The Hermitage, 7 Ahoghill Road, Randalstown, Antrim, Co Antrim, BT41 3BJ

The Hermitage is a late Georgian single-storey rendered house, believed to have been built by Lord O'Neill in the early 19th century, most likely between 1820 and 1839. It retains much of its early 18th-century character and sits in a fine, mature setting on the edge of Randalstown in the townland of Feehogue.

The plan is roughly U-shaped, with two rear wings or returns enclosing a small cobbled yard at the back. The main entrance faces east.

The entrance (east) elevation is four bays wide, with two windows to the left of the main doorway and one to the right. The roof is hipped and clad in Bangor blue slates laid in regular courses, with lead dressings to the ridges. The eaves overhang and are finished with white-painted timber panelled soffits, a timber fascia, and cast iron gutters and downpipes. The walls are rendered in wet dash with crushed stone aggregate, with a slightly raised smooth rendered plinth at the base. Door and window openings have smooth cement rendered surrounds. The windows are rectangular timber sliding sashes, six panes over six; the two to the left of the door have horns while the one to the right does not. All have exposed sash boxes set in smooth rendered reveals with projecting concrete cills. The doorway contains a rectangular timber door that is both glazed and panelled, retaining its original knocker and handle. It sits within an exposed moulded timber frame with projecting rendered base blocks and smooth rendered reveals, reached by two concrete steps. There are two chimneys: one on the ridge to the left and one on the gable to the right, both of red brick with three plain corbel courses and modern red pots.

The south elevation is of similar character to the entrance front, but the wall falls into two planes, as the south wing or return is set back slightly to the left of the main front block's gable. The roof is hipped at the right-hand end and gabled to the left, slated as before, with overhanging eaves and cast iron gutters and downpipes. The walls are rendered as on the entrance front, except that the plinth to the south wing projects further. The end wall of the main front block has two windows similar to those on the entrance front but without horns. The slightly recessed wall of the south wing has three windows: two rectangular timber coupled two-light windows, each with two six-pane fixed lights set in moulded frames with rendered surrounds and concrete cills, and one smaller rectangular timber four-pane side-hung casement in a plain timber frame with similar surrounds and cill. There are two chimneys on this elevation: the main chimney is of smooth rendered brickwork, lined, with a single plain corbel course and two modern red pots; it is narrower than the chimneys on the entrance front, being two bricks wide to the front rather than two and a half, and shows cracking and spalling to the render. The boiler house stack to the left is square and smooth rendered.

The west gable of the south wing is rendered as elsewhere but without a plinth or surrounds to the openings, and has overhanging eaves with panelled soffits and timber bargeboards. A rectangular doorway to the right contains a timber sheeted door set in plain reveals. A rectangular six-pane side-hung casement window to the left sits in plain reveals with a recessed cill, and two similar four-pane windows serve the attic level.

The north elevation of the south wing has a roof slated as before but with some sagging, with overhanging eaves, a cast iron gutter and downpipe. The walls are rendered as elsewhere but without a plinth or surrounds to the openings. There are three windows: the one to the extreme right is a rectangular two-light timber side-hung casement with nine panes each, set in smooth rendered reveals with a recessed cill; the second from the right is similar but with six panes per casement; the one to the extreme left is a pair of coupled six-pane later fixed lights with exposed frames in similar reveals. The doorway contains a rectangular timber sheeted door with a small glazed panel, set in a moulded timber frame with rendered base blocks, and approached by a concrete step.

The rear elevation of the main front block has a roof slated as before but without a deep overhang, and one chimney at mid-pitch of red brick similar to those on the entrance elevation, with one modern pot. The walls are rendered as on the entrance front but without a plinth, and there is a projecting eaves course with a timber eaves board, cast iron gutter and downpipe. There are two windows, one to each side of a later, modern flat-roofed single-storey projecting block. Both windows are pairs of coupled side-hung eight-pane casements in plain reveals with projecting concrete cills. The projecting single-storey block has similar rendered walls with a flat asphalt-covered roof on a timber fascia, PVC gutter and downpipe, and a cast iron downpipe affixed but not connected to the gutter.

The south elevation of the north wing has a gabled roof slated as before, rendered walls without a plinth, and deep overhanging eaves with a cast iron gutter, though the downpipe was not yet connected at the time of recording as building work was in progress. There are four new windows comprising coupled six-pane casements in plain reveals with projecting concrete cills. There are two doorways: one rectangular opening to the left-hand end, not yet fitted with a door, and one a segmental arched pair of four-pane French windows with four-pane sidelights and a radial fanlight, not yet glazed at the time of recording. The west gable of the north wing is blank, rendered as the south side, with overhanging eaves.

The north elevation of the north wing has a gabled roof slated as before with deep overhanging eaves, rendered walls with a smooth plinth, and a cast iron gutter. Most of the wall is obscured by a lower single-storey flat-roofed garage projecting from it. The garage walls are rendered to match the main building, with a PVC gutter on a timber fascia and a PVC downpipe returning to the east end. Double garage doors of preformed metal sheeted up-and-over type are set in a rectangular opening at the east end.

The east gable of the north wing rises above the hipped roof of the main front block. The gable is rendered as elsewhere with a smooth plinth, overhanging eaves, and a PVC downpipe returning from the north side. There is one window to the right of the main front block: a rectangular timber sliding sash, two panes over two with horns, with exposed sash boxes set in plain reveals with smooth rendered surrounds and a projecting concrete cill, contained within a projecting ground-floor area surmounted by slate weatherings, with the gable above set back slightly. The north end of the main front block is similar to the south end except that it has only one window to the right-hand side: a small rectangular timber sliding sash, one pane over one with horns, with exposed sash boxes in similar surrounds to those on the entrance front.

The building sits near the outer edge of the town at the end of a driveway off the public road, largely hidden from other houses and set in its own grounds. The approach is through a gateway formed by a pair of modern circular basalt piers without gates. A gravelled driveway leads around to a gravelled area in front of the house, which overlooks lawns and gardens with mature trees. Further gardens lie to the south side, all bordered by hedges. A concrete area at the west end leads into the cobbled courtyard enclosed by the two rear wings. The western boundary is formed by the blank gable of an adjoining house, formerly an outbuilding of this property, and its modern concrete block screen wall.

The house appears on the Ordnance Survey map of 1829, though unnamed at that point. By 1858 it was recorded as 'Feehogue Cottage', and by the map of 1903 it had been renamed 'The Hermitage'. At some point it was owned by the Old Bleach Linen Company and occupied by its chief engineer; it is reputedly the first house in Randalstown to have been lit by electricity. In 1958 it passed into private ownership, owned first by a Mr Darragh, then from around 1968 by a Mr Hilton. In 1980 it was purchased by a Mr McAteer but sold the same year to the owners at the time of listing. The listing covers both the house and the former outbuilding.