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

The Hermitage is a single-storey rendered house located near the outer area of Randalstown, set back from Ahoghill Road at the end of a driveway. The building comprises a main rectangular block with two wings or returns extending to the rear, forming a U-shape that encloses a cobbled courtyard yard.

The main entrance elevation faces east and is arranged in four bays, with two windows to the left of the central doorway and one to the right. The roof is hipped and covered with Bangor blue slates in regular courses with lead dressings to ridges. Eaves are overhanging, finished with white painted timber panelled soffits, timber fascia, cast iron gutter and downpipes. The walls are rendered with a wet dash of crushed stones applied over a slightly raised smooth rendered plinth. Door and window openings have smooth cement rendered surrounds.

Windows on the entrance elevation are rectangular timber sliding sash, 6 over 6, with the two to the left of the doorway having horns and the one to the right without horns. All have exposed sash boxes set in smooth rendered reveals with projecting concrete cills. The doorway contains a rectangular timber glazed and panelled door with an original knocker and handle, set in an exposed moulded timber frame with projecting rendered base blocks, accessed via two concrete steps.

Two chimneys rise from the entrance elevation: one on the ridge to the left and one on the gable to the right, both constructed of red brick with three plain corbel courses and modern red pots.

The south elevation is of similar character to the front, though the south wing or return is set back slightly to the left of the main front block gable. The roof is hipped to the right-hand end and gabled to the left, slated as the entrance elevation. The south wing's plinth projects further than the main block plinth. Two windows in the end wall of the main block are as those on the entrance front but without horns. The slightly recessed south wing wall has three windows: two rectangular timber coupled two-light windows with two 6-pane fixed lights set in moulded frames, and a smaller rectangular timber 4-pane side-hung casement with surrounds and cills as the entrance front.

Two chimneys rise from the south elevation. The main chimney is of smooth rendered brickwork with a single plain corbel course and two modern red pots; the stack is two bricks wide to the front rather than two and a half, with visible cracking and spalling to the render. The chimney to the left-hand end serves the boiler house and is square and smooth rendered.

The west gable of the south wing is rendered without plinth or surrounds to openings, with overhanging eaves finished with panelled soffits and timber barge boards. A doorway contains a rectangular timber sheeted door, and a window is a rectangular timber 6-pane side-hung casement; two similar 4-pane windows serve the attic.

The north elevation of the south wing has a slated roof with sags, overhanging eaves as the entrance front, and a cast iron gutter and downpipe. Three windows are present: the rightmost is a rectangular timber two-light side-hung 9-pane casement; the second from right is similar with 6-pane casements; the leftmost comprises a pair of coupled 6-pane later fixed lights. A doorway contains a rectangular timber sheeted door with a small glazed panel set in a moulded timber frame with rendered base blocks, accessed via a concrete step.

The rear elevation of the main front block has a slated roof without deep overhang and a red brick chimney at mid pitch, similar to those on the entrance elevation, topped with a modern pot. One chimney only is present. Walls are rendered as the entrance front but without plinth. A projecting eaves course features a timber eaves board. A cast iron gutter and downpipe are present. Two windows, one on each side of a later modern flat-roofed single-storey projecting block, are pairs of coupled side-hung 8-pane casements in plain reveals with projecting concrete cills. The projecting block has similarly rendered walls, a flat asphalt-covered roof on timber fascia, and PVC gutter and downpipe, with a cast iron downpipe also affixed but not connected.

The south elevation of the north wing has a gabled roof slated as previous, rendered walling without plinth, and deep overhang to eaves. Four new windows comprise coupled 6-pane casements in plain reveals with projecting concrete cills. Two doorways are present: one rectangular to the left-hand end with door not yet fitted, and one a segmental arched pair of 4-pane French windows with 4-pane sidelights and radial fanlight, not yet glazed.

The west gable of the north wing is blank and rendered as the south side, with overhanging eaves. The north elevation of the north wing has a gabled roof slated as previous with deep overhanging eaves. Most of the wall is obscured by a lower single-storey flat-roofed garage projecting from it. The garage has rendered walls, PVC gutter on timber fascia with PVC downpipe returning to the east end, and double preformed metal sheeted up-and-over garage doors to the east end.

The east gable of the north wing rises above the hipped roof of the main front block, rendered with a smooth plinth and overhanging eaves. One window to the right of the main block is a rectangular timber sliding sash, 2 over 2 with horns, with exposed sash boxes in plain reveals with smooth rendered surrounds and 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 has one similar window, a small rectangular timber sliding sash, 1 over 1 with horns.

The grounds are largely hidden from view of other houses and are accessed via a gateway comprised of a pair of modern circular basalt piers without gates. A gravelled driveway leads to a gravelled area in front of the house overlooking lawns and garden with mature trees, with additional gardens to the south side, all bordered by hedges. A concrete area at the west end leads into the cobbled courtyard enclosed by the two 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.