Bellgrove

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

The derelict remains of a single storey thatched cottage built of random rubble basalt with a cement rendered finish and rendered chimneys of red brick. Main entrance faces west.

Described in the first survey in 1972 as "A roughcast thatched cottage with three chimney stacks. Windows are paired to south of entrance and opposite end of façade. There are also two single windows. Sashes are plain or with horizontal division. The panelled door is flanked by obscured sidelights. There are two sheeted entrances." As it now stands, the building has lost some of its original elements: where the roof has not completely fallen in it has grass growing on it; the entrance arrangement is missing leaving only a wide rectangular opening in the front wall; the coupled window to the south end of the entrance front is missing leaving only a wide rectangular opening; the three windows to the left hand side of the main entrance are derelict and rotten; render has fallen from window and door heads; the central chimney has fallen. Windows to the rear elevation are also derelict or missing with damage or collapse to window heads. A gabled two-storey return to the rear has what looks like a corrugated asbestos roof.

SETTING: The building stands in a very rural area, set well back from the road along a lane and set within its own now-abandoned farmyard, with derelict single and two-storey outbuildings adjacent. Immediately to the rear is a field. The immediate area of the house is difficult of access due to the accumulation of piled materials to each end of the front of the house, the depth of mud and liquid manure to the rear and south end, and overgrowth at the north end.

Historical information

Precise date of building not known but appears on OS map of 1832-3. Listed in 1974 when it was owned by Mr Nelson Bell; partly re-thatched in 1977; roof derelict by 1994.

References - Primary Sources
1. OS Map 1832-3, Co Antrim 59.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

This was an example of an early 19th century thatched cottage but is now derelict and ruinous, with most of its original features now missing or damaged.