Turnarobert House, 185 Glenshesk Road, Armoy, Ballymoney, County Antrim, BT53 8RJ

Turnarobert House is a substantial two-storey gabled gentleman farmer's house of around 1795, situated a short distance to the east of the village of Armoy and reached by a curving drive opening off Glenshesk Road. The roof was rebuilt with an overhang around 1910 and dry dash render was applied to the front and gable elevations around the 1970s, alterations which have somewhat diminished the building's architectural and historical character.

The symmetrical front elevation faces east. At its centre is the main entrance: a panelled timber door beneath a semicircular fanlight with spider's web tracery, the whole enclosed by a moulded architrave which is itself framed by a plain cement render surround. To the left of the entrance are two windows with timber sash frames glazed in Georgian panes (six over six), and two more identical windows to the right. Five matching windows run across the first floor. On the ground floor of the south gable there is one window matching those to the front. Close to the eaves at attic level there are two small windows with modern timber frames. The north gable is almost identical to the south but lacks the ground-floor window.

To the rear, left of centre, a large two-storey gabled return projects from the main block. On the north face of this return there is a ground-floor doorway with a partly glazed timber door, and to its right a broad window — possibly enlarged — with a PVCu frame; the first floor has two smaller windows. On the south face of the return there is a large ground-floor window, undoubtedly enlarged, and two smaller windows above. The west-facing gable of the return has no openings. To the left on the ground floor there is a small flat-roofed porch projection with a doorway on its south face. On the rear façade of the main block, the ground floor has one window to the left and two smaller windows to the right of the return; at first-floor level there is a narrow window to the left and a much larger, probably enlarged, window to the right. All windows on the return and the rear of the main block have PVCu frames.

The front elevation and both gables are finished in the 1970s dry dash render with a smooth cement render base course. The rear façade and the return are finished in unpainted roughcast. The main roof is slated and features a gable overhang with plain bargeboards, boxed-in eaves, and simple timber brackets. Two chimneystacks rise from the gables of the main section; both are cream brick replacements, probably dating from around 1910 when the roof was rebuilt. The return also has a slated roof with a brick chimneystack to its west-facing gable. Rainwater goods are cast iron.

To the rear (west) of the house lies a large concrete-covered farmyard, mainly enclosed by two-storey and one-and-a-half-storey rubble-built gabled outbuildings and a large open-fronted hay shed. Roughly in the middle of the yard stands a relatively small, free-standing, one-and-a-half-storey rubble-built gabled building, now used as a shed. The present owner states that this building once contained a fireplace and believes it to be a remnant of an earlier 17th-century house which occupied the site before the present house was built in the late 18th century, noting that a larger building is shown in this position on the Ordnance Survey map of 1832. A large concrete block lean-to extension has been added to the west gable of this outbuilding.

The house is shown on the Ordnance Survey map of 1832. In the valuation book of 1834 it is recorded as the home of the Reverend Stevenson Hunter, with dimensions given as 49 by 28½ by 22 feet for the main section and 29 by 22 by 11 feet for what is described as "an addition in rere", indicating that the return was significantly lower — single-storey or one-and-a-half-storey — at that date. Several one-and-a-half and single-storey outbuildings are also recorded, including a wash house, car house, stables, and stores. The valuers assigned the quality letter "1B" to the house, suggesting it was of considerable age even then — probably at least 25 to 30 years old. The current owner states that he has seen two old maps: one drawn in 1790 which does not show the house, and another of 1800 which does, pointing to a construction date of around 1795. This is consistent with the general appearance of the property and with the original sections of surviving internal detailing.

The owner believes the house was built by a Hugh Clark, possibly related to the Clark mill owners of Upperlands, County Londonderry. A Henry Clarke Esquire is recorded as living here in 1817, which lends some support to this suggestion, though his relationship to the Clarks of Upperlands is uncertain. There may also be a connection with the Reverend Alexander Clark, who built the nearby Limepark around 1760. The present owner further believes that there was a dwelling on this site before the 1790s, possibly that built by Anthony Kennedy, who was granted the townland of Turnarobert by the Earl of Antrim in 1606, and that the small outbuilding in the middle of the yard may be a remnant of this original dwelling. This too remains uncertain.

The Ordnance Survey Memoirs of 1835 record that the Reverend Stevenson Hunter — noted as resident in the 1834 valuation — was at that time Rector of Loughguile Parish. The Memoirs also mention the property's "tolerable garden" and the planting around the house, which consisted of sycamore, fir, and larch. Reverend Hunter was still in residence at the time of the second valuation in September 1859, when the valuers noted that the house contained a parlour, dining room, small rooms behind, four bedrooms above, two garrets, a kitchen, and a small room, with the last two rooms contained within the return, which was still single-storey at that point. Reverend Hunter was succeeded by Reverend Francis Dobbs in 1864, who was in turn succeeded by Hugh Gamble. Hugh Gamble died in 1909 or 1910, and the property passed to his relative — possibly his son-in-law — Samuel Acheson, whose descendants still own it. It was most likely Samuel Acheson who replaced the original roof with the current overhanging version, raised the return by a storey, and carried out alterations to much of the internal detailing, all of which appears to date from around 1910. The valuation books are silent on these works, noting only the construction of a new barn in 1913. The present owner replaced the roof in 1977, and the dry dash render to the front and gables appears to date from around the same time.