58 Villa Wood Road, Dromore, Banbridge, Co Down, BT25 1FU

A three-unit vernacular direct-entry dwelling predating 1834, located on the east side of Villa Wood Road approximately 3.5 miles west of Dromore. The farmhouse originated as a two-unit thatch dwelling and has been abandoned prior to extensive twentieth-century modification, allowing much of its vernacular character, fabric and original detailing to survive. It represents a good illustration of the historic alterations and additions typical of buildings of this type. The survival of the thatch, scraws and rough hewn timbers is of particular interest, as such original fabric is now rare.

The building comprises a three-bay single-storey structure with a rectangular linear plan form, a raised left bay, a windbreaker porch and an adjoining single-storey outbuilding. The pitched corrugated-iron roof has plain ridging over the single-storey central and right bays. The raised left bay is slated with cement verges. Smooth rendered chimneystacks with corbelled upper course are present without pots. Rainwater goods have largely been removed, with remains of drive-in brackets and an existing cast-iron down-pipe with hopper head. The walling is lime-rendered over rubble masonry with brick eaves built up to the main structure. Remains of 1/1 timber sliding sash windows with horns and exposed sash boxes are present, fitted with concrete cills. The entrance door is a painted timber-sheeted door set into a projecting brick windbreaker porch with lean-to corrugated-iron roofing, accessed by an embedded flagstone.

The principal elevation faces east and is asymmetrically arranged to suit the inclining site from left to right. The central windbreaker porch has a window to its right, whilst the left and right bays each contain a single window. Brick quoins are present to the right. The left gable is cement-rendered with an attic window. An abutting single-storey outbuilding has a pitched natural slate roof with clay ridge tiles and lime-rendered and exposed rubble masonry walling. A further abutting flat-roofed corrugated-iron shed of minimal interest is present. The right gable is blank, also abutted by a flat-roofed corrugated-iron shed of minimal interest. The rear elevation is completely obscured by thick vegetation.

The farmhouse sits in an extensive rural setting, set back from the road and screened from public view. It is sited at the end of an inclining lane at the crest of a hill with extensive views across the rural landscape. Modern farm gates provide access to the field in which the farmhouse sits, with thick vegetation present to the rear.

Historical records show a building on the site in the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1834, corresponding to the dwelling present today. The farmhouse has been extended in length over the years with adjoining outbuildings shown from the third edition (1903) onwards. Griffith's Valuation (1856–64) records John Hill as tenant, paying a rent of 28 shillings and sixpence to Earl Clanwilliam. The house and offices, valued at fifteen shillings, were situated on a small farm of 3 acres. The farm passed through the Hill family; the 1901 census lists Isaac Hill, a 34-year-old farmer, living at the house with his English wife Annie, his sister and three young children. The three-room thatched house was designated third class and had six outbuildings. By 1911, the house remained thatched but an increase in size had raised it to second-class category. The 1911 census shows the eldest son, then fifteen, working as an agricultural labourer, with two more children born to the family, although one had died in the interim. In 1924 the house passed to Thomas Adams, and by the 1930s the owner-occupier was Anna Maria Lavery. Documentation from 1933–34 describes a house of two parts, one slated and the other roofed in corrugated iron, comprising two bedrooms, a kitchen and scullery. The house has not been occupied for some years.