59 Loughview Road, Aldergrove, Crumlin, BT29 4ED

59 Loughview Road is a single-storey vernacular house built between 1820 and 1839, situated on a quiet country road on the eastern shore of Lough Neagh, approximately 5 kilometres from Crumlin village in Ballyginniff townland.

The house is a three-bay rectangular structure with a fourth bay to the south used as an outbuilding, and incorporates a concealed loft area known as a skeagh. It retains a remarkably intact original collar-beam truss thatch roof, now concealed beneath a corrugated asbestos roof covering dating from the mid-20th century. The walls are constructed of random rubble with painted lime render, and approximately two courses of cement blockwork are visible at eaves level where the house was raised, possibly during the installation of the corrugated roof. Replacement red-brick chimney stacks with projecting brick courses and clay pots are present on the front and north elevations.

The front elevation features a centrally located square-headed timber door opening, now fitted with a replacement varnished boarded door, flanked by four small rectangular square-headed window openings arranged with two on each side. All windows are modern uPVC top-hung double-glazed units with flush reveals and cills. A cast metal gutter runs along the eaves. The rear elevation is plainer, with a single small rectangular window opening positioned almost centrally, and a large blocked opening to the left. The south side elevation is blank with a haunched gable projecting above the roof line. The north side elevation is similarly blank with a centrally positioned replacement chimney and a small rectangular recess at ground level, possibly connected to the internal fireplace.

Internally, the house retains its original lobby entry plan form with jamb wall, spyhole and hearth substantially intact, preserving its vernacular character despite the loss of original windows and chimneys.

The attached outbuilding has a single square-headed door opening with original painted boarded timber door to the left side, a blocked window opening to the right, random rubble walls with painted lime render, and a corrugated tin roof. A separate original outbuilding stands directly across the road near the shoreline, also featuring random rubble stone walls, corrugated tin roof and a square-headed boarded timber door.

The property is set back slightly from the road with a small tarmacadam surface to the front, a narrow raised masonry apron with low kerbing along the front wall, and a raised stone trough to the north now used as a flower bed. An outside tap is mounted on the front wall. The rear ground level runs into the back elevation above floor level, with open fields beyond a lightweight post and wire fence. A wooded area with derelict stone outbuildings lies on the adjacent site to the north.

Cartographic evidence shows a building of similar size on this site in the Ordnance Survey maps of 1832 and 1857. The property first appears in valuation records around 1859 when occupied by Charles Quinn, with Gilbert McIlveen as immediate lessor and rated at £1-10-0. McIlveen had acquired the lease of property in the area in 1817. By the mid-1880s Quinn had sublet the house to four tenants: Samuel McCormick, Charles Barr, Daniel McKearn and John McVeigh. The lease passed to William Quinn circa 1895 and Mary Ellen Quinn shortly after, with Mary Ellen acquiring the freehold in 1910. By 1903 the property was divided between two tenants, but in 1921 was acquired by Daniel Skelton, recorded as sole occupant thereafter. A 1921 annotation in the valuation book records the dimensions of the two component parts as 44 feet by 18 feet by 10 feet and 18 feet by 18 feet by 10 feet. The property remains with Daniel Skelton's descendants.

The building is an increasingly rare surviving example of the thatched lobby-entry house type and retains significant vernacular character despite alterations to windows and the external roof covering. Its unspoilt rural setting contributes to its historical and architectural interest.