39 FAIRHEAD ROAD

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached four-bay single-storey rendered vernacular dwelling, built c.1830. Rectangular on plan facing southeast and located at the north end of Fairhead Road, forming part of a cluster of four similar dwellings (HB05/04/016A, C & D).

Pitched natural slate roof with black clay ridge tiles and slightly raised cement verges and break wall to the north bay. Three rendered profiled chimneystacks with terracotta pots. Cast-iron guttering on iron drive through brackets and cast-iron downpipes. Painted smooth rendered walling. Square-headed window openings with painted concrete sills and 3/1 sliding timber sash windows (replacement) with angled horns and exposed sash boxes.

Four-bay southeast front elevation with off-centre square-headed door opening having deeply set replacement vertically-sheeted timber door.

Blind southwest gable, rendered and painted with chimney stack.

Northwest rear elevation has two randomly placed window openings (3/1 timber sliding sash similar to front).

Blind north gable.

Materials
Roof Natural slate
RWG Cast-iron
Walling Painted smooth render
Windows Timber sliding sash

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. Three single-storey outbuildings to the east form an informal front courtyard. To north, a single bay diminutive outbuilding has pitched corrugated iron roof with polycarbonate rooflight, exposed rubblestone walling and a sheeted timber door to NW face. The middle outbuilding has pitched natural slate roof, whitewashed rubblestone walls and replacement timber door. The larger south outbuilding has pitched corrugated iron roof set at two levels, exposed rubblestone walling and replacement timber doors; this has recently been refurbished.

Historical information

No. 39 Fairhead Road, a single-storey vernacular farmhouse located in the townland of Cross, was constructed along with the neighbouring nos 38-41 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. In the mid-19th century No. 39 Fairhead Road was valued at 15 shillings 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. 39 Fairhead Road was initially occupied by Hugh Butler, a local famer.

The Butler family remained at No. 39 Fairhead Road until the 1920s and the house was occupied by Daniel Butler under the 1901 Census of Ireland. In that year the census building return described the farmhouse as a 2nd class dwelling that originally possessed a thatched roof (now replaced with slate), consisted of three rooms and possessed a stable, a cow house, a piggery and a barn amongst its outbuildings. The farmhouse was leased by the Boyd estate to a Mr. Francis Lamont under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) which increased the value of the site to £2 and 5 shillings. Lamont purchased No. 39 Fairhead Road outright from the Boyd estate in c. 1956 but leased the property out to a Mr. James McBride in c. 1966. By the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) the total rateable value of the farmhouse stood at £5 and 15 shillings.

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. 39 Fairhead Road was listed in 1980 (NIEA HB Records).

According to the National Trust, the property was refurbished in the 1980s and at that time a modern projecting porch was removed and an additional window added to the NW elevation.

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 – HB05/04/016B

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.

Online Sources
1. https://heritagerecords.nationaltrust.org.uk/HBSMR/MonRecord.aspx?uid=MNA124258 accessed 08/06/2016.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
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 four-bay 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 modestly-scaled house is much enhanced by the survival of three ancillary outbuildings, set parallel in a linear arrangement. Originally thatched, it was refurbished in the 1980s; the roof is now natural slate and the windows have been replaced, although both are sympathetic to the character of the house and the proportions are largely traditional. The floor plan may have been altered slightly at that time as an additional window was inserted. No.39 has strong group value with another three dwellings (HB05.04.016A, C & D), irregularly arranged to make up a traditional clachan, known as Coolanlough. The settlement is distinctly vernacular in character, enclosed by low dry-stone walling 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.