41 Kilvergan Road, Aghacommon, Lurgan, BT66 6LF

Laurelmount is a large private dwelling on Kilvergan Road, Aghacommon, situated prominently close to the roadside in semi-rural surroundings approximately 2.5 miles west of Lurgan town centre, between Derrymacash near the southern shore of Lough Neagh and the northern edge of Craigavon. The house is an amalgam of two distinct structures built in different eras and reflecting notably different architectural approaches: an earlier vernacular block, referred to here as Block 1, and a later formal Italianate block, referred to as Block 2. Together they form a highly individual layered composition that reflects both changing architectural fashions and growing rural prosperity across the 19th century. The building underwent some mid-20th century alterations, and in early January 2022, prior to a listing assessment being completed, it was stripped of a significant amount of its original historic fabric, including timber sliding sash window frames, a substantial portion of its natural slate roof covering, and internal features such as joinery and the staircase. This loss of fabric means the building no longer meets the criteria for listing, though its contribution to the local landscape remains largely undiminished. The description below records the building as it stood at the time of the initial survey in October 2021.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

A building of similar size and orientation to Block 1 is shown in this general vicinity on John Rocque's County Armagh map of 1760, suggesting a farmstead had been established on or close to this site by that date. The 1835 Ordnance Survey map depicts a building matching the size and location of Block 1, and the May 1836 valuation records it as a slated dwelling house in the hands of George Ruddell, measuring 33 feet by 22 feet by 12½ feet to the eaves, with an attached thatched office measuring 70 feet by 19½ feet by 7 feet, the whole rated at £4-7-0. The valuers' grading of 'B' suggests the building was of considerable age by that date and was quite probably of pre-1800 construction. A separate structure is shown along the roadside on the site of the current outbuilding, though this does not appear to have formed part of the same property at that time and may have belonged to a dwelling on the opposite side of the road then in the hands of a James McDonnell.

By the revised Ordnance Survey map of 1859, the house — now captioned 'Laurelmount' and still associated with the Ruddell family — had acquired a short rear projection to the north-west corresponding to the present gabled section at that end. The 1862 valuation records the main body of the house as measuring 15 yards by 7 yards over two storeys, with two returns and several outbuildings, at a rateable value of £17. By 1876 this rateable value had risen to £23, an increase that would typically indicate an addition or thorough renovation, though the valuers note no specific changes at that point. The formal front block — Block 2 — was specifically recorded as having been constructed in or just prior to 1889, when a 'new house 12 yards by 6 yards 1 foot by 2 storeys' is noted in the valuations. The valuers also observed that the 'value of the old building was very high', suggesting the earlier rise to £23 had been something of an anomaly. Block 2 was added by Nelson Ruddell, who had become leaseholder around 1866 and acquired the freehold from the Brownlow estate around 1892; his descendants appear to have continued to hold the property thereafter. Some mid-20th century renovation work is indicated by the presence of metal-framed windows to the rear of Block 1 and the recessed entrance to the same block, while the door to the front porch of Block 2 appears to date from around the 1980s.

BLOCK 1 — THE EARLIER VERNACULAR DWELLING

Block 1 is a linear, low two-storey dwelling of pre-1830s construction — and quite likely 18th century in origin — running south-west to north-east, with a painted pebble-dash finish, a pitched natural slate roof, and clay ridge tiles. It faces south-east onto Kilvergan Road. The south-western half remains in residential use; the north-eastern half is in use as a farm store. There are two chimneys, one at the north-east end of the dwelling section and one approximately halfway along the block; both are painted stone with chamfered copings and no pots. The elevations have a plain painted rendered plinth, metal guttering to the dwelling section, and plastic guttering to the store section, with no downpipes.

The front south-east elevation is set back from the road behind a low pebble-dashed wall with piers, with a path leading to the front door. Reading from left to right at ground floor level, there are two window openings, followed by a wide recessed door opening containing a replacement timber front door flanked by painted rendered blank walls, then two further window openings, then a tall boundary wall with an arched head and metal gate separating the dwelling section from the store section, then a boarded-up window opening, a step up in the path level, a single door opening with a replacement flush timber door, a blank wall, and a modern metal gate giving access to the farmyard. All windows are 1-over-1 timber sliding sash, single-glazed (with no historic glass), with plain narrow rendered band surrounds and painted stone cills. As the ground rises towards the north-east, first floor accommodation exists only to the dwelling section. At first floor level there are four window openings aligned with those below, and one further window opening to the right. All first floor windows match those on the ground floor but with smaller upper sashes.

