Woodland Cottage, 30 Springbank Road, Downhill, Castlerock, Coleraine, Co Londonderry, BT51 4SB

Woodland Cottage

Woodland Cottage is a single-storey thatched house dating from the early 19th century (circa 1820–1839), located at 30 Springbank Road in Downhill, near Castlerock in County Londonderry. The building is sited along the roadside and faces north-east, with entry gained through an ivy-covered wall by a hooped iron gate. A small forecourt defined by fieldstones and gravelled paths lies before the house. The approach is via Springbank Road, which overlooks Downhill Forest; the road is reached by a sharp left turn (south) from the Limavady/Coleraine coast road approximately six miles from Coleraine, followed by a further left turn and quarter-mile journey south-east.

The building is a vernacular thatched structure with traditional proportions and plan form. Originally harled and whitened, the external finish was removed during refurbishment in 1996, exposing the underlying stonework which has been re-pointed. The roof is thatched between parapet gables, each rising to a chimneystack. There is a third chimneystack on the ridgeline left of centre over the kitchen hearth. The right-hand (north-east) stack terminates in normal-sized corbelling and supports one black clay pot with spark arrester. The other two stacks exhibit deep corbelling; the centre stack has two black clay pots with spark arresters, while the left-hand (south-west) stack is without pots. The exposure of smooth concrete used to make up the parapet gables following a fairly recent roof collapse has a denigrating effect on the building's character.

The roofspace has been opened up and now contains two small balconies with light from a small foursquare window in the right (north-east) gable. Access to the balconies is provided by a spiral staircase, an acceptable modern convenience.

The front elevation retains the early entrance with a timber-sheeted half door, flanked to the left by two window openings in their earlier position. To the right are now two closely spaced window openings in place of a single earlier window. A window opening at the left-hand (south-west) end has been altered to accommodate a timber-sheeted half door. The windows are vertically sliding sashes with panes divided into two vertically; sashed stops are curved and sills are of traditional depths. Although alterations to the external openings have been made, they are not offensive to the overall character. The left-hand (south-west) gable is blank.

At the rear, the earlier arrangement of three vertically sliding windows of varying sizes has been replaced with a trio of equal proportions similar to those on the front elevation, provided with sills of traditional depths in contrast to the earlier windows which did not have these features. The rear entrance, with a sheeted half door, remains in its original position between two large sloping buttresses now exposed in stone to match the remainder of the building.

The property is shown on the Ordnance Survey map of 1831–32 but was not recorded in the valuation of circa 1833. References in the revised map of 1856–57 are unclear; the property may have been occupied by John Clarke (rated at 15 shillings, leasing from Sir Henry H. Bruce) or by Patrick Brown (rated at 10 shillings, also leasing from Sir Henry H. Bruce).

The roof was re-thatched in 1978 using wheat straw by Gerry Agnew. Following a partial collapse of the roof structure, repairs were carried out in 1980, with further repairs and re-thatching in 1987 and 1989, all undertaken by Gerry Agnew using straw. Accommodation was added to the upper floor circa 1990. The present owners acquired the house in 1994, and thatching using flax was carried out by Gerry Agnew in 1995. A planning application for refurbishment was submitted in 1996 by Hunter Associates Architects of Ballymoney, as part of which external openings were modified and external plasterwork was stripped. Notice of an intention to add an extension was received from the owners on 3 April 2001.

The application of traditional harling with a whitened finish would enhance the building's character, as would attention to the denigrating effect of the exposed concrete at the gable apexes.