Dwelling house on unnamed access lane to No 28, Ballinlea Road, Maghernahare, Ballycastle, BT54 6NL

An asymmetrical one-and-a-half storey three-bay vernacular dwelling built around 1850, located on the south side of an unnamed lane running east from Ballinlea Road, Ballycastle. The house accesses farmland associated with number 28 Ballinlea Road and occupies an elevated site with a strong presence in the landscape.

The building is rectangular in plan with its gable facing the road and a complex of outbuildings to the rear. It has a pitched natural slate roof with angled ridge tiles and rendered brick chimneystacks to the gables and the party wall between bays. Gutters are missing but some drive-in brackets remain over corbelled eaves; a cast-iron downpipe and hopper are located at the south gable. Walling is lime-rendered over rubble stone throughout and limewashed on all elevations except the south gable.

Windows are generally exposed box 6/6 timber sliding sashes with horns, set in plain reveals on sandstone cills. The principal elevation faces east and has five equally spaced openings. The second opening from the left is the principal entrance, a painted timber door of five raised panels (lower panels covered with metal sheeting) with a stone threshold. Replacement casement windows are present throughout at the rear elevation, which has irregularly spaced and sized openings comprising two windows to ground floor and one to first floor, all with fixed pane replacements. The rear entrance is located to the right of centre, a timber sheeted door recessed within a small porch; footings of a former projecting porch addition remain on the ground surface. The north gable has two windows to the upper storey; the former ground floor window has been partially infilled and limewashed with a metal-framed casement added to the upper part. The south gable is abutted by a rubble stone garden wall and a later lean-to outbuilding.

Internally, the plan form is of considerable interest as a variation of direct entry typology, featuring a lateral hall that accesses all ground floor rooms in a move towards a more genrified layout, and an unusual partitioned upper floor on a variety of levels. The house retains traditional finishes and fittings including exposed box timber sashes and limewashed walls.

The setting comprises a rural group with the house set with its north gable to the road and a complex of outbuildings arranged in an informal courtyard plan to the rear. The north outbuilding also bounds the road. A small garden to the front of the house is enclosed by a limewashed rubble stone wall with a wrought-iron gate on circular piers; both wall and piers are finished with soldier coping. The outbuildings are limewashed (except on south elevations) and are single storey with the exception of that at the south-east corner, which is lofted. They feature a variety of roof coverings, including fibre cement tiles, natural slate and tin. From south-east in a clockwise direction the outbuildings comprise: pig house, byre, cart house, stables and piggeries, and barn. Doors and loft openings are painted timber sheeted, and there are also metal casement windows. The yard has remains of cobbles and a partially canted corner to the northern outbuilding at the yard entrance. The cobbled yard and perimeter drainage system is nearly intact. This group of buildings represents the type of rural smallholding, once common in the Ulster landscape, which is now increasingly rare.

The house is first shown on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1859, along with two detached outbuildings to the west and south-west. The house may originally have been thatched, although no physical evidence remains to confirm this, though census records provide some supporting evidence. By 1904 a small abutment to the rear had been removed and an additional western range had been added to the southernmost outbuilding, providing a western boundary to the yard. The footprint of the buildings has remained largely unchanged since at least the early 20th century, except for the addition of a curved tin canopy which abuts between the house and the northernmost outbuilding.

Griffith's Valuation of 1859 states that the house and outbuildings were occupied by Patrick Black and were given a rateable value of £6, which remained unchanged until around 1930. In 1875 occupancy passed to Reverend Peter McGorrian, who was the priest of the Roman Catholic Church of Saints Joseph and Mary in Ballintoy, which was rebuilt around 1878 to the designs of O'Neill and Byrne. This marked the start of a period during the late 19th century when the house functioned as the parochial farm, passing to Reverend Mulcahy in 1883. Occupancy transferred to James Darragh in 1893, which appears to mark the end of its parochial function. Subsequently it passed to Robert Baird in the early 20th century. The date of Robert Baird's occupancy is unclear; census information and departmental files suggest around 1900 whilst valuation records state 1925. The census records of 1901 and 1911 support a date of around 1900, as no-one with the surname Darragh is listed within the townland of Maghernahare or in the electoral division of Ballintoy, whilst Robert Baird is recorded. The 1901 census records show that Baird resided in a thatched house comprising eight rooms with eight outbuildings, suggesting this complex was the former parochial house and farm.

The building has been exceptionally well maintained, retaining traditional finishes and fittings. The extent of listing includes the house, outbuildings, boundary walls, gate posts and gates, and the cobbled yard.