Outbuildings, Lisnacreevy House, 80 Lisnacroppin Road, Rathfriland, Co Down, BT34 5NZ

Enclosed farmyard and outbuildings, dated 1846, forming part of the working complex associated with Lisnacreevy House, a Georgian farmhouse on the south side of Lisnacroppin Road, Rathfriland, County Down. The outbuildings are accessed via a rear gravel driveway leading north from the road and survive in virtually original condition, exhibiting high quality stonemasonry throughout.

The complex consists of a multi-bay two-storey rubblestone range to the north, with a two-storey projection at either end, and a further multi-bay single-storey rubblestone range to the south of similar date. Throughout, the construction is in coursed rubblestone with squared granite quoins and redbrick linings to all openings. Roofs are finished in natural slate — hipped on the north range, pitched on the south range, the west structure, and all smaller accretions — with black clay ridge tiles. There are no rainwater goods, and redbrick eaves courses run throughout. Windows are largely replacement fixed-pane timber casements. An inscribed square slate date plaque on the east elevation of the north range reads: "ERECTED / A.D. / 1846".

The north range is served on its north elevation by an earthen horse ramp rising to the first floor, retained in part by a rubblestone wall. Replacement sheeted timber doors serve the upper level on this elevation. The east elevation of the north range faces the rear of the house along the gravel driveway; some original vertically-sheeted timber doors remain here alongside largely replacement timber casement windows. The south elevation of the north range is six windows wide. It is abutted to the east by a single-storey rubblestone goose house, which has a series of brick-lined niches to its east elevation and a single rendered chimneystack. A modern steel flight of steps leads to the first floor of the south elevation, and some early vertically-sheeted timber doors survive. At the west end of the north range stands a further two-storey rubblestone structure, with a dovecote inserted into its south gable, constructed with redbrick and slate courses. Quoins are present to the ground floor only. A small pig house with enclosed pen abuts the west elevation of this structure.

The south range has redbrick-lined window and door openings to its north elevation, with two early sheeted timber battened doors retaining primitive timber latches. The east gable features a series of loopholes and a redbrick-lined oculus at the apex. On the south elevation, segmental-headed door openings are formed in redbrick and squared granite, fitted with replacement hardwood glazed doors opening onto stone steps. A pair of small rubblestone pig houses with an M-profile slate roof and an enclosed animal pen to the north abut the west gable.

The farmyard is enclosed to the east and west by tall rubblestone walls with wrought-iron gates hung on rubblestone piers. To the south of the yard lies an enclosed rose garden with wrought-iron gates hung on redbrick piers with granite capstones, flanked by sweeping rubblestone quadrant walls.

The site has a well-documented history. The Townland Valuation of 1828 to 1840 records the property as belonging to John Corbitt, with five thatched outbuildings at that time. Corbitt died in 1839, and the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1833 shows a collection of around half a dozen buildings on the site, some of which may form the core of structures still visible today, though the datestone of 1846 and map evidence from the second edition Ordnance Survey of 1853 together point to a substantial rebuild at that date. By 1853, the stable courtyard had assumed its present general form, with two outbuilding ranges shown to the north and south of the yard. Griffith's Valuation of 1856 to 1864 records the occupier as Robert Swan Corbitt, who leased the property from the representatives of William Sharman Crawford at a rent of £50 per annum, on a plot of over 73 acres. The slated outbuildings by this point included two of double-height construction.

Robert Swan Corbitt was a prominent local figure: appointed to the magistracy in 1872, he stood as Unionist candidate for Down in 1886 and was president of the Rathfriland Greyhound Coursing Club in 1887. The Iveagh and Newry Harriers frequently met at Lisnacreevy House. By the time of the third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1903, the outbuildings had been extended to the west and north. The 1901 census records Robert Corbitt as a magistrate, farmer, and flax and corn-mill owner, living in a first-class house of fifteen rooms with his wife, two adult children, and two domestic servants. He became owner in fee under land purchase legislation in 1910, and by 1911 the household had expanded to include a saddler among the domestic staff. Corbitt's son John G. Corbitt took over the farm in 1919. Between the 1930s and 1960s, the western additions to the outbuildings were demolished, as shown in valuer's notes and subsequent mapping. The property passed out of the Corbitt family in 1938 to Archibald Creen, then to Thomas Creen in 1947. The house remains a domestic dwelling and the outbuildings continue in agricultural use.