Brockley Cottage, Brockley, Ballygill Middle, Rathlin Island, Co. Antrim, BT54 6RT

Brockley Cottage is a single-storey, three-bay cottage dating to the early 19th century, located on Rathlin Island in County Antrim. It forms part of a distinctive clachan—a geometric settlement layout—comprising five former dwellings arranged with their gable ends fronting onto a central access laneway. The cottage is of considerable group value for its representation of traditional Rathlin settlement patterns.

The building measures approximately 15 metres by 5.5 metres. Its walls are constructed of basalt stone, rendered with smooth cement plaster and pebble-dashed (applied roughly 40 to 50 years ago). A smooth rendered cement plinth, approximately 300 millimetres high, runs around the base. The roof is clad with large heavy Bangor Blue slates, approximately 760 millimetres by 370 millimetres, laid on slating laths over modern joists. The ridge tiles are of the roll variety, blue-black in colour with holes to receive oak plugs on rods for securing. Three brick chimneys rise from the roof, rendered in unpainted cement plaster with projecting bands one course from the top (the middle chimney may not have such a band originally). The roof is in poor condition with several significant holes, particularly over the east room, where many slates have fallen away.

The south-facing elevation contains the main entrance and primary windows. The entrance comprises a plain braced and sheeted softwood door of recent manufacture, without fanlight, flanked by smooth rendered and painted reveals. To its east is a single sliding sash window with four panes and low cill; to its west are two further four-pane sliding sash windows, similarly detailed with low cills and smooth rendered, painted reveals returned 50 millimetres onto the wall face. A course of brick on edge, projecting 30 millimetres at gutter line, is finished with a smooth rendered cement plaster band; a few gutter brackets remain. The south wall is pebble-dashed with painted window and door cills.

The east gable has no windows and retains the pebble-dashed treatment with the plinth returned along its length. Smooth rendered cement plaster bargeboards finish both roof slopes, becoming horizontal at the chimney. The west gable is similarly treated but without plinth at ground level. The north side (north-north-east aspect) contains a single small nine-pane sliding sash window with exposed weight box, lighting the rear of the kitchen. This window is probably typical of the original fenestration. The wall surface matches the other elevations but without plinth at ground level.

Internally, the cottage is in poor condition, with widespread wet rot and considerable dampness affecting the structure. The south-facing windows have been substantially enlarged, though they retain their vertical sliding sash type.

The five-cottage clachan nestles beneath a steep rocky hillock rising to the north-west. The cottages are arranged with consistent spacing between their long walls, varying from 7 to 8.5 metres, except where a 1.5-storey neighbouring cottage with two rear returns substantially reduces the gap to the next building. The layout is approached by a long winding rough laneway that turns sharply left to run in a straight line between the group of buildings. On the north-west side of the lane stand the five former dwellings, now mostly ruinous or converted to storage, with the cottage inspected being the fourth in line from the north-east. On the south-east side are a modern bungalow (owner's residence) and a large stone barn with its gable to the land, together with ruins of other buildings.

The clachan is shown on the 1832 Ordnance Survey map in a very similar configuration to the present day, with five cottages gabled to the lane and a series of smaller units (probably outbuildings) on the opposite side. The 1856 revision shows little change. A long barn across the lane, now containing stable, byre, straw storage and threshing machine facilities, does not appear on either the 1832 or 1856 maps. The cottage layout is notably ordered rather than haphazard; it is suspected that the arrangement was dictated by the landlord, as early Ordnance Survey maps show several similar planned arrangements elsewhere.

Historical records indicate previous occupants: Neill Craig (Griffith Valuation, 1858), followed by Frank Craig in the 1950s and Hugh Duncan circa 1960, with J. McCartney as the immediate predecessor of the current owner. The 1858 Griffith Valuation lists other residents in the clachan as Archibald McCurdy, William Black, Archibald Morrison and William Black (the latter valued at £1-5-0, with others ranging from 10/2 to 5/2). The lessor was Reverend Robert Gage. The Gage family leased the island from the Earl of Antrim from 1746. None of the cottages are currently occupied. The landscape setting comprises moorland to the north and cultivated small fields to the south.