Cruckaclady Farmhouse

The farmhouse was built in the early 1800s and came from the townland of Cruckaclady, near the village of Plumbridge, in west Tyrone. It was dismantled and moved to the Folk Museum in 1974.

The farmhouse had been among a number of rural houses grouped together in a cluster (clachan). By 1900 the other dwellings had gone.

The Cruckaclady farmhouse is built on a sloping site. The house is a two roomed, single storey thatched farmhouse with white washed walls. The house is distinctive, in that the bedroom is placed over the cattle byre. During the winter, warmth of the livestock housed in the byre helped heat the bedroom above. Both house and byre share a common roof but the byre is separated from the house by a stone partition wall. The entrance to the byre is at the back of the house.

The last occupant of the farm house was Patrick McBride, an elderly farmer and widower.

During the 1900s century most Irish farmers worked more with animals than with growing crops. Patrick McBride‘s small farm was about 10 acres. The land was rough and hilly and he used it mostly for grazing cattle. Chickens were kept in a small shed beside the house.  Patrick also owned a horse. Some potatoes and oats where grown on the farm but the main crop was hay which was used to feed the cattle and horse. Patrick McBride died in 1953, his wake was held in the house. 

Look at how the position of this building uses the lie of the land to include a byre under the bedroom. This saved considerably on the materials needed to provide shelter for both humans and animals. The positioning of the byre at the lower end of the house meant that effluent flowed away from the dwelling.