5 Old Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A single storey thatched building originally lobby entry central hearth but now direct entry into a corridor.

The house faces south-west overlooking a small forecourt and a hedge on the north east side of the road that leaves the Moira Road (Ballinderry) in a south easterly direction less that 200 yards from the Upper Ballinderry crossroads and just over three quarters of a mile along Old Road.

The thatched covering is contained within concrete copings, each gable rises to a corbelled chimneystack and there is a similar feature above the position of the original kitchen hearth.The external wall finish is of dry dash above a cement base.
The house is entered by means of a modern interpretation of a six panel raised and fielded door with a stained finish and with the two upper panels glazed.The entrance is flanked to the right (south east) by one and to the left by three twelve-pane windows that are horizontally pivoted. Sills are of traditional depths.The gables are now without openings.
At the rear starting from the north east corner there is modern top hung window before coming to the pitched roof extension finished with natural slate. There are two top hung windows lighting the north east side of the extension, a similar window and a flush door glazed in the upper part on the opposite side. The gable is blank. Rainwater goods are of plastic.
Beyond the extension to the south east there is a large modern window followed by a shallow natural slate lean-to extension containing a modern top hung window.
A cast iron lever handle pump is set before this projection Window sills at the rear are of traditional depths.

Historical information

A house matching that we see today, is shown on this site on the OS map of 1832 / 33, but with a smaller [?]outbuilding to the north. The property is recorded in the valuation of 1834 as a relatively old thatched dwelling in good repair (quality letter ‘2B+’), measuring 58 x 22 x 9, with a slated return of 14 x 13 x 5, a very old thatched turf house of 38 x 21 x 7, and a thatched ‘range of offices’ of 67 x 22 x 6½ and 51 x 22½ x 7½, the latter relatively newly built. The occupant is named as David Connor with the rateable value calculated at a respectable £7-2-0.

The same dimensions for the house and (apparently) the same occupant are recorded in the second valuation of 1859, however of the outbuildings only the turf house had survived in its 1834 form, the others either replaced or extended, with a slated buildings of 46 x 23 x 13 and 21 x 15 x 6, and a thatched one of 108 x 22 x 7. The appearance of these new outbuildings probably explains the rise in the rateable value of the property by 18/- to £8.

A building of extended frontage is shown on the 1832 OS map with a small return that does not match the existing rear extension.
On the 1857 OS map the frontage is similar and the return matches the existing. The existing barn at the rear of the site is first shown on this map.
Prior to listing the building was roofed with corrugated iron over oat straw thatch and the original lobby entry central hearth layout was unaltered.
The premises had been vacant for about 35 years at that time.
At the time of listing the hearth and the jamb wall had been removed as part of a modernisation scheme but it was considered that the general loss of vernacular buildings made it imperative that the opportunity was taken to conserve those, which remain.
The intention of the present owner is to restore the original arrangement and he has started by building a hearth complete with jamb stones.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI VAL/1A/1/63 OS map, County Antrim sheet 63, with valuation
references (1832-33)
2 PRONI VAL/1B/167 First valuation, Ballinderry (1834)
3 PRONI VAL/2A/1/63A OS map, County Antrim sheet 63, with valuation references (1857-c.59)
4 PRONI VAL/2B/1/55A Second valuation, Ballinderry (1859)

Secondary Sources

1 Survey of Thatched Buildings 1992, report by Colin Hatrick
2 Monitoring of Thatched Buildings, report by Colin Hatrick to EHS, 15 June 1994
3 Letters and reports in EHS file since date of listing.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
F. Structural System
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Z. Rarity

Evaluation

This house faces south west on the north side of the road that leaves the Moira Road ( Ballinderry ) in a south easterly direction about 200 yards from the Upper Ballinderry crossroads and about three quarters of a mile along Old Road.
It is a single storey thatched building originally lobby entry central hearth but now direct entry into a corridor.The building embodies a number of inappropriate elements but it retains its thatched roof. It also , more importantly, retains its historic roof strtucture.The house is of at least early 19th. C origin but could be much older. ( It is described in 1834 as "relatively old " .)