Stonehall House

This house once belonged to a Knox family, of whom Thomas Knox was a coroner for North Mayo before the Great Famine of 1845-1851. It is a detached three-bay two-storey farmhouse, extant 1838, on a rectangular plan. Now disused, this is a farmhouse representing an integral component of the early nineteenth-century domestic built heritage of County Mayo with the architectural value of the composition, one allegedly erected in the immediate aftermath of the 1798 Insurrection, suggested by such traits as the compact rectilinear plan form centred on an understated doorcase showing a pretty radial fanlight; and the somewhat disproportionate bias of solid to void in the massing compounded by the uniform or near-uniform proportions of the openings on each floor.

A prolonged period of unoccupancy or neglect notwithstanding, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with substantial quantities of the historic or original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior, thus upholding the character or integrity of a farmhouse having connections the Scott family of the late 19th century. Of them, a George H Scott lived here with his family during the Land War of the 1880's. As a land agent and sheriff he was targeted by the local Fenians but a night-time attack on him failed badly. A bullet shattered the top right-hand window of the building, as Scott was undressing for bed, but missed him. An expert marksman, Scott returned fire, wounding one of the young Fenians lying in the bank opposite as his colleagues escaped. The Scotts attended to his wounds, awaiting the arrival of the police and were surprised to learn that the night-time would-be killer, actually was a hard working labourer for the Scott family during the day!

Scott survived other attempts on his life as the land agitation subsided. He reinforced the inside of the wooden shutters of the front windows by metal plates which remain there today.