The north-east gable has a wide opening formed in it with modern metal and glazed double doors providing access to the store. The rear north-west elevation has, to the store section, irregularly placed window openings fitted with replacement uPVC windows, a concrete ramp leading to a replacement flush timber door, steps to a further door opening, and a window opening with a metal window. The dwelling section has a wide window opening and a smaller window opening, both with metal windows, with matching openings and windows at first floor level directly above. Metal rainwater goods serve this elevation. The south-west gable is fully abutted by the rear north-east face of Block 2.

BLOCK 2 — THE LATER VICTORIAN VILLA

Block 2 is a two-storey, three-bay, double-fronted Victorian-era villa of 1889, finished in lined-and-ruled painted render with a hipped roof, attached at a right angle to the south-west end of Block 1. It faces south-west over gardens and a formal curved driveway accessed from Kilvergan Road through large granite piers with pyramidal caps and painted rendered lined-and-ruled curved wing walls with concrete coping stones. The metal railings that once formed part of this entrance arrangement are no longer present.

The front south-west elevation has two-storey canted bay windows on either side of a square-plan central entrance porch, with a single window opening above the porch featuring a decorative plaster surround. All windows are 1-over-1 timber sliding sash with historic glass single-glazing and painted stone cills. The entrance porch projects from the main façade with two concrete steps up; the door opening contains a replacement timber doorscreen with a central timber door and glazed side panels, flanked by engaged pilasters, with a flat roof behind a parapet above a moulded cornice. There is a single window opening in each cheek of the porch. At ground floor level the façade has painted rendered toothed vermiculated quoins to both sides, with plain painted rendered quoins at first floor level. There is a plain painted rendered plinth and a moulded plaster string course between the first and second floors. The natural slate hipped roof has clay ridge tiles to the main ridge, with lead to other valleys and ridges, and plaster corbelled dentils to the eaves. Original cast iron rainwater goods are in place. Two tall painted rendered chimneys sit on the ridge with moulded caps, each carrying two clay pots.

The south-east side elevation has single window openings at both ground and first floor levels at the centre of the façade; windows match those of the front elevation. The ground floor window has a decorative plaster surround, and there is a plain painted plaster string course between the first and second floors. Toothed vermiculated quoins appear at ground floor level on both sides, with plain painted quoins at first floor. The plinth and eaves detail match those of the front elevation.

The north-east rear elevation abuts the south-west face of Block 1. The exposed triangular section closest to Kilvergan Road has plain plastered toothed quoins and matching eaves detail. A tall rendered chimney with a moulded cap and two modern clay pots sits at the bottom of the rear roof slope close to the ridge of Block 1. The rear elevation of the two-storey pitched-roof return abutting the flat-roofed infill section has a ground floor door opening with a 20th century timber door on the far left, and window openings at both ground and first floor levels fitted with uPVC windows.

The north-west side elevation mirrors the south-east side elevation to its front section. A two-storey flat-roofed pebble-dashed infill section extends towards the north-east with wide window openings at both ground and first floor levels fitted with uPVC windows, and uPVC rainwater goods, soffit, and fascia. A pitched-roof two-storey return continues further north-east and is abutted on its north-west side by a single-storey outbuilding. There is a single window opening with a uPVC fixed-pane window on the south-west side of this outbuilding, and a matching window at first floor level on the north-east side but with a curved head. A chimney on the gable has no capping stone and carries a single plastic pot. The single-storey outbuilding, which has a natural slate roof with clay ridge tiles, abuts the gable of the two-storey section and runs towards the north-west, with a window opening fitted with a metal window, a door opening with a temporary timber door, and an abutment against a modern outbuilding on its north-west side.

SETTING

The house sits on Kilvergan Road with a farmyard to its north-east and north, served by various 20th century farm buildings leading out to farmland. An L-shaped outbuilding, largely roofless and ruinous, finished in pebble-dash over stone and brick, bounds the road frontage. The site is immediately north of Tannaghmore Gardens, a property included on the Historic Parks, Gardens and Demesnes register. Block 1 is bounded along Kilvergan Road by a pebble-dashed wall over brick with painted concrete coping stones and a plain painted rendered plinth; the piers to the pedestrian pathway are pebble-dashed with painted rendered edges and pyramidal concrete caps. Block 2 is accessed through the granite entrance piers described above.