40 FAIRHEAD ROAD

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

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

Pitched corrugated iron roof with folded metal ridge (painted), two rendered chimneystacks and slightly raised painted masonry verges. Rear pitch has two corrugated polycarbonate rooflights uPVC rainwater goods. Painted render over rubblestone walling. Square-headed window openings with painted concrete sills and single-pane timber sliding sash windows with convex horns and exposed sash boxes. (unless otherwise stated).

Seven-bay east front elevation with off-centre windbreaker entrance porch having deeply set square-headed door opening and vertically-sheeted timber half-door corrugated roof extends over porch. The far left window opening and two window openings to the far right have replacement top-hung timber casement windows.

Blind south gable painted render on rubblestone terminating in a chimney stack.

West rear elevation has a central lean-to extension to right side with corrugated metal / polycarbonate roof, plastic rainwater goods and bipartite timber casement windows.

North gable obscured by gabled single-bay rubblestone accretion having corrugated iron roof set behind raised verge, plastic rainwater goods, random coursed rubblestone walling, a fixed-pane timber window and replacement timber sheeted door.

Materials
Roof Corrugated iron
RWG uPVC (West only)
Walling Painted render over rubblestone
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. Small front area laid in random flagstones with painted stones lining a short front path.

Historical information

No. 40 Fairhead Road, a single-storey vernacular farmhouse (possessing corrugated metal roof) 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. 40 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. 40 Fairhead Road was initially occupied by John McNeill, a local famer.

The McNeill family remained at No. 40 Fairhead Road until c. 1969. Under the 1901 Census of Ireland the farmhouse was occupied by Mary McNeill, a widowed farmer. In that year the census building return described No. 40 Fairhead Road as a 2nd class dwelling that originally possessed a thatched roof (now replaced with corrugated metal), consisted of two rooms and possessed a stable, cow house and a barn amongst its outbuildings. The McNeill family had purchased the farmhouse outright by the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) which recorded James McNeill as owner and occupant. The valuer raised the value of the farmhouse to £1 and 5 shillings but this was further increased to £5 by the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) at which time the farmhouse was occupied by a Mr. Donald McCambridge.

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. 40 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 – HB05/04/016C

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
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 seven-bay rendered 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 an attached byre in addition to a rubblestone outbuilding, walling and pillar to the north. Originally thatched, the roof is now corrugated metal, and despite the lean-to rear extension which is not in keeping with its style, the proportions are largely unchanged and traditional construction methods are in evidence. No.40 has strong group value with another three dwellings (HB05.04.016A, B & 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.