35 Knocknacarry Road, Cushendun, Co Antrim

35 Knocknacarry Road is a detached two-storey three-bay late-Georgian farmhouse, built around 1810 and situated in the townland of Agolagh, to the south-west of Cushendun, County Antrim. It sits within its own grounds, accessed via a short tree-lined laneway, with its principal elevation facing north onto the Knocknacarry Road. The house predates the development of Cushendun as a seaside resort, which followed the laying out of the Coastal Road between 1832 and 1842.

The building is of white painted rendered construction with rendered quoins at each corner, and carries a pitched natural slate roof with clay ridge tiles and concrete skews. Two tall painted rendered chimney-stacks, one at each end, have black painted clay pots and stepped cornices. Rainwater is collected by half-round cast-iron guttering discharging to circular section downpipes.

The north-facing principal elevation is symmetrically arranged and features a particularly fine central doorcase with engaged Doric columns supporting an entablature with a decorative cornice. Above the door is a decorative semi-circular fanlight set within a square-headed opening, with a replacement four-panel timber door beneath. Windows throughout are replacement timber sliding sashes: 2/2 panes at ground floor level and 6/3 at upper floor level.

The east elevation is of smooth painted render with windows to the right-hand side at both ground and first floor levels, plus a small replacement timber Georgian-style casement window at attic level to the right of the central chimney-stack. The south elevation is also of smooth painted render and has a central gabled projecting two-storey bay containing a large round-headed window with the staircase behind it. A single-storey lean-to extension with a natural slate roof and concrete skews sits to the left side of this elevation. The main south elevation is symmetrically fenestrated, with two modern rooflights positioned just below the ridge. The west elevation is clad in slate above a smooth painted render plinth and has no windows.

To the rear stands a large two-storey outbuilding with limewashed lime render walling and a slated pitched roof. This contains two small sheds to the left side and a large shed to the right side, with a sliding barn door to the north elevation. A circular window to the left side retains its replacement glass. First floor windows are original 2/2 timber sliding sashes, although the left-hand window has had its upper pane replaced with a single pane. The east elevation of the outbuilding abuts the garden at ground floor level and has a replacement timber door at first floor level. The south elevation is of limewashed stonework with a door and two windows at first floor level. A small original cast-iron rooflight sits to the left of centre, with a thin concrete band to the left side of the roof slates. The west elevation contains a single 1/1 timber sliding sash window at first floor level on the left side.

The farmhouse was first recorded on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1832, which depicted it as a rectangular structure with a similarly scaled outbuilding to the rear — possibly the current outbuilding — and an additional outbuilding running along the Knocknacarry Road, which had been demolished by the 1850s. The Townland Valuations of 1834 set the total rateable value at £8 9 shillings and classified it as a 1A class dwelling, meaning a new or nearly new slated building, measuring 35.6 feet by 26 feet and standing 17 feet in height. By the time of the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1857, the house was known as Agolagh House, and a second farmhouse called Agolagh Cottage had been built to the east. Griffith's Valuation of 1859 records both properties as occupied by Donald O'Hara, a farmer who leased the site from Edmund F. Cuppage, a prominent local landowner of Mount Edwards in Cushendall. The house was unoccupied between 1859 and around 1870, during which time O'Hara predominantly lived at Agolagh Cottage.

Around 1870 the house was converted into a barracks for the Royal Irish Constabulary. The 1901 Census of Ireland records it as a station and lodgings for Cushendun's local police sergeant and his four constables. The Royal Irish Constabulary used it as a barracks until around 1906, when it reverted to use as a private dwelling. It was unoccupied at the time of the 1911 Census, but by around 1913 a Ms. Mary Weston had taken up residence. By at least 1922, the trustees of St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church had acquired the property and converted it into a parochial house for the priests of the parish. Its rateable value was increased to £16 under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland, which ran from 1936 to 1957. The building continued as a parochial house until around 1960, when it was occupied by the McKay family, who purchased it outright in 1967. By the end of the Second General Revaluation of 1956 to 1972, when a Mr. Denis McKay resided there, the rateable value stood at £32.

In 1972, the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society's guide to the Glens of Antrim described the house as follows: "c.1810; a plain white three-bay two-storey house, with quoins and Georgian glazing upstairs; the end wall slate hung; doorcase with engaged Doric columns and a pretty fanlight." The house was listed in 1980. A general renovation took place around 1991, though no detailed records of the works were made. The west elevation was reclad in slate at around this time. The house continues to be used as a farmhouse and retains its original Georgian-style glazing and fanlight.