Former Market House, 28 Main Street, Toomebridge, Co Antrim, BT41 3TF

This two-storey, five-bay former market house was built in 1786 and stands on the east side of Main Street at the corner of Roguery Road in Toomebridge. It is an end terrace building of rectangular plan with a single-storey addition to the rear having a mono-pitched corrugated roof.

The principal elevation faces west towards Main Street. The roof is pitched and slate-covered with overhanging eaves to the gable end and a simple rendered stepped cornice to the main elevation, with smooth rendered chimneys to north and south at ridge level. The walls are roughcast-rendered on the main elevations but ruled-and-lined smooth render to the gable end. The ground floor features five arched bays with round-headed segmental fanlights, though these have been substantially altered in recent years. The extreme right arch has been replaced by a timber-sheeted entrance door and square-headed window. The extreme left contains a segmental-headed arch with a replacement window divided in thirds. The centre bay contains the main entrance door, a replacement with solid sidelights, beneath a round-headed arch. The remaining bays to left and right of centre have replacement windows, the left one divided into thirds. The first floor has five square-headed timber-framed windows aligned above the ground floor bays. The north gable has a single replacement timber casement window to first floor level on the right side and ventilation grilles to ground floor; the casement is horizontally divided in four. The east elevation has four first-floor timber casement windows (two to right and left, with none to the central bay), each horizontally divided in four, with a modern steel balcony structure to the extreme left window. Rainwater goods comprise replacement cast metal half-round guttering and round downpipes.

Historically, the market house was built at the expense of Lord O'Neill, who provided half the funds, with the remaining cost met by the Manor of Mullaghgawn. The 1836 Townland Valuation shows it was owned by Earl O'Neill and used as a storehouse, valued at £6 4s. 0d. The manor court was held monthly in an upstairs room, with Major Higgison serving as seneschal. The building appears on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1833 and was enlarged by the second edition of 1857. At that time, Toomebridge was a small village of 26 buildings—two three-storey, eleven two-storey, and the remainder cottages—with the market house being one of the oldest structures. The building was historically part of the original village core, situated east of a quay recorded on the 1833 map. Toomebridge occupied a strategically important crossing point between Antrim, Tyrone, and Londonderry. Before Toomebridge was constructed in 1792, a ferry crossed the River Bann at this location. Materials for local construction were sourced regionally: stone from nearby Carn rock, lime from Magherafelt, slates from Ballyronan and Belfast, and timber from Belfast.

Despite substantial modernisation for commercial use in recent years resulting in the loss of interior features, the building's original purpose remains evident through the distinctive arched bays to the ground floor. It occupies a prominent location on Main Street and functions as a major civic building, making a positive contribution to the village.