Ardnaveigh, 4 Birch Hill Road, Antrim, Co Antrim, BT41 2QH

A two-storey courtyard development formerly built as a stable yard but now partly converted for use as a house. The main entrance to the courtyard is on the east side, and the wing used as a house is on the west side. West elevation of house wing: hipped roof of Bangor blue slates in regular courses; walling of basalt rubble with granite quoins; PVC downpipes; entrance is a rectangular timber 8-panel door with radial fanlight and 3-pane sidelights set in an elliptical arched opening with smooth cement render to arch; one window to right of doorway is a rectangular timber sliding sash, 6 over 9, with horns; the rest of the windows are modern fixed lights and top-hung vents, all set in modern rustic brick surrounds; modern rustic brick chimneys. South end of house wing is of similar materials, with a 20th century glazed timber side door. East elevation of house wing, facing into the courtyard, is of similar walling except for stone block surrounds to windows, including wide elliptical arched openings now closed up with modern timber small-paned windows. Other wings within courtyard are in basalt with block surrounds to windows and doorways, and include wide elliptically arched openings, all in a partially derelict condition. The east wing contains the main entrance into courtyard, through an elliptically arched coachway, with anthemion-ornamented acroteria on the outside face; to the right of that is incorporated a smooth rendered original house with a later gabled red brick projection, in a partially derelict condition. Outbuildings include a small single storey detached block to the west, of snecked blackstone with sandstone block dressings to openings, now completely derelict, and a pair of gabled single storey blocks to the east, one in roughly coursed basalt rubble with rounded brick dressings to openings, the other in painted snecked basalt with granite dressings and elliptical arched doorway now blocked up, with its gable surmounted by an Italianate bellcote in sandstone. SETTING: The building stands in a rural area on an eminence, formerly surrounded by farmland and reached by long lanes from the public road, but now with an extensive modern school built in its grounds immediately to the south.