66 Kilmore Road, Kilmore, Richhill, Co. Armagh, BT61 8NR

A one and a half storey, five bay, direct entry house dating from at least the early 19th century, located in Kilmore near Richhill in County Armagh. The building is a good example of vernacular architecture that has been gentrified by formalising its appearance from the front.

The house has a corrugated iron roof covering over thatch and harled and whitened walls finished with galvanised steel gutters. It faces north-east, opposite Kilmore Parish Church, set back behind a small forecourt bounded by a plinth wall and hedge with entry through a timber gate set between square pillars with pyramidal cappings and ball finials.

The south-east gable to the south is finished with a timber bargeboard, whilst the corrugated iron roof covering on the north side does not project. Rendered chimneysstacks with concrete cappings rise on the north-west gable with one pot, and two further similar stacks on the ridgeline, each with two pots.

The entrance is the principal feature, a four-panel moulded, raised and fielded door recessed in a classical doorcase with segmental-arched radial fanlight. Plain pilasters rise to console brackets supporting a moulded cornice, with decorative sidelights flanking either side of the door. The entrance is flanked by two vertically sliding window openings on either side: those to the north-west are 6/6 variety, whilst to the south-east the first window is similar and the end window is 6/6 vertically sliding with panes of increased width. A foursquare timber framed window is located in the left-hand south gable. There are no openings in the north gable, which has a roughcast finish.

Historical records indicate that an L-shaped building matching the present main section and northern projection was recorded on the Ordnance Survey map of 1834-35 as a relatively old thatched dwelling in the hands of Miss Atkinson, rated at £4-10-0, with dimensions of 64½ feet by 18½ feet by 8 feet high, together with a thatched outbuilding of similar age measuring 48½ by 19½ by 17½ feet. By the revised map of 1860, a further projection to the south had been added. The 1862 valuation book records Charles Atkinson as leaseholder, with the property then leased to Robert Browne at a rateable value of £5, with dwelling dimensions noted as 23 yards by 7 by 1 storey and 7 by 2 by 1, and the outbuilding measuring 16 by 7 by 1. A small cluster of buildings is shown in the vicinity on John Rocque's map of 1760, though it cannot be confirmed with certainty whether any equates to this house.

The windows and door are documented as later modifications designed to give the house a more formal appearance. Attempts have been made to restore the premises, though the current owners are constrained by an agreement made in the 1930s which precludes offering the building on the open market.