House adj 45 Corbet Road, Banbridge, Co Down, BT32 3SH

This house adjacent to 45 Corbet Road in Banbridge is a detached, asymmetrical single-storey dwelling built around 1800. It is a vernacular rubblestone construction with lime render, rectangular in plan and facing north. The building is notable as a lobby-entry type with a windbreaker entrance porch and an incorporated byre within the western bay.

The roof structure is of particular interest: corrugated iron sheeting now covers the original thatch, which survives in places beneath. The roof has a slightly raised gable and a single rendered redbrick chimneystack with no rainwater goods. The front north elevation displays three window bays with square-headed openings lined in redbrick, containing remnants of timber sash or steel casement windows without sills. The windbreaker entrance porch features an original timber frame set on granite plinth blocks and an original vertically-sheeted timber battened door opening onto a front concrete paved area. The rear elevation, facing four windows wide, is set below an embankment. The east gable is set into the sloping terrain and largely obscured below eaves level. The west side elevation is abutted by a lean-to rubblestone shed with a corrugated asbestos roof.

The interior retains original detailing of note, including a double hearth and some timber built-in furniture. However, loss of fabric and detailing has compromised its architectural and historic interest.

The house stands on a steeply sloping elevated site overlooking Corbet Lough to the west, accessed via a long lane west of Corbet Road. A single-storey rubblestone outbuilding with corrugated iron roof and cement render stands parallel to the dwelling, forming a sloping front yard. A replacement dwelling built around 1950 and recently renovated stands to the east on a higher level.

The dwelling pre-dates the first Ordnance Survey of 1833, in which it is shown in its present form with a parallel outbuilding to the north. It is recorded in the Townland Valuation (1828–40) with a valuation of £3 12 shillings, an unusually high sum for a thatched dwelling at that time and the only house in Castlevennon townland valued over £3, indicating it was judged substantial and well-kept. Robert Watts, tenant of a 29-acre farm, was the householder. He or his son continued occupation around 25 years later at Griffith's Valuation (1856–64), although the farm valuation had then dropped to £2. The farm passed to the Stewart family in 1870. The 1911 census records 71-year-old widow Isabella Stewart at the house with her daughter and a friend, a telephone operator from Belfast, and a live-in farm servant aged 75. Isabella became owner in fee in 1913 under land purchase legislation. Her daughter, also Isabella, married and lived here as Isabella Maxwell from 1926. Valuation notes of the 1930s record two bedrooms, a room, kitchen and scullery, describing it as a farmhouse in good order with good internal finish, though not plastered internally. The house has not been occupied for some time, and a new farmhouse has been erected on the site in recent years.