31 Ballynafoy Road, Annaclone, Banbridge, Co Down, BT32 5BA

31 Ballynafoy Road, Annaclone, is a detached, asymmetrical three-bay one-and-a-half-storey rubblestone dwelling built around 1800, with an incorporated windbreaker entrance porch and byres to either end. The building is rectangular on plan, facing north, and situated within a small enclosed site to the west of Ballynafoy Road. It is currently vacant with no vehicular access.

The house is constructed of rubblestone walling with rough-hewn squared stones to the corners, rendered in lime. The pitched roof is covered in natural slate with black clay ridge tiles and a cement verge to the left gable. Three redbrick chimneystacks project from the roof, and there are no rainwater goods present.

The north-facing front elevation is three windows wide with an off-centre windbreaker entrance porch. The left bay contains a 6/6 timber sash window with a granite sill. The central bay has a 6/3 timber sash window with a redbrick sill, surmounted by a diminutive square-headed opening now boarded over. To the right is the windbreaker entrance porch, constructed with a lean-to natural slate roof, an original timber frame, and a vertically-sheeted timber door. A boarded-up window sits to the right of the porch, with a further door to the right bay providing access to the incorporated byre, fitted with a vertically-sheeted timber door.

The east gable, topped with a chimneystack at the apex, is abutted by a slightly lower single-bay byre. This outbuilding has rubblestone walling and a corrugated iron roof, with a vertically-sheeted timber vehicular door to the north elevation and a further door and window opening to the south elevation.

The rear elevation is three windows wide. The left window is now blocked up, the centre has a 2/6 timber sash window with a redbrick sill, and the right has a 2/2 timber sash window with a rough-hewn basalt sill. The gabled west elevation features a chimney at the apex and a single boarded-over window opening at attic level.

Much original fabric and detailing survive throughout, with all windows retaining original timber sash frames with exposed sash boxes, some of which are boarded over. The square-headed window openings feature granite, basalt and redbrick sills. This survival of vernacular detailing and fabric is notable, as it represents building practices that are becoming increasingly rare in the locality.

The building is documented on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1833 as a simple rectangular structure, predating this survey. The second edition of 1859 shows the house extended by a bay to the east and a larger projection to the north, possibly a windbreak. A small outbuilding shown to the rear of the structure on the 1859 map has not survived. The original roof was likely thatched.

According to Griffith's Valuation of 1861, the tenant was William Hawthorn, who leased a 21-acre farm from the Representatives of William Sharman Crawford. The slated house was valued at £2 10 shillings and described as 'poorly finished'. Through the valuation records, the property appears to have passed to Robert Henry (1881), Robert McAlister (1886), and John Mills (1903). The 1901 census records John Mills, an agricultural labourer, living in the three-room house with his wife and mother-in-law. By 1911, the occupant was John Clugston, a 57-year-old farmer. Subsequent tenants included William Halliday (1922 and 1928) and Margaret Bingham (1927). At the time of the 1930s revaluation, the one-and-a-quarter storey accommodation comprised a room, bedroom, kitchen and attic. Internal decoration suggests the house was last occupied in the 1960s or 1970s, though it has been vacant for some time and is now deteriorating.

The building sits on the west side of Ballynafoy Road within a small site enclosed by ditches and mature trees. The rural landscape surrounding the property has changed little since the first Ordnance Survey, retaining signs of earlier human activity including a nearby standing stone. The site no longer has vehicular access.

This dwelling represents a good example of a vernacular house with attendant outbuilding, demonstrating local vernacular building practices and surviving as a rare example of such construction traditions in the area.