Leaburn House, Dunbar Road, Drumnagally, Banbridge, County Down, BT32 3UR

Leaburn House is a two-storey three-bay detached rendered house located on the west side of Dunbar Road, north of Banbridge town centre. The building pre-dates 1833 and was modified around 1860 to create a more formal design with a symmetrical façade. It has undergone substantial rebuilding since 2000, with very little original fabric remaining.

The house is rectangular on plan with a two-storey return and lean-to porch to the rear. It has a pitched natural slate roof with blue and black angled ridge tiles, raised verges and rendered chimneystacks to the gables, each with a single tall terracotta pot. The central chimneystack has been lost. Cast-iron half-round rainwater goods sit on projecting eaves. The walling is ruled-and-lined render with raised quoins; the rear and gables have roughcast render.

The principal elevation faces east and is symmetrically arranged with five openings to each floor. The windows are replacement timber-framed sliding sash with horns and projecting painted sills, diminished to the first floor. At ground floor centre is an elliptical-headed doorcase with moulded archivolt on panelled pilasters. The four-panelled timber door with spider-web fanlight is flanked by three-pane side-lights and paired pilasters, accessed via a single granite step. This original doorcase survives. The south gable is blank. The west elevation is abutted to the right by the two-storey return with lean-to porch, which has an angled entrance featuring a half-panelled timber glazed door. The north gable is blank.

The setting is situated at the end of a narrow road with a lane to the northwest leading to Huntly Road. The Bann river lies directly to the east, bounded by a rubble stone wall with a modern footbridge bearing a plaque commemorating the crossing of King William III on 1690. The front is lawned with mature trees, bounded by a low rubble stone wall topped by original railings with polygonal metal piers and an original latch gate to the north, with a paved pathway to the entrance door. The rear yard is bounded to the road by a rubble stone and brick wall, accessed to the north via a corrugated metal gate. Modern housing development directly to the south comprises red-brick two-storey detached and semi-detached houses with gabled dormers and modern timber-fenced gardens.

The house has been compromised by extensive alterations and rebuilding. The loss of detailing includes the central chimneystack and original fenestration; the original doorcase and chimneystacks to the gables have survived, along with the original garden gates and railings. The setting has been further compromised by the development of modern housing to the south and the loss of outbuildings to the rear yard.

Historically, the building appears on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1833 as a small square building. By the second edition of 1860 it had been extended and was captioned 'Leeburn Cottage'. A row of cottages behind the house on the 1860 map was known as 'Jonathan's Row', alluding to Jonathan Matchett of 'Leeburn', listed as a thread manufacturer in the 1843/4 Belfast Post Office Directory. In Griffith's Valuation of 1863, the house was recorded as the home of Thomas Weir, leasing from William Hayes, linen merchant of nearby Millmount House. The house and outbuilding were valued at £7 10 shillings with the property situated on a small plot measuring one rood. The valuer described it as plastered and stone finished, 'very neat', measuring 15 yards by 16 and 13 feet high. In 1871 Jonathan Matchett took over the house, followed by Joseph Bell in 1885, Robert Lucas in 1898 and William Neill in 1904. The 1911 census recorded resident Eliza Downey, a 66-year-old widow, living with two adult children, their spouses, and a one-year-old grandson. Her son and daughter were linen weavers, her daughter-in-law a cloth marker and son-in-law a pork butcher. The census designated it first class with seven windows and three rooms. Linen damask weaver Francis Downey took over in 1927, presumably following his mother's death. At the First General Revaluation of 1933-34, Downey was leasing from the Representatives of John Moreton. The house and offices were valued at £7 10 shillings, later raised to £8. Downstairs comprised a lobby, two receptions, a kitchen and scullery; upstairs were four bedrooms. The valuer noted the house in moderate condition but commented that the outhouses were dilapidated and the situation poor. Rent was 5 shillings per week, later raised to 7 shillings. The building was listed in 1977, and by 1997 was noted as a 'beautiful example' of its type, with plan and detailing dating to around 1800 with some mid-nineteenth-century alterations to chimneys, windows and doors. By 1999 the house was completely derelict and vandalised, with the roof and part of the front façade collapsed. The house has since undergone complete renovation and continues as a domestic dwelling. Although of some local significance as one of the older buildings in the area, its interest has been compromised by extensive alterations and rebuilding.