40 Fairhead Road, Coolanlough, Cross, Co.Antrim

A detached single-storey vernacular farmhouse built around 1830, located at the northern end of Fairhead Road in the townland of Cross, County Antrim. The house forms part of Coolanlough, a traditional clachan of four similar dwellings informally arranged around the end of the road in a rural setting southwest of Lough na Cranagh, Fairhead.

The building is constructed of rubblestone with painted render and measures seven bays across its east-facing front elevation. Originally thatched, the roof is now corrugated iron with a folded metal ridge painted and finished with two rendered chimneystacks and slightly raised painted masonry verges. The rear pitch incorporates two corrugated polycarbonate rooflights and uPVC rainwater goods, while the west elevation retains uPVC rainwater goods only.

The east front elevation features square-headed window openings with painted concrete sills and single-pane timber sliding sash windows with convex horns and exposed sash boxes. An off-centre windbreaker entrance porch is deeply set with a square-headed door opening and vertically-sheeted timber half-door beneath a corrugated roof. The far left window opening and two window openings to the far right have been replaced with top-hung timber casement windows. The south gable is blind, rendered and painted, and terminates in a chimney stack. The west rear elevation has a central lean-to extension to the right side with corrugated metal and polycarbonate roof, plastic rainwater goods, and bipartite timber casement windows. This extension is not in keeping with the building's traditional style.

The north gable is obscured by a gabled single-bay rubblestone accretion featuring a corrugated iron roof set behind a raised verge, plastic rainwater goods, random coursed rubblestone walling, a fixed-pane timber window, and a replacement timber-sheeted door. This structure represents an attached byre. The setting includes a rubblestone outbuilding to the north, rubblestone walling and a pillar.

A small front area is laid in random flagstones with painted stones lining a short front path.

The 1901 Census described the farmhouse as a second-class dwelling with two rooms, originally possessing a thatched roof, and including a stable, cow house and barn amongst its outbuildings. The property was historically leased by the Boyd family of Ballycastle. According to Griffith's Valuation of circa 1859, No. 40 was initially occupied by John McNeill, a local farmer. The McNeill family remained in occupation until circa 1969. By the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936–57), the property was owned and occupied by James McNeill, and was subsequently occupied by Donald McCambridge during the Second General Revaluation (1956–72).

The clachan at Coolanlough, first recorded on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1832, was described in the 1972 Ulster Architectural Heritage Society Guide for the Glens of Antrim as "the small group of windswept cottages near the lough, on the plateau of Fair Head, is of considerable character and merit." The settlement is distinctly vernacular in character, enclosed by low dry-stone walling within the surrounding open countryside. The integrity of the four-dwelling group increases its value, representing a way of life once commonplace in Ulster and now increasingly rare.

Despite alterations including the lean-to rear extension and the replacement of the original thatch with corrugated metal, the proportions remain largely unchanged and traditional construction methods remain evident throughout the building.