Brewster’s Cottage, Duncrun Road, Lower Ballyleighery, Magilligan, Limavady, Co Londonderry

Brewster’s Cottage is a thatched farmhouse dating to approximately 1780-1799. It is situated on the north side of Duncrun Road, roughly 5 metres below road level, in the townland of Lower Ballyleighery, near Magilligan, County Londonderry. The cottage is currently derelict, with the thatched roof in imminent danger of collapse.

The original building is a five-bay long cottage with white rendered walls, extended to the rear for the full length of the building. The main cottage accommodation consists of three rooms, with the kitchen centrally located. A wide hearth is positioned at the southwest end, while the main entrance door is on the southeast side, accessed via a porch with an internal door opposite. An additional partition wall extends approximately 500mm beyond the porch door. A back door is located on the rear wall, aligned directly with the entrance door. A step leads up to the porch. Beyond the hearth is a bedroom, and a "best room" is situated off the porch. Canted fireplaces are present at each gable. The ceilings are clad in match boarding. The kitchen floor is concreted, while the other rooms and a large bedroom have boarded floors.

The rear extension provides additional rooms including narrow bedrooms off the "best room", and a large bedroom and scullery off the kitchen. Due to the shallow pitch of the corrugated metal roof which runs just beneath the thatch eaves, there are three steps down into the extension to allow for sufficient headroom. The corrugated roof does not extend over the back door. The thatch roof has not been renewed for many years, and young trees are visibly growing within it, adding to its weight. Despite the deterioration, the roof construction incorporates a combination of the original rough, round timbers, and a later arrangement of squared timbers.

The cottage is surrounded by an extensive array of basalt-built outhouses, arranged at various angles to enclose a farmyard. To the south of the cottage there is an orchard. The layout suggests a substantial farm once operated on the site.

The current owner, a retired teacher, was born in the house and remembers it as largely unchanged. The cottage is documented on an Ordnance Survey map of 1831, and his family occupied it for many generations. A neighboring thatched cottage was demolished in the past, revealing a stone dated 1780; it is likely that Brewster’s Cottage is of a similar age due to its comparable form. Records at the Ulster Folk Museum may contain additional information about the cottage, following a visit in the 1970s.