Sexton's House, 93 Main Street, Crumlin, Co Antrim, BT29 4UU

Sexton's House is an early 19th-century building in the Gothic Revival style, built probably in 1839 and likely designed by architect John Millar, who also designed the adjacent Presbyterian Church with which it forms a cohesive group. The building retains most of its original exterior features and is Grade B2 listed.

The main structure is a gabled building of one-and-a-half storeys, three bays wide, with its principal south-facing elevation fronting onto Main Street. The walls are of roughcast render using pebbles and crushed stones, with smooth cement borders to the extremities, a projecting plain cement plinth, and an eaves course. The roof is covered in Bangor blue slates laid in regular courses with angled chimneys at each end of the ridge.

The south elevation features a central Gothic arched doorway with a flush timber door incorporating an angle-headed glazed panel, set in a plain rectangular frame with a plain fanlight above. A modern aluminium letterbox has been added. On either side of the doorway is a Gothic arched window set in a slightly projecting surround with a projecting stone cill. The windows are timber with vertically hung sliding sash frames of 2 over 2 lights, complete with horns and incorporating Gothic arched glazing bars to the toplight, with exposed sash boxes visible. A cast iron gutter and downpipe run along this elevation, though the lower portions of the downpipe are now missing. To the left of the entrance is a short rib wall forming a gateway into the side alley between the house and the neighbouring building. To the right is a screen wall stepped in two stages with similar finishes and painted concrete coping.

The east gable displays similar walling and finishes to the entrance front, with smooth cement render verges. An angled chimney sits on the apex with a roughcast finish and plain projecting course, topped with one modern pot. Two Gothic arched lancet windows at attic level are set in plain surrounds of smooth cement render with projecting concrete cills, featuring timber vertically hung sliding sash frames of 2 over 2 lights with horns and exposed sash boxes.

The rear elevation comprises the back wall of the original gabled block with a flat-roofed return projecting forward. The wall to the left of the return is roughcast with wet dash of crushed stones. The main gabled section retains a single rectangular timber vertically hung sliding sash window (1 over 1) with horns, exposed sash boxes, plain reveals, and a projecting stone cill.

The flat-roofed rear return has an asphalt covering with oversailing eaves, roughcast walls, and cast iron downpipe. Each floor on the east side features a large rectangular window of modern timber construction with fixed lights and casement or top-hung vents, with projecting thin concrete cills. The ground floor includes a flush timber door to the left of its window. The north wall of the return is roughcast with a modern rectangular timber window to the first floor. The west side of the rear return is built of exposed concrete bricks at base with rough cement render above. A low concrete block link wall extends to the left to connect with a single-storey outbuilding.

The rear elevation of the main house to the right of the return has basalt rubble at its base, rendered above with roughly finished cement and dry dash of crushed stones, with one modern rectangular timber window. The west gable of the main house is constructed of basalt boulders and rubble with lime mortar smeared over it, exposed at base but roughcast rendered above, with some modern concrete blockwork underpinning at the north-west corner. The roof pitch is raised at the rear where the return has been built up.

The outbuilding standing to the rear is a smaller gabled structure with a roof of Bangor blue slates in regular courses and two small rooflights in the south side. The south elevation features walls rendered with dry dash of stone chippings, now overpainted, with a slightly projecting border to the right extremity. PVC guttering and downpipe have been installed. Three rectangular ledged timber doorways with plain reveals are set in the south wall, two with decorative iron hinges. The east gable is blank, roughly rendered with wet dash of crushed stones and projecting smooth cement render borders, with painted wooden barge boards and a crude angled wooden finial at the apex. The north elevation is a blank wall, crudely rendered with wet dash and smooth render borders. The west gable is built of concrete blocks with original basalt rubble exposed at the base of the rear wall and upper portions roughly cement rendered, with timber barge boards and a plain timber collar.

Between the main house and outbuilding is a small yard enclosed on the east side by a roughcast wall with concrete coping slabs and a modern iron gate. The yard surface is concreted. Along the east side of the main block is a small flower bed enclosed by a short roughcast wall with concrete coping, separated from the main gable by a path of concrete pavoirs.

The building stands within the grounds of Crumlin Presbyterian Church, facing onto the main street but set back from it. It forms part of a semi-formal arrangement with the adjacent Session Room on the other side of the main gateway to the church, framing views of the church itself which is positioned further back from the street. The main church gateway features a low curving screen wall of roughcast with broad concrete copings topped with plain modern iron railings, connected to the higher screen wall of the Sexton's House by a short low return wall. The areas to the side and rear of the building are laid to lawns.

The precise date of construction is not recorded, but the building is likely contemporary with Crumlin Presbyterian Church, dated to 1839 by inscription, and may have been designed by the same architect, John Millar. The building is recorded on the Ordnance Survey map of 1858 for County Antrim, though the outbuilding does not appear on this early map.