6 Harker's Hill, Cornascriebe Road, Portadown, BT62 3SS

6 Harker's Hill is a small single-storey vernacular house built in 1871 as part of a group of six dwellings originally constructed to house workers employed in a nearby mill. It is one of a pair of matching semi-detached houses located at the end of a short country lane off Cornascriebe Road, roughly 1.4 kilometres west of Laurelvale and 3.8 kilometres west of Tandragee. The pair shares a communal yard with a row of four contemporary and similar dwellings to the south.

The house is roughly square in plan with walls constructed in clay brick finished with lime wash and a painted plinth to the front (south). The western gable is rendered. The roof is double-pitched, covered with natural slate, and has a small fixed skylight on the rear (north) side. The eaves are clipped without overhangs and rainwater goods have been largely replaced in uPVC. A chimneystack rises on the party wall, set on the ridgeline, constructed in brick and rendered with a corbelled cap, though much of the render has fallen away. The chimneystack that would have risen from the western gable has been removed.

The front façade is asymmetrical. To the left is a flat-headed door opening with a timber sheeted door. To the right are two flat-headed window openings, each with a 2/2 timber sash frame. The gable is devoid of openings. The rear façade has two flat-headed openings: that to the left has a 6/6 timber sash frame, while that to the right has a fixed two-light timber frame. To the right of centre, what appears to be a former door opening has been blocked up with concrete blocks. A relatively long rectangular rear extension appears to be mid-20th century in date.

The houses were developed by Charles Moneypenny, who lived at the present no. 14 Cornascriebe Road, and were originally said locally to have housed workers employed in a mill to the rear of his house, the remains of which still exist. Historical records show that in 1871, six dwellings were recorded in the valuation records. Evidence from Ordnance Survey maps of 1835 and 1860, together with the appearance of the present dwellings, suggests that the semi-detached block (nos. 5-6) was newly built, along with the eastern half of the southern row (nos. 3-4). The western half of the row (nos. 1-2) may also be a new build, though the fact that it is set at a different angle to the eastern half and the sizes of window openings suggest it may represent, in part or whole, the survival of a southern building shown on the 1835 and 1860 maps.

The houses later came into the possession of the Sinton family, another prominent mill-owning family, around 1903, though the mill appears to have ceased working by this time. By 1904, the valuers recorded the dwellings as 'cottier houses'. The lease of the whole group was acquired by the present owner's ancestor around 1930, with the freehold purchased around 1965. All properties appear to have been last occupied as private dwellings in the mid to later 1960s.

This particular house (no. 6) is recorded as occupied by John Shannon from 1871 to 1887, followed by Anne King from 1887 until 1895. John Shannon is listed as tenant again after this, then Mrs Cullen around 1933, who is noted as using the property as a store while living in one of the houses in the southern row. The final occupant appears to have been J. Ryan, listed as householder between 1957 and 1964, after which the house was vacated. The present owner states that one former occupant from the McIlwaine family was a cobbler or shoe mender who operated from the rear extension.

This group of six dwellings is increasingly rare, having retained its original urban vernacular appearance and layout in a largely untouched rural setting. The arrangement of houses facing each other across a lane and communal yard is unusual in a rural setting and adds considerable historical and architectural interest. The detailing and layout remain largely intact both externally and internally.