Carrichue House, 294 Clooney Road, Ballykelly, Limavady, Co Londonderry, BT49 9JE

Carrichue House is a simple Georgian house of well-proportioned and considered design, dating from the 1840s–1850s. The building sits in its own grounds approached along a gravelled entrance avenue from an unnamed road between Clooney Road and Carrickhugh Station, with sandstone entrance piers and a recessed wall forming the entrance onto the road. Cast iron gate posts line the drive and recur elsewhere on the surrounding farm.

The main house is a two storey three bay structure with a double pile natural slated hipped roof, cast iron rainwater goods, and exposed sandstone quoins set within a coursed sand cement facade. The east-facing front facade has twelve pane sashes without horns. A central two leaf panelled entrance door is recessed within a sandstone surround topped by a simple undecorated pediment with a plain segmented fanlight above. Recessed pilasters flank the door, formed from single pieces of stone with a rectangular recess running along their length.

The north-facing facade, looking towards Lough Foyle, is four bays wide with four twelve pane sashed windows on each floor; windows on the ground floor are taller than those on the first floor. The rear west-facing facade is three bays wide with similar detailing, though a ground floor kitchen window at the south corner has been enlarged and replaced by a modern casement.

An extended wing projects to the south, comprising a two storey two bay extension differentiated from the main house by a metre and a half wide recess on both sides. The south elevation of the extension displays two twelve pane and two nine pane sash windows; the twelve pane windows on the ground floor are barred. A similar arrangement appears on the east side, though these sash windows are considerably smaller than those of the main house. The south facade of the main house retains twelve pane windows consistent with other facades.

A two storey whinstone stable block with sandstone quoins projects to the west, obscuring the extension's rear. The stable block has three high level four pane openings to the north and a door in the north east corner abutting the house. Entry is achieved through a shallow pedimented arch on the east side, flanked by a door entrance adjacent to the extension. To the south, a stone boiler house with brick quoins forms the south wing of the courtyard. It presents two small six pane sashed windows to the east elevation beside the entrance. Other courtyard buildings remain largely open to the central space, with cast iron columns frequently substituting for inner walls.

Historically, one house is indicated at Carrickhugh on Thomas Raven's map of the Fishmongers Proportion in 1620. The present house was built when George Cather acquired a lease for Carrickhugh and adjacent mills in Tullymain in the 1840s. George Cather was the brother of William Cather of the Hermitage in Limavady. The 1848 Ordnance Survey map shows the present house and extension but not the stable block. The 1858 Griffith's Valuation lists 'House and land' valued at £30 and 'Offices and clerks house' at £15, suggesting construction of the stable wing by that date. A letter from the mother of the present owner indicates the house was constructed in 1850. The estate was let to various occupants during the 50 years preceding its purchase by the present owners from the Cathers, resident in England, circa 1948. A Cather Vault is located in Walworth graveyard.

The plan is unusual and therefore interesting because the stair does not follow the common pattern of aligning with the hall. The majority of fittings and fixtures remain intact and well maintained. However, the interior spaces do not possess the proportions and other architectural qualities typically expected in buildings of this period. The stable block and extended wing, rather than detracting from the clarity of the original building, add to the architectural composition and increase the perceived grandeur of the ensemble.