25 Tower Road, Ballynafoy, Banbridge, Co Down, BT32 4LG

25 Tower Road is a symmetrical two-storey three-bay farmhouse built around 1840, located in the townland of Ballynafoy, approximately two miles south of Banbridge. It survives as a good example of a farmhouse type that is becoming increasingly rare in the locale, retaining its original setting despite modern repairs and replacements that have compromised some authenticity and integrity.

The house is built to a rectangular plan with a single-storey hipped rear extension added before 1975. It is finished in roughcast render with pitched natural slate roof, clay ridge tiles and smooth rendered gable chimneystacks with terracotta pots. Rainwater goods are modern uPVC. The principal north-east facing elevation is symmetrically arranged with a centrally positioned replacement hardwood door with side and fanlight set into an elliptical arched opening, accessed by four steps. This is flanked by windows, with three first-floor windows positioned directly above. Both gables are symmetrically arranged with two ground-floor windows each. The rear elevation is asymmetrically arranged with a full-width T-shaped hipped extension featuring various sized windows and doors, with further projection left of centre. Three symmetrically arranged first-floor windows sit above.

The windows are modern uPVC casement replacements with granite cills. The door is hardwood replacement.

The house does not appear on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1833, but is depicted on the second edition of 1859 as a square-shaped building with a small south-east facing return. By 1859 the south-eastern outbuildings had also been erected. In the 1860s the farm was occupied by James Mulligan, who leased it from John S. Crawford, a Crawfordsburn-based landowner with over 5,000 acres in the area. Griffith's Valuation of 1862 valued the farm and its offices jointly at £6 10 shillings. Mulligan occupied the farmhouse until 1872, when his son John took possession. John Mulligan is recorded as occupant in the Annual Revisions until 1911, though he is absent from the 1901 Census. By 1911, John O'Hanlon had come into possession. The 1901 Census records O'Hanlon (aged 68, Roman Catholic) residing in Ballynafoy with his wife Isabella (71) and son Matthew (31), a farm worker. Their property was described as a first-class dwelling with ten rooms, stable, cow house, piggery and barn. In 1911, when O'Hanlon certainly occupied 25 Tower Road, it was recorded as a second-class dwelling with eight rooms and comprising a stable, cow house, piggery, fowl house and barn. O'Hanlon remained until 1920, when his son Matthew (aged 53) took possession, residing there until the Annual Revisions ended in 1929.

The house was listed in 1977 and continues as a private dwelling. The majority of associated outbuildings contemporary with the original construction survive.

The setting is secluded from public view, located at the crest of a hill accessed by a narrow winding private lane off the public road. The approach lane is lined with rendered walls with circular rubble stone piers and wrought-iron gates. A masonry stile is built into the wall adjacent to the rear yard entrance. The yard is enclosed by three blocks of single-storey rubble masonry whitewashed outbuildings, with pitched corrugated-iron and natural slate roofing, some replacement windows and painted timber sheeted doors. A narrow garden addresses the front elevation.

The listing extends to the house, walls, gates and outbuildings.