40 Derrylileagh Road, Craigavon, BT62 1TG

No. 40 Derrylileagh Road is a well-preserved mud-walled vernacular dwelling dating to around 1820–1839, located in rural surroundings on the west side of Derrylileagh Road, approximately 11.5 kilometres northwest of Portadown town centre. The building is part of a significant group of similar vernacular structures on the south shore of Lough Neagh.

The house is a long, single-storey, gable-ended structure set on a north-south axis, with a basically rectangular plan. It is primarily mud-walled, finished externally in painted roughcast with decorative smooth render surrounds to the windows. The porch, a later addition dating to the late Victorian or Edwardian period, features a dry-dash finish with similar decorative bands to its openings and wall edges. The rear façade is partly finished in roughcast and partly lime-washed, with the northernmost bay partly cement rendered and part bare rubble. A small rear flat-roofed extension with plain rendered walls sits at the south end of the rear elevation.

The roof of the main section and porch is covered in corrugated iron, laid over the original thatch and roughly hewn timber structure incorporating scraws. The roof retains three chimneystacks to its ridge, two finished in render and one in painted brick. Decorative pierced timber bargeboards with star motifs adorn the porch gable. The extension has more recent corrugated sheeting. uPVC rainwater goods are fitted throughout.

The fenestration is relatively sparse and predominantly comprises small two-over-two timber sliding sash windows with single glazing and painted stone sills. Windows to the porch are one-over-one frames; the extension has modern window frames. The front, east-facing elevation is asymmetrical, with the gabled porch positioned right of centre. The porch gable faces the road and contains a doorway with a panelled timber door, overlight and sidelights. Three unevenly-spaced windows occupy the left side of the porch and two the right. The north and south gables are blank. The rear elevation retains two two-over-two sliding sash windows to the left of the extension and one to the right; evidence suggests an opening to the far left has been blocked. A plain-sheeted doorway stands at the far right, with the extension featuring a part-glazed door to its north face and a window with modern frame to the south.

The building retains much of its original plan-form as a hearth-lobby type dwelling, though some internal changes have been made. The original roof structure with its roughly hewn timbers and scraws remains legible beneath the corrugated iron covering.

The property is set within a small front garden, with a much larger garden to the rear containing a metal-sheeted mid-20th-century barn at its northern end.

Documentary evidence suggests the house may have existed in some form by 1834–1835, as indicated by the Ordnance Survey map of that date, though the building is not recorded in contemporary valuation records, making precise dating difficult. By 1859, the Ordnance Survey map shows the structure much as it appears today. The circa 1860 valuation records it as the home of Robert Stinson, with Joseph Nicholson as immediate lessor and a rateable value of £1–10–0. The rapid population growth of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, combined with the expansion of linen manufacturing in north Armagh, likely prompted construction on more marginal land during this period; many such dwellings were built to accommodate both family and a loom.

Subsequent tenants included John Hutchinson (from 1872 or 1876), whose lease saw the rateable value rise to £3–10–0 by 1879, suggesting improvements, though this fell to £2–00–0 by 1884, implying these improvements were relatively minor. William Stewart followed in 1883 and George Brown in 1887. Thomas Brown acquired the freehold from the Nicholson estate in 1895, after which two properties were recorded for the first time: the larger house was rented initially to Thomas Matchett and from 1901 to Robert Stevenson, whilst the smaller house, comprising the single bay to the south end with access via a back door, was occupied by Thomas Venart. Stevenson was succeeded by Mary A. Neill in 1910, William J. Hinds in 1911 and Samuel Wylie in 1912; Henry Neill also occupied the property that year. Both Wylie and Neill remained listed as occupants in 1929. The southern end subsequently ceased to be used as a separate dwelling. A projection appears on the 1954 and 1967 Ordnance Survey maps; the present flat-roofed extension appears slightly larger and may date after 1967.

The current owner has indicated the house at some point belonged to or was occupied by a leading local member of the Masonic Order, which may account for the star motifs on the bargeboards.

Larger mud-walled dwellings in this state of preservation are comparatively rare. This building represents a very good example of the vernacular genre and is a distinctive local landmark, located within an area of similar surviving vernacular houses with comparable plan-forms, mud-wall and roof constructions. The late Victorian or Edwardian porch and window surrounds, whilst later additions, employ naïve picturesque detailing that remains consistent with the vernacular idiom. The retention of the original roof structure and much of the internal hearth-lobby plan-form contribute significantly to its architectural and historical interest. Recent alterations to the rear—including the extension and changes to fenestration—detract from the building's historical integrity, though these are located at the rear and less visually prominent than the principal elevation.