12 Hill Head Road, Kilrea, Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, BT51 5XS

12 Hill Head Road, Kilrea, is a symmetrical, single-storey, two-bay detached direct-entry vernacular farmhouse built between 1830 and 1853, now roofless and derelict. It is located along a laneway to the north of Hillhead Road, east of Kilrea, in a farmland setting surrounded by trees, hedgerows and fields.

The main (east) elevation is symmetrically arranged with two window openings on each side of a central recessed doorway, which retains its timber frame and lintel. The walling is of random rubble construction to the main elevation and coursed rubble to the rear, with much of the lime-based mortar lost. Some brick replacements appear to window surrounds, with remnants of harl visible in areas and black paint to the base course. A brick chimney breast remains to the right gable; a second chimney breast survives between the first and second windows to the left, comprising a brick structure abutted to an internal stone wall, most likely the former south gable wall predating a later extension to the building. Some chamfered and rendered reveals remain to the interior where window heads once existed. The south elevation is largely blank with some render remaining and rounded wall-heads. The rear (west) elevation has largely collapsed. The north elevation is blank except for remaining harl and black painted base-course. Nothing remains of the roof structure or rainwater goods.

Two adjoined outbuildings stand to the south-east corner. The right-hand outbuilding has a pitched roof of corrugated iron with rounded gable-heads and a central doorway. It retains a replacement timber roof structure, a long timber lintel and timbers for stable use, evidence of harl and whitewash to interior walls, and a small opening to the right gable. The left-hand structure is ruinous, with collapsed timber-sheeted roof and no rear wall.

Ordnance Survey maps (1830 and 1853) show that the current structures were built during this period on or near the site of previous farm buildings, of which no trace remains. Griffith's Valuation (1857–8) records the property at a value of £0 10s, with 11 acres valued at £4 10s total. William Kirkwood was the tenant and Andrew Orr, a local linen merchant, the landlord. The farmhouse was constructed during a period of steady improvements to farmland and infrastructure, though tenants bore the cost of their own improvements. Farms were generally small; tenants' houses were built from local stone or mud with thatched roofs. Under the Wyndham Land Purchase Act 1903, ownership transferred to the occupier. The Annual Revisions (1898–1910) record that Alexander Gilmore purchased the farm and buildings from Rev R.H. Orr in 1907. By the third edition Ordnance Survey map (1905), a well appears to the rear and the building had been extended southward. Census records confirm improvements: in 1901 the farmhouse comprised two rooms with two windows, occupied by a family of nine; by the 1911 census, an additional room and two windows had been added, along with an outbuilding. The building remained occupied until the 1970s, when it was still thatched with whitewashed walls, two chimneys, timber-sheeted door and timber sash windows with glazing bars. It has lain vacant for decades and is now in ruins. The site has been largely remodelled with gravel perimeter and concrete posts to the north and east.