Vernacular houses, 200 Ballybogey Road, Portrush, Co. Antrim, BT52 2LP

Two former single-storey stone dwellings predating 1831, located on an elevated site at the end of a long lane to the west of Ballybogey Road (B62). Although somewhat altered, the buildings retain much of their external character and original interior features including hearths, joinery and windows, making them a rare example of early 19th-century vernacular houses.

The site comprises a detached single-storey whitewashed stone former thatched dwelling built in two or three distinct phases. The rectangular building faces east and has a lower roof to the southern half with natural slate, black clay ridge tiles and a central ridge surmounted by a red brick chimneystack, with a further chimneystack to the south gable. The northern section has a pitched artificial slate roof with shaped tiles, clay ridge tiles and cement verges with brown brick chimneystacks to either end.

The walling throughout is whitewashed rubblestone with some red brick surrounds to window openings. Square-headed window openings have slate or cement sills and 6/6 timber sash windows with exposed sash boxes. The front elevation is six openings wide, with a slightly lower façade to the southern half. Two door openings at the north end have sheeted timber doors and single rectangular overlights. Two central window openings and a single-bay byre occupy the south end; the window opening has a timber lintel and the door opening has a sheeted timber door. The south gable is blank rubblestone with cement parged verges. The rear elevation is five windows wide, retaining a single timber sash window with timber lintel. The north gable is blank rubblestone with cement parged verges.

The setting contains a small single-storey rubblestone building to the south and a further structure to the east. All three structures on the site predate the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1831–2, though the former dwelling house to the east was originally part of a much longer range. The buildings, together with another group of dwellings to the north east, are captioned 'Ballyhome Lower' on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1855 and subsequent editions.

At the time of Griffith's Valuation (1856–64), the two dwellings on the site, each valued at £1 5s, were occupied by James and Wilson Gaston and each situated on a plot of over 13 acres. The farms were leased from James Hannay. The two farms passed down through the Gaston family. At the 1901 census, both were occupied by 74-year-old farmer Catherine Gaston and her 64-year-old niece who kept house, with only one dwelling occupied as a three-room thatched cottage designated second class. By the 1930s the former dwelling houses had passed to James T McClean and were in use as agricultural outbuildings. The dwelling house to the west, now partially slated and partially tin-roofed, was used as a cattle shed. The second former dwelling house to the east, still thatched in the 1930s, was an outbuilding with an attached slated cattle shed. A further structure to the south was roofed with corrugated iron and used as a store.