Former house to the West of no.10 Drumiller Hill, Dromore, Co Down, BT25 1EP

Former House to the West of No. 10 Drumiller Hill

This is a detached lobby-entry farmhouse dating from before 1833, built as a three-bay single-storey structure in rubblestone with original thatch. It stands at the end of a long lane south of Drumiller Hill at a sharp bend in the road, adjacent to a replacement dwelling built in the 1980s.

The building is rectangular in plan, facing east, with a single-bay byre integrated into the north gable. A windbreaker entrance porch projects from the front elevation. The roof is pitched corrugated iron laid over the surviving thatch, with a single large rendered chimneystack. White-washed lime render covers the rubblestone walling on the front and rear elevations, though the south gable retains largely exposed rubblestone with partial lime render.

The front east elevation displays three square-headed window openings with timber lintels, rough-hewn basalt sills, and partially intact timber frames. An off-centre windbreaker porch with lean-to corrugated iron roof contains the main entrance, a square-headed door opening with original timber frame and a replacement vertically-sheeted timber battened door opening onto a single stone step. The southernmost bay shows a former window opening that has been enlarged into an additional door. The byre to the north has a separate square-headed door opening with a replacement timber door. The rear elevation is three windows wide, with square-headed openings and rough-cast lime render; the southernmost bay has a stone lintel rather than timber. The south and north gables are blank.

The interior is of considerable authenticity and interest. The exposed straw thatch is laid on sods above rough-hewn rafters tied with rope to rough-hewn purlins in the principal room—a rare survival of considerable significance. The building contains a large hearth, an entrance lobby screen, and some original joinery.

A single-bay single-storey rubblestone outbuilding with corrugated iron roof stands close to the south gable.

Historical development is documented from Griffith's Valuation of 1828–40, which lists Samuel Kerr (also known as John) leasing a 9-acre farm from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners at 28 shillings per year, with buildings valued at £1 10 shillings. The valuation was reduced to £1 by 1872 following the loss of an outbuilding. Samuel Kerr acquired the farm in fee under land purchase legislation in 1879, and it passed through his family thereafter. Census records of 1901 and 1911 show the house thatched at that time, occupied by John Kerr, a carpenter, with his wife. The roof was replaced with corrugated iron by the early 1930s. The property changed hands to Samuel Piper in 1953 and later ceased to be a residence, now serving as agricultural storage. The building's plan form shows no discernible alteration across successive Ordnance Survey map editions, making it an important example of vernacular domestic architecture of significant regional interest.