Farm Yard, Moneyglass Demesne, Duneane Road, Toomebridge, Co Antrim, BT41 3PS

Farmyard Complex, Moneyglass Demesne, built circa 1850

This is a complex of single and two-storey farm buildings dating from around 1850, set within the 18th-century Moneyglass demesne near Toomebridge, County Antrim — a rural estate historically owned by the Jones family. The complex is arranged around a central courtyard and is less formal and more vernacular in character than the nearby stable yard. It remains in use as part of a working farm. Although roofs have partially collapsed in places and some details are deteriorating, the complex retains its overall character and includes fine detailing throughout, including brickwork surrounds, corbelled eaves, and king-post trusses in Block A. The complex is an important element of the estate and reflects the farming practices of its period.

The overall enclosure is rectangular, bounded by roughcast and random rubble walling. Roofs throughout are slated and pitched, walls are roughcast over random rubble, and windows are timber-framed with louvred openings to Blocks A and D. Rainwater goods are cast iron.

Block A is a detached two-storey, seven-bay farm building positioned to the west of the complex, rectangular on plan. The walls feature brick quoins, brick corbelled eaves, and masonry kneelers. Window openings are segmental-arch-headed with stepped brick reveals, brick voussoirs, and masonry sills. The principal west elevation has a large double-height entrance opening at the centre, set within a rendered recessed bay with a brick surround, flanked on each side by two bays containing windows at both ground and first floor levels. The doors are of corrugated metal. The north gable has a single round-headed opening at first floor level, and the east elevation matches the north. Abutting the north-east corner is a lean-to roof and a mono-pitched canopy supported by cast iron columns; this canopy meets the random rubble yard boundary wall to the north. The south gable mirrors the north gable, and the south elevation is abutted to the east by a random rubble boundary wall containing rendered brick gate pillars and a pair of iron gates.

Block B is a single-storey byre to the north of the complex, L-shaped on plan. It is open to the south and east, supported at the internal corner by a cast iron column. The timber roof structure is exposed. There is a blockwork partition wall and a square-headed opening at attic level on the south wall with a flush masonry sill. The roof has partly collapsed.

Block C is a single-storey farm building along the north boundary of the yard, divided in use by a north-south partition wall running through the yard. The building has exposed timber roof rafters with collar supports. The west side is a pigsty subdivided into five bays, each with a sandstone feeding trough and a half-height opening in the wall running east-west along the ridge line. To the east, the building is three bays wide with internal brickwork partitions; each bay has a window opening to the left and a door opening to the right, and the east window retains its original masonry sill.

Block D is a two-storey, multiple-bay building with a hipped slated roof and brick corbelling to the eaves. There are remains of a brick chimney to the north. The south elevation has a single square-headed window at first floor level with a sandstone sill, and evidence of a now-blocked ground floor opening. The west elevation has a round-arch-headed opening to the north, three square-headed windows placed centrally at first floor level, ground floor windows with brick voussoirs, entrance openings below the outer first floor openings, and two square-headed window openings at ground floor level beneath the central first floor window. The north elevation shows evidence of three ground floor openings surmounted by a centrally placed first floor opening, each with a brick surround, all now blocked; this elevation is abutted at its base by a rendered wall and yard. The east elevation is four bays wide, each bay containing a small square ventilation opening at ground floor level; the north bay also has one square-headed opening at first floor level. Abutting the north-east corner is a small ruined building constructed off the south boundary random rubble wall of the walled garden, with wrought iron railings.

Block E is a single-storey covered shelter, open to the north, with the roof supported by two cast iron columns. The roof structure is exposed, with beams visible to the underside of the timber plank floor above at attic level. The west wall has a square-headed opening at attic level with a replacement concrete surround. Block E appears originally to have been connected to Block F; the south wall between them has an opening at first floor level, the top of which is now lost, and the remains of the roof structure are still visible.

Block F is a single-storey byre, similar to Block B. At the roof valley, the original slate has been replaced with corrugated metal. To the south, the attic is floored with timber planks and has exposed beams. To the west, the pitched roof is supported by an unsawn timber brace. There are blockwork partitions internally.

The farmyard sits within the Moneyglass demesne, whose first recorded occupant was W. M. Jones, who leased the estate on 15 April 1726 from French John O'Neill for a term of three lives at £25 rent per annum, renewable forever. Jones was second generation in Ireland, a member of an ancient Welsh family that had arrived during the reign of Charles II, and was himself the inspiration for Carolan's celebrated planxty "Bumper Squire Jones," as noted in the Ordnance Survey Memoirs. According to those same memoirs, a replacement house was built in 1787 by Thomas Morres Jones Esq. The first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1833 shows only a single small building on the site of the farmyard, but by the time of the second edition map of 1857 the complex had been substantially enlarged. It is possible that the farm buildings were designed by Sir Charles Lanyon, who is known to have carried out work at the house around 1855 and who designed the estate's gate lodge. The farm complex is recorded as part of the wider Moneyglass estate group.