51 Main Street, Limavady, Co Londonderry, BT49 OEP

A well-maintained pre-1830 Georgian town house at 51 Main Street, Limavady, now Grade B1 listed. The building is a two-storey, four-bay terraced house with smooth rendered facade facing north-west onto Main Street, forming a pair with the adjoining shop at number 49. The sash windows are divided into four panes by thin vertical astragals with painted stone cills. The roof is natural slate with brick chimneys at each end of the ridge, and rainwater goods are cast iron. At the base of the facade is a small plinth course, 300mm high, painted a different colour and angled out to form a slight batter.

The panelled entrance door is positioned at the south-west end of the facade, aligned with the window above, set two concrete steps above the pavement. It has a plain rectangular fanlight and appears to be a modern replacement, with part of the jamb carved out for access to the door lock. A blue plaque on the facade records that Jane Ross (1810-1879), who recorded the folk tune "The Londonderry Air", lived here.

The rear elevation is more complex. An open passage to the north-east reveals the gable rendered in sand cement, with a small window near the front eaves lighting the attic and another small sash lighting the ground floor near the back of the main building. A two-storey return aligns with the gable and contains a standard-size sash window. To the rear, a single-storey kitchen extension projects from the return, its gable painted white with a four-pane sash in its centre. The gable of the return has two windows off-centre on the upper floors, topped by a chimney. A twelve-pane sash beside the return lights the first-floor stair landing, with a two-pane sash above positioned under the roof pitch of a small return from number 49.

Historically, the house is known to have been occupied by four unmarried sisters named Ross during much of the 19th century, daughters of John Ross of the Lodge (HB02/12/008), who lived there until 1823. This date provides a reasonable construction date for the house. Jane Ross recorded "The Londonderry Air" in 1851 after hearing it played by an itinerant fiddler in Limavady. Her sister Mary Ross is listed as the occupant in the 1858 Griffiths valuation, when the property was leased from J Ogilby. Mary Ross also occupied number 70 (HB02/12/045).

Cartographic evidence shows the building and its neighbour as one plot on the 1831 Ordnance Survey map, and as numbers 18a and b on the 1848 map. The form appears largely unchanged between these surveys, though the kitchen extension and a similar return to number 49 were added between them. The current owner acquired both numbers 49 and 51 approximately 60 years ago from Rev. Trevlong Ross, then resident in England. The building remains a private residence.