27 Ballysallagh Road, Dromore, Banbridge, Co Down, BT25 1PD

27 Ballysallagh Road, Dromore

A symmetrical two-storey two-bay detached farmhouse built around 1900-1902, constructed of rock-faced rubble stone with red-brick quoins and dressings, located on the south side of Ballysallagh Road south of Dromore. The house is rectangular on plan.

The roof is pitched natural slate with blue and black angled ridge tiles and raised tiled verges; rendered chimneystacks project from both gables. Cast-iron half-round rainwater goods are mounted on projecting brick eaves.

The principal elevation faces west and is of exposed rubble stone. It contains three openings on each floor. At ground floor centre is a replacement six-panelled timber door with a narrow transom light above and a stone step. Windows throughout are 2/2 timber-framed sliding sash with horns and projecting sandstone sills, except where otherwise altered. The north gable contains a first-floor window and a ground-floor left window. The east (rear) elevation includes a replacement timber casement window at first-floor left; the original stairwell window at the centre is a 2/2 sash with margin panes. There is a ground-floor left window and a replacement timber-sheeted door to ground-floor right of centre, accessed via a modern concrete ramp. The south gable is blank. The remainder of the walling is roughcast render, painted.

The house is set back and slightly below road level in a rural setting surrounded by farmland, though modern housing development is present nearby. The property is bounded by mature trees and hedgerow. Access from the road is via a roughcast rendered entrance with saddleback coping and twin piers with pointed caps, which support wrought iron gates. A gravelled yard lies to the rear with a painted rubble stone lean-to structure with tin roof.

The site had been developed by 1833 when it was shown on the First Edition Ordnance Survey map. Early records indicate single-storey vernacular mud-built structures stood here. The Townland Valuation of 1828-40 records a house and two outbuildings occupied by Samuel Martin and valued at £2 6s 5d. By Griffith's Valuation of 1856-64, the occupier was Joseph Martin and the landlady Sarah M Matthews; the house and offices on a farm of over five acres were valued at £1 5s. The farm remained in the Martin family. The 1903 Ordnance Survey map shows a new farmhouse with outbuildings to the rear.

According to the 1901 census, the occupier was Alexander Martin, a bricklayer, his wife, and six sons aged from one to fourteen years. The four-room house was designated second class. Alexander Martin died in April 1903, and his widow continued to raise their sons in the house. The census returns and map evidence suggest the new farmhouse was built around 1902, shortly before Alexander Martin's death. Under the Land Acts, the Martin family acquired ownership in fee of the farm in 1913. In 1925 the farm passed to James Brown and subsequently to Mary Scott. By the 1930s, the accommodation comprised three bedrooms, a reception room, kitchen, pantry, and scullery. The two-storey house measured 28 feet by 21 feet, and the valuer described it as well-built and in good condition.

The house has undergone some minor external and internal alterations, but simple detailing is largely intact and much of the original character survives. The setting has been compromised by modern landscaping and neighbouring development. The farmhouse continues in use as a dwelling.