41 Fairhead Road, Coolanlough, Cross, Co.Antrim

No. 41 Fairhead Road is a detached single-storey vernacular farmhouse built around 1830, located in the townland of Cross in County Antrim. The house forms part of Coolanlough, a traditional clachan of four similar dwellings informally arranged at the north end of Fairhead Road in a rural setting at the foot of a hill near Lough na Cranagh, Fairhead.

The building is rectangular on plan and faces north. It is constructed of unpainted rough-cast cement rendered walling and has a pitched natural slate roof with black clay ridge tiles. Three rendered chimneystacks with terracotta pots are present. A catslide roof extends to the rear. The main elevation comprises three bays with square-headed window openings containing remnants of steel casement windows, and an off-centre square-headed door opening fitted with a replacement vertically-sheeted timber door. The east gable is blind and rendered, terminating in a chimney stack. The west gable is also blind and rendered, with some boulders evident at the base.

A single-storey extension was added to the south side in the 20th century. The rear elevation is partially collapsed, and features a single-storey lean-to extension to the east which projects beyond the east gable end. The lean-to roof extends further to form a canopy above the kitchen door. The building has no rainwater goods.

The house retains its traditional linear plan form and proportions remain relatively unchanged despite modern alterations. Though the least well preserved of the four farmhouses in the clachan, it is intrinsic to the group. Partially collapsed outbuildings survive: a single-bay structure to the north with random coursed rubblestone walling and pitched corrugated iron roof, and a two-bay outbuilding to the east with random coursed rubble-stone walling and natural slate roof to the bay furthest from the house.

The settlement is enclosed by low dry-stone walling within open countryside and is distinctly vernacular in character, representing a way of life once commonplace in Ulster that is now increasingly rare.

Historical records show that No. 41 Fairhead Road was first recorded on the First Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1832. It was not included in the contemporary Townland Valuations of around 1834, as dwellings in the townland of Cross did not meet the £3 per annum threshold for listing. Under Griffith's Valuation of around 1859, the property was valued at 15 shillings and was initially occupied by James McLeese, a local farmer. The Boyd family of Ballycastle leased all the farmhouses in the group at that time.

Unlike other dwellings at Coolanlough, No. 41 experienced frequent changes of occupant during the late 19th century. The 1901 Census of Ireland recorded the farmhouse as occupied by John Jameson, an agricultural labourer who also worked as a caretaker for the McCarry family of Knockbrack House. The census building return described it as a second-class dwelling with a slate roof, three rooms, and outbuildings comprising a stable, two cow houses, two piggeries and a barn.

By the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936–57), the property had been purchased outright by the McCarry estate and was valued at £1 and 10 shillings. The Second General Revaluation (1956–72) increased the value to £5 and 15 shillings, with the McCarry family recorded as both occupants and owners. In 1972, the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society Guide for the Glens of Antrim described the clachan at Fair Head as "the small group of windswept cottages near the lough, on the plateau of Fair Head" possessing "considerable character and merit". The building was listed in 1980.