9 Bluestone Road, Lisnamintry, Portadown, Co. Armagh, BT63 5SH

A single-storey lobby entry house of T-plan layout, dating from the early 19th century. The front elevation features four bays to the left (north-east) covered with thatch, while the end bay to the south-west rises to one and a half storeys with a pitched roof of natural slate. The thatch is finished with a block-type ridge of blue clay tiles, draped over the left gable and finished with lead flashing where it abuts the slate section. The single-storey two-bay return has a thatched roof with similar block ridge detail including small hips at each apex. Rainwater goods are of cast iron to the main sections and plastic to the porch.

The front elevation faces north-west behind a small grassed area enclosed by a timber ranch-style fence with modern metal gate between square roughcast pillars topped by projecting pyramidal cappings. The thatched portions have whitened rough plaster, roughcast, or exposed stone walls, except for the end gable of the extension which is unwhitened exposed rubble stone. The slate section is of rubble stone and brick construction.

The front entrance features a timber ledged and sheeted door recessed within a projecting windbreak porch with natural slate lean-to roof. To the left are one and to the right are four vertically sliding sash windows, each divided into two vertically, with moulded sash stops and intermediate-depth sills. At the right extremity of the thatched elevation, a former door opening has been built up while retaining a timber sheeted door to preserve earlier appearance. The slate section has a single low-level window of similar construction but slightly larger dimensions with increased sash box exposure and traditional-depth sill. A lattice-paned window in the gable with brick arch and deep sill lights the upper accommodation. The rear of this section has a similar but larger window. Two further windows light the rear of the thatched section before the extension, the second showing increased depth. The extension's rear living room wall has a small vertically sliding window with exposed sash box. The left gable of the main house is blank.

The extension on the south-west elevation has a stone-built windbreak porch under a slight projection of the thatched covering. The timber sheeted door contains a diamond-shaped observation panel. The porch is flanked to the left by one window and to the right by a pair of similar windows. The rear has two further windows.

Three corbelled brick chimneystacks rise from the main house: over the kitchen hearth, the former parlour (now bedroom), and serving the dining room fireplace in the extension. Each stack in the main house contains one chimney pot; the extension stack has two.

The building shown on the Ordnance Survey map of 1834-35 was first recorded in the second valuation of 1862, when Joseph Malcomson was leasing the property from the Manchester Estate. It was then described as an old thatched house measuring 20 yards with a rateable value of £2-5-0. The Malcomsons retained the property until 1901, when Henry Harrison took the lease, acquiring the freehold in 1910 and remaining in residence in 1929.

According to local historian Francis McCorry, the brick annex to the west was added circa 1820 specifically to accommodate an itinerant Methodist minister and his horse. The horse was stabled at ground level while the minister's quarters occupied the upper storey. By the mid-19th century, the Bluestone Road area had shifted from being a Quaker stronghold to a Methodist community. A Methodist church, built sometime between 1835 and 1860, stands just to the west.

The building has been restored to an acceptable standard and retains its historic plan form and some historic detail. In 1985 the Craigavon Development Officer was advised that thatch repair was no longer possible, but the Heritage and Monuments Branch furnished examples of successful comparable schemes in the vicinity. The current owner purchased the house in 1991 and submitted an acceptable restoration scheme the following year. Re-thatching was undertaken in 1993 and 1995 by Thatch Advisory Services Limited in reed. The block ridge was added at this time, reducing the historic appearance of the building. Despite this alteration, it remains an important survivor of a once common but now rare vernacular type and is well sited, adding greatly to the character of its surroundings.