17 Ballymacanallen Road, Gilford, Craigavon, BT63 6AD

17 Ballymacanallen Road, Gilford

A semi-detached single-storey direct-entry vernacular dwelling with outbuildings, built around 1820 and located south of Ballymacanallen Road near Gilford. The building is rectangular on plan with a pitched corrugated metal roof, raised masonry verge, and roughcast rendered chimneystacks. Remnants of cast-iron gutters and brackets remain. The walls are roughcast rendered throughout.

Windows are mainly one-over-two timber sliding sash with projecting masonry sills. The principal elevation faces north and is irregularly arranged, with a timber-sheeted entrance door with sidelights positioned right of centre. Two windows are to the left and one to the right of the door; a timber-sheeted square opening sits at the far right. The east gable contains a window positioned right of centre. The rear (south) elevation is partially concealed by hedgerow, with two timber-sheeted doors to the left and a three-over-six window to the right. The west gable is abutted by an adjoining building (HB17/01/057A).

The detailing is largely intact and the original proportions and much of the early character survive. The pair of cottages and their outbuildings demonstrate the development of the site and represent a relatively rare surviving example of vernacular dwellings, once common in this area.

The building began life as a single dwelling in the early nineteenth century and was subsequently extended in linear form over the years, as was typical for vernacular buildings of this type. A rectangular structure is shown on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1834 at this footprint. By the second edition of 1858 the structure had been extended westwards to form the present number 15, and by the third edition number 17 had been further extended eastwards beyond the chimney that once marked the gable end. The building was constructed before 1834 but fell beneath the valuation threshold for the Townland Valuation.

James Muldrak occupied the property at the time of Griffith's Valuation (1856–64), followed by Hugh Muldrak, with the house leased from the Representatives of William McCraith. The valuation was £1 10 shillings with the associated farm plot amounting to over eight acres. By 1880 the occupier was Joseph Heaney, a farmer, who remained resident until the 1901 census. At that time the house had three windows to the front facade and four rooms, roofed with perishable material, very likely thatch. Joseph Heaney lived with his wife and three adult children; his son worked as a commercial clerk in the local flax industry. By 1911 Heaney's wife had died and he lived with his son and unmarried daughter, his younger daughter having married and moved into the adjoining dwelling. Joseph Heaney died in 1924, leaving the farm to his son and his son-in-law David Robinson. Maggie Heaney was listed as occupier from 1930 and Mary J Robinson in 1931, who also occupied the adjoining house. In the First General Revaluation, when still thatched, the house was revalued at £4 10 shillings with £1 15 shillings for agricultural outbuildings. The house remained in the Robinson family, with David J Robinson resident in 1942 and Samuel J Robinson in 1943. However, in 1945 the house was redesignated as outbuildings rather than a domestic dwelling and has remained unoccupied.

To the rear is an overgrown yard with a linear row of roughcast rendered and rubble stone outbuildings with tin roofs, accessed from the road via a wrought-iron gate to the northeast. A modern two-storey dwelling stands to the east. The cottages are situated in the rural hinterland of Gilford within an agricultural landscape that has retained its character and remains relatively unchanged. Permission has been granted for the replacement of these buildings.