Mosestown, Carnlea Road, Ballyclare, Co.Antrim, BT39 9JT

Mosestown is a terrace of four single-bay single-storey former labourers' cottages built around 1800, located on the east side of Carnlea Road near Ballyclare. Although currently in poor repair, the buildings retain many original features and preserve much of their original character. This rural farm complex is very unusual and represents a now-vanished rural social structure.

The main terrace is rectangular in plan with single-storey lean-to returns to the north. An attached outbuilding to the east rises to one-and-a-half storeys due to the sloping topography. The roof is pitched natural slate, though corrugated tin covers the left cottage and attached outbuilding. Corbelled red brick chimneys sit on the party walls. Walls are constructed of random rubble with fieldstone quoins.

Windows are square-headed timber-framed 1/1 sliding sash with red brick voussoirs and sandstone sills. The principal elevation faces south; each cottage bay consists of a central square-headed vertically-sheeted timber entrance door with brick voussoirs, flanked by a single window on either side. The attached outbuilding to the right contains vertically-sheeted timber half-doors at left and right, with a central square-headed loading door at first floor, all openings showing brick repairs.

The west elevation is blank. The north elevation extends five bays wide and is complex in arrangement: a two-storey outbuilding abuts at the left; bays two, three and four are each abutted by rendered returns with single windows to the west; exposed sections contain further single windows, some blocked; bay five contains a central vertically-sheeted timber entrance door flanked by single windows. The east elevation is abutted by the attached outbuilding, which has a central opening at first floor with brick surround, backed by rubble walling remains.

A multi-bay two-storey rubble outbuilding stands to the north-east, with pitched corrugated tin roof; its principal elevation faces west and consists of corrugated tin walling to the right and rubble walling to the left, abutted by a single-storey outbuilding. The north and south gables are blank, while the east elevation contains three window openings with brick surrounds at first floor.

A two-bay single-storey rubble outbuilding lies to the north; its principal elevation faces south with each bay containing a central square-headed vertically-sheeted timber half-door with replacement lintel, flanked by small window openings now blocked. This is abutted at the left by a double-height rubble shelter with recent mono-pitched corrugated tin roof, and at the right by a two-storey outbuilding.

A single-cell single-storey rubble outbuilding stands to the south-east, with a single square-headed vertically-sheeted timber half-door to the north gable, abutted at the left by rubble boundary walling enclosing return remains.

Cast-iron half-round gutters with round downpipes, some now missing, serve the complex.

The site is set on sloping ground with outbuildings to the north, east and south. A farmyard to the north is bounded to the west by rubble walling. The boundary wall to the south across the lane contains four openings accessed by stone steps; rubble piers support vertically-sheeted timber doors enclosing small corrugated tin former outhouses, now in ruins. A stone stile stands to the east of the outbuilding, and rubble walling continues eastward with circular rubble piers supporting field gates.

Historically, the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1832 shows buildings on the site. The second edition map of 1857 captions the complex as 'Mosestown' and depicts two rectangular buildings facing each other, with three projections on the north elevation of the lower building. Griffith's Valuation of 1859 records a 'house, offices and land' occupied by Robert Adrian and leased from Robert Walker, valued at £2. A separate 'house' occupied by John McConnell and leased from William Galt was originally valued at £1 and revised to £1 5 shillings. Two further 'house and offices' properties, with 'herds house' having been crossed out, are each valued at £1 5 shillings and revised to £1 10 shillings. One was occupied by Jane McKillop and leased from Pat McLelland; the other by James Ramsay and leased from Thomas McLelland. Valuation revisions from the 1860s record the upper section as a 'house, office, forge and land', occupied by William Galt.