Ashpark House, 712 Glenshane Road, Feeny, Co Londonderry, BT47 4TG

Ashpark House is a late 18th-century house built in 1796 in the Georgian manner, located in generous grounds that sweep down to the banks of the Owenbeg River near the romantic Knockan bridge. The house was built by William Stevenson and has remained in the possession of its present owners since construction. It is listed Grade B+ due to the rarity of well-surviving 18th-century houses of this quality.

The house is a two-storey building of five bays with half hips, measuring two chimney stacks on the roof, a basement, an attic, and a back return which functions as a separate dwelling. The exterior walls are harled. The south-east entrance front features a central six-panel wooden door with pilasters on either side and a slight cornice above. A semi-circular fanlight with radiating astragals from a series of small circles sits above the door, with an architrave framing it. Four curved steps lead to the doorway. On each side of the door are two sliding sash windows with twelve panes in Georgian style, set on sandstone cills. Similar windows appear directly above these at first-floor level. A single corbel course runs under the eaves with a half-round metal gutter and downpipe on the north-east gable. The roof is naturally slated with clay ridge and hip tiles. Two large chimney stacks stand on the ridge, smooth rendered with five chimney pots each and a slight overhanging cap. The harled finish to the walls is beginning to break down in places. There is no plinth.

The south-west elevation has two twelve-pane sliding sash windows at ground floor and a single similar window at first floor. Two smaller nine-pane sliding sash windows light the attic under the half hip. Three slit windows light the basement. The walls are harled.

The north-east elevation features one twelve-pane sliding sash window at ground floor and two similar windows at first floor. Two smaller nine-pane sliding sash windows under the half hip light the attic. Four four-pane windows light the basement. The walls are harled. From this gable a brick wall with brick piers and decorative iron gates runs from the rear corner to the farmyard behind the house.

The back elevation is partly obscured by the long back return of the separate dwelling which extends as far as the staircase window. Below the staircase window sits a small slated lean-to return covering external steps that lead to the basement. This lean-to has a small four-pane window in its gable. Adjacent to it at ground floor is an eighteen-pane sliding sash window. Above the lean-to is a nine-pane sliding sash window lighting a rear bedroom, and a twelve-pane sliding sash staircase window. Above this, lighting the second-floor landing, is a six-pane window. The walls are harled with plain corbel eaves, a half-round metal gutter, and a single downpipe on the north-east gable. A small rooflight sits on the roof at the south-west end.

The house stands freestanding except for the back return, set within generous grounds immediately adjacent to Knockan House. A winding avenue approach with mature trees provides access. Decorative metal gates without masonry piers mark the avenue entrance. The grounds, like the house, have not been well maintained in recent years.

The house was recorded by John McCloskey in 1821 as the property of James Stevenson Esquire. McCloskey noted that "about these houses (Knockan and Ashpark) are some very thriving plantations of ash, beech, fir and other trees that contribute greatly to diversifying and embellish the too dull conformity of our scenery". Historical memoirs state the house was built by William Stevenson and describe it as having a steep sloping roof, which would suggest an older date, though the house has probably received a new roof since that description was written. The house appears on the 1830 Ordnance Survey map in its present form.