37 Cloncore Road, Craigavon, Co Armagh, BT62 1UT

This is a pair of conjoined single-storey vernacular houses arranged in a linear range running approximately west to east, situated on the east side of Cloncore Road in a rural landscape south of the M1 motorway at The Birches, approximately 6 miles north-west of Portadown. The earliest section of the building most likely dates from the very end of the 18th century or the early 1800s. Both houses are of lobby-entry plan form and face north onto a grassed yard or street.

The two houses are identified as Building A (the western house, gable-end onto Cloncore Road) and Building B (abutting Building A on its east side). The site is entered through two squat, square-plan sand and cement piers with pyramidal caps. A tin outbuilding with a barrelled tin roof and roughcast gable faces the houses across the yard on the west side of Cloncore Road. There is also a small single-storey detached outbuilding on the east side of Building B, with a corrugated iron roof and sand and cement rendered walls.

Both houses have corrugated iron sheet roof coverings, metal rainwater goods where these survive, and timber fascias and soffits. All windows are single-glazed. Building A has two replacement red brick chimneys, one on the west gable and one approximately at the centre of the ridge. Building B likewise has two replacement red brick chimneys, one on the east gable and one towards the west side of the ridge.

Building A has an asymmetrical north-facing front elevation. A breakfront porch sits at approximately the centre of the façade, with a corrugated iron lean-to roof and a timber-sheeted door. To the left of the porch are two window openings, each fitted with historic timber 6-over-3 sliding sash windows with painted rendered cills. To the right is a single window opening with a historic timber 6-over-6 sliding sash window and a painted rendered cill. The wall surface shows patches of layered lime render and sand and cement render, with sections of exposed red brickwork. The west gable is plain roughcast with no openings, painted timber bargeboards with a small overhang, and a squat brick chimney on the ridge. The east gable is fully abutted by Building B. The rear (south) elevation has three window openings: on the left, a historic 6-over-3 timber sliding sash window; in the middle, an Edwardian 3-over-3 window with margin panes; and on the right, a smaller 3-over-3 timber sliding sash window with margin panes. Cills on the rear are painted concrete. The rear wall surface similarly shows patches of layered lime render and sand and cement render with exposed red brickwork in sections. The interior of Building A retains original historic fabric and detailing, including the original hearth.

Building B has an asymmetrical north-facing front elevation of sand and cement render with patches of rough plaster. A gabled breakfront porch with a corrugated tin pitched roof contains an unusual recessed arched opening: a rough semi-circular arch frames a square-headed timber-sheeted front door set back within it. To the left of the porch are two window openings with Edwardian timber 3-over-3 sliding sash windows with margin panes and concrete cills. A single window opening of the same type and cill appears to the right. The west gable of Building B is fully abutted by Building A. The east gable is plain roughcast with no openings and a brick chimney on the ridge, but where the roughcast is missing at the right-hand corner, mud wall construction is exposed beneath. The rear (south) elevation has two window openings — on the left a 6-over-3 timber sliding sash window with a rough cement-formed cill, and at the centre an Edwardian 3-over-3 timber sliding sash window with margin panes and a concrete cill — along with a large opening on the right side covered with corrugated iron sheet. Cills on the rear are painted stone. The rear wall surface mirrors the front, with layers and patches of plaster and render and exposed brickwork below. A large area of exposed mud construction is visible on the east gable, and there is some further evidence of mud walling on the rear façade.

Construction materials throughout are: corrugated iron sheeting to the roofs; brick with lime render and sand and cement render to the walls, incorporating mud walling; timber sliding sash windows with single glazing; and metal rainwater goods.

The Birches area, lying south of Lough Neagh, is known for its tradition of mud-walled buildings, but surviving examples are becoming increasingly rare. It is not known whether either house retains thatch beneath the tin roof covering.

The historical record of this building can be traced through a series of primary sources. What appears to be a smaller structure on or near this site is shown on the Ordnance Survey map of 1834–35, though it is not recorded in the near-contemporary first valuation, making it difficult to determine whether the building was actually smaller at that time or whether the cartography was inaccurate — as was sometimes the case with vernacular buildings. The length of the present structure suggests it may have been extended eastwards at some point. John Rocque's detailed County Armagh map of 1760 marks the area as Clanchore, depicting a solitary building apparently to the south-west of this site within a largely boggy landscape crossed by drainage channels. The smaller-scale 1785 O'Neill map of the Lough Neagh hinterland shows a similarly undeveloped landscape.

It is probable that the house, or at least its earliest section, dates from the very end of the 18th century or the early 1800s — a period of rapid population growth across Ireland that saw building extend onto more marginal land. Population growth in this part of north Armagh was also connected to the expansion of linen manufacturing, which generated demand for new dwellings in which spinning and weaving could also be carried out. By the revised Ordnance Survey map of 1859, the building is shown in its present form. The valuation of around 1860 records it as the home of Sarah McKee, with Thomas C. Wakefield as immediate lessor and the property rated at £1-15-0. By 1893 the building had been divided into two properties, one occupied by Valentine McKee and the other held by Maria McKee but noted as vacant. By 1902 the latter dwelling had been rented to Robert Madden; Andrew Mallon succeeded him the following year, and Gilbert Martin by 1906. In the same year, William Henry McKee is recorded as living in and holding the freehold of the neighbouring house. Both Gilbert Martin and W. H. McKee were still living here in 1930. The 1980 Ordnance Survey map shows the street number 37 on the building, suggesting it had reverted to a single property by that date.