36 Ballynagarrick Road, Portadown, Co. Armagh, BT63 5NR

36 Ballynagarrick Road, Portadown

A single storey, three bay, lobby entry thatched house dating from the 1860s–1870s. The building is approached by turning north-easterly from Moyallon Road at the Drumlyn intersection and travelling approximately three-quarters of a mile. It faces south-west in a roadside position.

The walls are of mixed construction, partly stone and partly mud, with a harled and whitened finish. The base is painted black. The thatch covering is traditional in form and is raised above and contained within parapet gables. The right-hand (south-east) gable rises to a corbelled chimneystack, with a further stack positioned above the kitchen hearth. The stack serving the stove is fitted with a cowl. The roof timbers are traditional or follow an early form of construction.

The entrance comprises a timber-sheeted door with a glazed diamond-shaped panel, recessed within a square-jambed windbreak porch. The thatch rises above the porch to accommodate the roof slab. To the left (north-west) of the porch is a vertically sliding window with a single vertical division of sashes and traditional depths. Two similar windows appear on the opposite side of the porch. The gables are without fenestration.

A lean-to store with corrugated iron roof abuts the left-hand (north-west) gable. The store has timber sheeting and a shaped door to accommodate the roofline. Its wall finish matches the main house.

At the rear, a short link from the kitchen provides access to an extension accommodating a bedroom and bathroom. This unit has a pitched roof finished with natural slate and plastic gutters on drive-in hooks. The walls are whitened roughcast. The windows are vertically sliding with deep sills, except for casement windows on the rear wall and a large three-section window to the right (north-east) with sashes divided horizontally into two. A 3x2 window with narrow sills adjoins this; to the left of the extension is another 3x2 window with a deep sill. The door is of four panels, with the upper two glazed. Use of casement windows was approved by the Environment and Heritage Service in January 1986.

The interior layout is unchanged, with detailing intact including the hearth and the central position of the door from the kitchen to the living room.

Historical context

Two small separate structures appear on the Ordnance Survey map of 1834, neither corresponding to the present building. The current house likely corresponds to the north-west part of a semi-detached pair shown on the revised Ordnance Survey map of 1859. The property appears in the valuation of 1861, with James McConville recorded as occupant and immediate lessor (a different person, with 'Dominick' noted in brackets). The rateable value was 15 shillings. John McConville succeeded as occupant in 1900 and remained until at least 1929. According to C.E.B. Brett's 'Buildings of North County Down', the present owner acquired the house from the Flynn family, who had in turn acquired it from the Sargeant family.

The thatch was repaired in 1980 by Gerry Agnew using straw. Re-thatching was carried out in 1985 using wheat straw, with jointing of the extension to the house also completed by Agnew using straw in 1986. Further repairs followed in 1990, 1992, and a more extensive repair in 1993. A minor repair occurred in 1996. The south-east gable wall of mud construction was repaired in 1998. In 2002, the roof structure was strengthened, the chimney rebuilt, and the building re-thatched by Gerry Agnew using flax. Thatch repairs using flax were carried out again in 1999 and 2016.