Thatched House, 360 Seacoast Road, Magilligan, Limavady, Co Londonderry, BT49 0LA

Thatched House, 360 Seacoast Road, Magilligan

A fine example of small late Georgian vernacular architecture, this six-bay basalt-built house dates from the early 19th century and represents an important local survival. The building is notable as what appears to be the only example of a jamb wall entry in this locality. The house is listed together with its outhouse, which remains in line with the main structure.

The main dwelling is constructed of basalt with gabled ends and a thatched roof finished in marram grass (bent) with the typical neatly trimmed and roped fringe eaves. The owner undertook the thatching himself using bent cut from Ministry of Defence lands with permission. Three chimneys serve the building—one at each gable and one serving the kitchen hearth, positioned so as just to miss the thatch ridge.

The front elevation features sliding sash windows: four windows are divided into four panes with two windows serving each room, while the kitchen has one window with nine panes. The easternmost pair of windows has lower cills. A sheeted door provides entry via the jamb wall arrangement. Window and door heads are finished in painted brickwork, with approximately 500 millimetres of walling rising above the window heads, which align with the door head level. Window reveals are painted white. To the rear are simpler windows lighting the kitchen and rooms. Two massive buttresses support the rear wall at the dividing walls, evidence that the wall showed signs of outward movement in the past.

An eastward-facing lean-to concrete block shed now conceals two ground floor windows and two upper windows formerly lighting the loft, all now blocked up.

To the west, in line with the house, stands a long low outhouse with a corrugated metal roof pitched at a low angle, its ridge considerably lower than that of the main house. The outhouse is set back 450 millimetres at the front while its back wall remains in line with the cottage. The setting is typical of farmhouse complexes in this area, with structures aligned along drainage lines.

Historical records show the house appearing on the Ordnance Survey map of 1830–31. The first valuation records it as the home of a Coyle family with a rateable value of £2–13–0, though no dimensions or quality rating survives. By 1857, Francis Dogherty occupied the property under Sir Frederick Heygate as immediate lessor, and the rateable value had fallen to 15 shillings.