Upper Quilly Road, Banbridge, Co Down, BT25 1NP

Upper Quilly Road, Banbridge

A three-bay single-storey vernacular hearth-lobby dwelling with thatch-under-tin roofing, pre-dating 1833. The building stands on the west side of Upper Quilly Road, approximately 4 miles southwest of Dromore, set back from the road and screened from view with no direct access.

The house is of rectangular plan form with a projecting rubble masonry windbreaker porch featuring catslide corrugated roofing and an associated detached outbuilding. The exterior is in poor condition with various modern repairs. A pitched corrugated-iron roof with corrugated ridging covers the original thatch; cement skews are present, and an exposed brick chimneystack with corbelled upper course stands partially rendered with no pots and no rainwater goods. The walling comprises lime-rendered rubble masonry with brick surrounds to windows; the rear elevation is partially finished with smooth cement render.

The principal elevation faces south and is asymmetrically arranged. The front entrance is located left of centre with a window opening to the left bay and no cill. A window opening to the immediate right of the porch is blocked up with no cill. The right bay comprises two window openings which are partially bricked up. Partial collapse of walling affects the far left, and the left gable is blank with an apex chimney. Further partial collapse occurs to the far right. The rear elevation is asymmetrical with a partially blocked window opening centrally positioned, a window opening with masonry cill in the left bay adjacent to a concrete block buttress, exposed rubble masonry to the left of the buttress, and a blank right gable with apex chimney obscured by vegetation.

The thatch and timber roof structure are of particular interest. The roof structure may represent a later replacement of the original, illustrating the building's development and worthy of record. The adapted hearth and corrugated-iron roof also demonstrate evolutionary changes to this building type.

The associated outbuilding is a rubble masonry structure set perpendicular to the east gable, with a pitched slate roof and replacement timber roof structure; much of the northern block is largely derelict and roofless. Additional farm structures on the site include a hay barn to the north and a metal-framed cattle crusher parallel to the rear elevation. Remains of a rubble masonry square pier stand at the northeast corner of the farmhouse. A barbed-wire perimeter fence addresses the front elevation.

The buildings appear on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1833, corresponding to the dwelling and outbuilding visible today. Minor changes to the site are shown in subsequent editions, particularly the addition of a large barn to the north in the mid-twentieth century.

Historical records indicate the property was not recorded in the Townland Valuation (1828–40) as it fell below the threshold for inclusion. Griffith's Valuation (1856–64) records William Scott as the tenant farmer, renting 14 acres from William Bullock with buildings valued at £2. The farm was held at will, meaning tenure was insecure. It passed through several tenants including Hugh Dickson (1881), James Dobson (1898), Anne Dobson (1902), Peter McGreevy (1917), Thomas Adair (undated), and William Adair (1941).

The 1901 census records Margaret Anne Dobson, a widow aged 39 and born in Lancashire, resident in the house with her father, who was born in County Down. The four-room house was thatched and remained thatched until at least 1911, as recorded in the census of that year. By the early 1930s, during compilation of the First General Revaluation, the house had acquired a corrugated iron roof. The accommodation then comprised a bedroom, room, kitchen, and scullery. By 1951 the house was uninhabited and was redesignated as agricultural outbuildings; the valuer noted it was "too far away from the county road to be let as a house". The present-day appearance suggests the structure has not been lived in since that time.

The building is part of a group representing a dwelling type once commonplace but becoming increasingly rare in the rural landscape. However, insufficient fabric survives to merit listing.