house. A second room has been created by erecting an interior wooden partition wall. Two dressers are placed back onto the partition wall to reinforce the partition. One of the dressers, a coop dresser is shown in detail. Coop dressers were once common in the southern counties of Ireland and provided a secure warm place for clocking fowl. The detail of the doors of the storage spaces either side of the hearth and the panelling in the high-back settle show influences from architectural styles of the 18th Century. The triangular shaped crane is also detailed.

John Cumming, Patrick Hamilton and Robin Walker (later of Scott, Tallon and Walker Architects), surveyed the 38 houses in the village of Curragh, Co. Waterford during the summer of 1943 when they were architect students at University College Dublin.

The houses of Curragh were a mixture of one, two or three roomed homes at the time of the survey. Built of stone and yellow clay,  most of the houses were whitewashed on the outside. 
According to a report by Robin Walker in the Irish Times of July 9th 1943, the surveyors found ‘fine specimens of early nineteenth-century carved dressers and settles, rich with classical decoration’. The dressers had carved pillars at the side crowned with cornices, and decorated panelling on the lower portion. The surveyors also noted old style canopied beds, known as ‘covered cars’ in many houses.

Today, the sites of this well situated village are highly sought at prices unimaginable to the original dwellers.