38 FAIRHEAD ROAD

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached multi-bay single-storey whitewash rendered vernacular dwelling, built c.1830. Rectangular on plan facing east with projecting entrance porch and single-storey extensions to either end. Located at the north end of Fairhead Road and forming part of a cluster of four similar dwellings (HB05/04/016B, C & D).

Pitched corrugated iron roof with metal ridge (painted) and slightly raised masonry verges. Two rendered chimneystacks with terracotta pots to the central section. Whitewashed rough-cast render over rubblestone walling. Square-headed window openings with painted concrete sills and single-pane sliding timber sash windows with ogee horns (unless otherwise stated).

Front elevation comprises a central three-bay section with central flat-roofed projecting entrance porch, a single bay to the south gable with vehicular entrance and a further two-bay section to the north gable. The entrance porch has a square-headed door opening to the left (S) cheek with replacement vertically-sheeted timber half-door and a timber casement window to the front. Extension to south has vertically-sheeted timber vehicular doors and a metal Crittall style multi-paned side-hung casement window, without sill. The north extension has two window openings and a further square-headed door opening with corrugated iron clad door.

The south gable has a further painted rubblestone byre with corrugated iron roof.

West rear elevation has randomly placed window openings. North extension has a shallow lean-to projection with smooth rendered walls and fixed-pane timber window.

Blind north gable.

Roof Corrugated iron
RWG None
Walling Whitewash rough-cast render over rubblestone
Windows Timber sliding sash / timber casement / metal casement

Setting:
Located at the north end of Fairhead Road and forming part of a group of four similar dwellings informally arranged around the end of the road. To the front of the original section is an area of stone setts.

Historical information

No. 38 Fairhead Road, a single-storey vernacular farmhouse (possessing corrugated iron roof) located in the townland of Cross, was constructed along with the neighbouring nos. 39-41 Fairhead Road prior to 1832. This clachan of single-storey dwellings was known as Coolanlough and was first recorded on the first edition Ordnance Survey map (1832). Nos. 38-41 Fairhead Road were not recorded in detail in the contemporary Townland Valuations (c. 1834) as there were no dwellings in the townland of Cross worth the £3 per annum required for inclusion in that source. No. 38 Fairhead Road is the largest dwelling in the clachan and in the mid-19th century the building was valued at £1 under Griffith’s Valuation (c. 1859). The valuer noted that all the farmhouses in the group were leased by the Boyd family of Ballycastle and that no. 38 Fairhead Road was initially occupied by Denis McKinley, a local famer.

In the 1860s, no. 38 Fairhead Road was occupied by William McNeill whose family remained at the address until at least the 1970s. William McNeill continued to reside at the site during the 1901 Census of Ireland which described no. 38 Fairhead Road as a 2nd class dwelling that originally possessed a thatched roof, consisted of three rooms and possessed a stable, two cow houses, two piggeries and a barn amongst its outbuildings. The McNeill family had purchased the farmhouse outright by the 1930s as they were recorded as owners under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57). The valuer increased the value of the farmhouse to £2 & 5 shillings but this was greatly increased to £5 & 5 shillings by the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) at which time no. 38 Fairhead Road was occupied by a Mr. James McNeill.

In 1972, the UAHS Guide for the Glens of Antrim described the clachan at Fair Head in the following terms: ‘The small group of windswept cottages near the lough, on the plateau of Fair Head, is of considerable character and merit. [Nearby] the oval crannog, 120ft by 90ft is of uncommon interest and charm, it is less altered than most of its kind and more beautifully sited than any other’ (UAHS Guide, p. 54). No. 38 Fairhead Road was listed in 1980 (NIEA HB Records).

References

Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/1/5/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1832)
2. PRONI OS/6/1/5/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1855)
3. PRONI OS/6/1/5/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1904)
4. PRONI OS/6/1/5/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1922)
5. PRONI VAL/1/A/1/5 – Townland Valuation Map (c. 1834)
6. PRONI VAL/1/B/133 – Townland Valuations (c. 1834)
7. PRONI VAL/2/B/1/27A – Griffith’s Valuation (c. 1859)
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/2/11A-F – Annual Revisions (1864-1929)
9. PRONI VAL/3/C/1/5 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57)
10. PRONI VAL/4/B/1/11 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
11. Ulster Town Directories (1861-1918)
12. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
13. First Survey Record – HB05/04/016 (1972)
14. NIEA HB Records – HB05/04/016A

Secondary Sources
1. Brett, C. E. B., ‘List of historic buildings, groups of buildings and areas of architectural importance in the Glens of Antrim’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1972.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance
X. Local Interest
Z. Rarity

Evaluation

Detached single storey whitewashed rubble-stone dwelling, built c.1830 and nestled at the foot of a hill within a rural setting SW of Lough na Cranagh, Fairhead. The house and its contiguous outbuildings are laid out in a traditional linear plan form and its proportions are largely unchanged. Originally thatched, roofs are now clad in painted corrugated iron and despite a twentieth century flat-roofed porch, traditional construction methods are much in evidence. No.38 has strong group value with another three dwellings (HB05.04.016B, C & D), irregularly arranged to make up a traditional clachan, known as Coolanlough. The settlement is distinctly vernacular in character and much enhanced by the survival of ancillary outbuildings and boundary walling enclosing it within the surrounding open countryside. The integrity of the group increases its value, representing a way of life once commonplace in the province of Ulster and now increasingly rare.