39 Cockhill Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

The site is accessed from the Antrim/Ballymena Road by turning left (north-west) at Ballycowan, about 2.5 miles south of Ballymena, for Cromkill but after a short distance turning left (south-west) again to reach the farmyard after about five hundred yards. The buildings are served by a short entrance drive passing outbuildings and may be glimpsed from the road.

The dwelling is single storey with whitened plastered stone walls and thatched roof between corrugated iron coverings and with cemented segments where it rises above these roofs. There are two corbelled red brick chimneys, one with two pots over the position of the kitchen hearth and the other without pots on the left-hand (north-east) gable serving the parlour fireplace.

The front that faces north-west has the entrance, protected by a square-jambed windbreak porch with tiled roof and cast iron gutter, flanked to the left (north-east) by a margined-paned vertically sliding window and to the right (south west) by two plain sashed vertically sliding windows. The frames are exposed, sash stops are splayed and sills are of traditional depths at the leading edges.

At the rear from the left (south-west) there are a two four-square metal-framed windows, then two vertically sliding timber windows with exposed frames and splayed sash stops and finally a pair of vertically sliding timber windows each 2/4 and in an exposed frame. Sills are of traditional depths.

To the left (north-east) of the dwelling there is an outbuilding consisting of two compartments both entered by sheeted half doors. The roofs are of corrugated iron and rainwater goods are of pressed metal. The first has exposed random stone in the interior, sawn timbers and a ladder to a loft on the left-hand side. The end outbuilding has plastered stone walls and joists supporting wide boards.

The last room of the house is roofed with corrugated iron and beyond there is a corrugated iron roofed building with two corbelled brick chimneystacks, the first with one pot.

Historical information

A building matching the present is shown on the OS map of 1832 / 33, but not noted in the near contemporary valuation. The property is recorded in the second valuation of c.1860, but the (handwritten) referencing on the accompanying map is confusing and it is difficult to say whether this property was occupied at that point by a Hugh Campbell or a William McCartney, the former leasing his house, (rated at £1), from Robert Dull, the latter, (whose property was rated at £1-15-0), leasing from the representatives of George Joy.

A grant for re-thatching was offered on 12 April 1995 based on a quotation of £8,280 from Gerry Agnew, thatcher, intending to use wheat straw. There is no evidence on file that the scheme was ever followed through, but archive pictures show that re-thatching had been carried out by 26 April 1996. This work involved the refilling of the dormer openings in the rear roof slope.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI VAL/1A/1/37 OS map, County Antrim sheet 37, with valuation
references (1832 / 33-c.38)
2 PRONI VAL/2A/1/37B OS map, County Antrim sheet 37, with valuation references (1857-c.60)
3 PRONI VAL/2B/1/2A Second valuation, Grange of Ballyscullion (c.1860)

Other references
1 EHS Slide archive relating to 39 Cockhill Road, Cromkill [HB07/10/017] (1975-96)
2 EHS Monitoring of Thatched Buildings, report by Colin Hatrick to EHS, May 1994
3 EHS Report of an inspection and preparation of a schedule of requirements by Colin Hatrick, 9 November 1994
4 Information from owner, 18 July 2003

A grant for re-thatching was offered on 12 April 1995 based on a quotation of £8280.00 from Gerry Agnew, thatcher, intending to use wheat straw.
There is no evidence on file that the scheme took place but the slide archive shows that re-thatching had been carried out by 26 April 1996. This work involved infilling of the dormer openings in the rear roof slope.

References – Primary Sources

1. OS map, 1st edition 1832-3, Co Antrim sheet 37
2. OS map, 1st revision 1857, Co Antrim, sheet 37

Secondary Sources

Report by Colin Hatrick to EHS as part of the Monitoring of Thatch survey dated May 1994.

Report of an inspection and preparation of a Schedule of Requirements by Colin Hatrick dated 9 November 1994.

Information from owner, 18 July 2003.

Environment and Heritage Service, slide archive in Hill Street
October 1975(1), 1988 (3), 1993 (4) indexed as HB7/10/018, 1996 (5).

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
F. Structural System
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

W. Northern Ireland/International Interest
Z. Rarity

Evaluation

This largely intact example of a thatched vernacular building is located a few miles south west of Ballymena. Apart from the conversion of a bedroom into a bathroom and to a scullery, an alteration that has been carried out in an acceptable manner, there have been no alterations to the layout. The owner confirms that the timberwork of the early roof remains unaltered. All other detail apart from the insertion of two metal-framed windows at the rear is unchanged.