111 Drumhillery Road, Keady, Co. Armagh, BT60 3EY

An attractive and well-proportioned 19th-century vernacular dwelling of historical and architectural interest, pleasantly set within a well-concealed elevated site accessed by a lane off Drumhillery Road. The building retains most of its original internal and external fabric.

The main house is a two-storey, two-bay structure aligned north to south, with outbuildings flanking each gable. The pitched natural slate roof is topped with cement-rendered chimneys to each gable and a brick chimney to the party wall between the bays. An advanced eaves course is present, though rainwater goods are absent. The walls are lined rendered with a slightly advanced base course and contrasting stepped quoins to the facade.

The principal elevation faces east. The left bay features a three-quarter height windbreak porch positioned to the right, with a pitched corrugated asbestos roof and plain timber bargeboards. The porch door is tongue-and-groove sheeted with a narrow transom above featuring a diamond-cut bottom rail; the cheeks to left and right are blank. To the left of the porch is an 8/8 exposed box sliding sash window with horns and a painted stone cill. The right bay has a 2/2 sash window to the ground floor. Above both bays, aligned at first-floor level, are 3/6 sash windows diminished in height.

The rear elevation contains a 2/2 sash window to the ground floor of each bay (that to the left being smaller) and a 1/1 sash window to the first floor of the left bay. All windows have painted stone cills unless otherwise stated.

The left gable is abutted by four lower single-storey outbuildings with lime-rendered rubble stone walls and pitched corrugated metal roofs, except the rightmost which has natural slate. Each has a tongue-and-groove sheeted door to the east elevation; those at the extreme right form a pair. The central two outbuildings each have a window opening to the right of the door: a 2x3 metal-framed casement on the left and a single fixed pane on the right. The rear elevations of all except the rightmost outbuilding contain metal-framed casement windows (from left: 2x4, 1/1, and 2x3).

The right gable is abutted by two single-storey side-by-side lean-to sheds, with the rear structure being larger. The western shed has a corrugated metal roof and cement-rendered walls. Its west cheek displays a 3x2 metal-framed casement window; its north face is blank. Its east cheek is abutted by the second lean-to. The eastern shed is shallower with a corrugated asbestos roof. It has a tongue-and-groove sheeted door to its east cheek and an infilled window opening to its north face.

To the south of the site stands a single-storey outbuilding with pitched corrugated metal roof and cement-rendered walls. Its east elevation has a tongue-and-groove sheeted door to the left and a 1x3 metal-framed casement to the right. The left gable is blank, the rear elevation contains a 1x2 metal-framed casement set to the right, and the right gable has a timber door.

Historical Record: The building appears on the 1835 Ordnance Survey map as a rectangular block, though this may not be the existing structure. By 1860 it was described as "House and offices" valued at £2.10.0 and occupied by Samuel Wilson. The unchanged valuation thereafter suggests it was originally built as a two-storey dwelling. Subsequent occupants included James Macklin (1888), Thomas Murphy (1922), and Patrick Murphy (1923).

Setting: The group of buildings occupies an elevated site with hedgerow boundaries. The rear elevation is built into a bank.