57 Derrycarne Road, (aka Robbs Ferry House), Portadown, Criagavon, Co Armagh, Bt62 1PT

Robbs Ferry House is a vernacular single-storey dwelling of exceptional interest, situated at the end of a short tree-lined lane running east to the River Bann. Its precise date of construction is unknown, though its purlin-supported roof structure is considered by architectural historian A. Gailey to predate the 19th century. The building's principal significance lies in its compacted mud wall construction, the partial survival of its thatched roof, its hearth-lobby plan form, and its relatively unaltered interior. It is also of local historical interest through its long association with Robb's Ferry, which is recorded immediately to the east on Ordnance Survey maps of 1835, 1859, and 1905. The close spatial relationship between the house and the ferry crossing suggests that the ferryman lived here, though no independent documentary confirmation of this has yet been found.

The building measures 21.0 metres by 5.8 metres (averaged) overall. It comprises a dwelling occupying the eastern three bays in a hearth-lobby configuration, with a single-bay storeroom at the western end. The wall head rises to 3.0 metres at the southeast corner. The house and storeroom appear to be contemporary, as the wall between them is continuous. The roof is pitched, clad in painted corrugated metal with half-round plastic gutters on a plain eaves board, and was formerly thatched. A small number of iron pegs projecting from the wall heads suggest the thatch was of the rope-tied type, though there is conflicting evidence pointing to scolloped thatch as well; further investigation may resolve this question and the possibility of finding surviving traces of thatch beneath the metal covering has been noted. On the party wall between the middle and right-hand bays of the house (viewed from the south) is a concrete block chimney with two plain ceramic stacks.

The walls are partly of rubble stone and partly of compacted mud bonded with straw, the latter set over a shallow base course. The mud walls are finished with lime render, which in places has fallen away, and all walls were once whitewashed over a tarred base. The purlin-supported roof structure is of particular technical interest as a feature characteristic of mud-walled houses in central Ulster: it is specifically designed to transfer the roof's weight away from the non-load-bearing side walls and onto the cross walls, a function that could alternatively have been achieved using cruck trusses.

The main facade faces south and appears to be of mud construction throughout. At the right end of the middle bay is a small porch with a lean-to corrugated metal roof. Its rendered and whitewashed walls, probably over masonry, have a projecting eaves course but no gutter. The porch's south-facing front wall contains a fixed three-pane window with vertical divisions and three vertical security bars. The right-hand cheek has a painted tongue-and-groove entrance door with a cottage latch, and the left cheek is blank. To the left of the porch, in the middle bay of the main wall, is a small 6-over-6 sliding sash window without horns, with two vertical metal bars. The left-hand bay of the house has a 3-over-6 sliding sash window without horns, with two vertical and two horizontal bars. The right-hand bay of the dwelling has a 6-over-6 sliding sash window with horns, flanked on each side by a 2-over-2 sash without horns; these windows have no bars. A flat boulder has been positioned immediately below this window on the outside to form a seat. The storeroom bay at the left end of the building has a plain-sheeted entrance door at its right side. All windows are of timber with timber heads and cills unless otherwise noted.

The left (west) gable is of random rubble stone, with hand-made brick used at the apex and along the gable heads. It contains two window openings, both with brick jambs. Only the frame of the left-hand opening survives, and it may originally have contained a shutter rather than a glazed window. The right-hand opening has been filled in with concrete blocks.

The rear (north) elevation has walls of both stone and mud: the left and right bays of the dwelling are of mud, while the remaining bay of the house and the storeroom bay are of rubble stone. The right side of the middle bay is abutted by a post-war scullery annexe with a felted flat roof and painted smooth-render cement walls, probably over concrete blocks. The annexe's rear wall has a fixed single-pane window with a concrete cill. Its left cheek has a timber door that is panelled to its lower half with margin-paned glazing above; this door is older than the annexe and has clearly been relocated from elsewhere. The right cheek of the annexe is blank. On the main wall of the middle bay, immediately to the left of the annexe, is a small 5-by-3-paned window, to the left of which is a small three-paned window; neither has a cill. The left bay of the rear elevation is blank. The right bay has, immediately to the right of the annexe, a 2-over-2 sliding sash with horns serving the rear bedroom. The storeroom wall to the rear is blank. None of the rear windows have security bars. The right (east) gable is of mud and has no openings; its southeast corner has been repaired with concrete blocks.

Directly opposite the main entrance, and aligned parallel to the main building, is a byre with a shallow lean-to corrugated metal roof. Its walls are partly of compacted mud and partly of hand-made brick, but have been so extensively repaired with concrete blocks as to be of little architectural interest. The property is entered through a pair of modern painted steel gates hung from modern masonry piers of crude, non-traditional design. Several other miscellaneous outbuildings, including a barn, occupy the site and are all of relatively recent date.

Historically, the house is recorded in the 1835 Ordnance Survey Memoir for Drumcree Parish, which names the associated ferry. The property was not assessed in the 1837 Valuation Book as its value fell below the £5 threshold. By the 1862 Valuation it was occupied by James Robb, valued at £2 10s 0d, and along with the associated land was rented at £37 per annum from Lord Lurgan. The Robb family held a considerable landholding in this townland under lease from Lord Lurgan. James Robb died around 1887 and was succeeded by another James Robb, who is recorded in the valuation books until at least 1929. The building was reroofed approximately twenty years before the listing was compiled, at which time a new chimney was built and electricity installed. The house was occupied until the mid-1990s and has since been abandoned.

There is evidence of internal alterations, including the infilling of a doorway on the party wall with the storeroom, the partitioning of the bedroom bay, and the sheeting of the ceilings using sawn timber cross joists. The precise date of these changes is uncertain but is thought to be within the last century. The building is under increasing threat as the external render continues to fall away from the mud walls, accelerating deterioration. Its setting near the River Bann adds to its character and reinforces its historical connection with the ferry crossing.